Exercise challenge: 10,000 steps per day for a full year

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Just came across this exercise challenge... which actually feels both "challenging" and "doable" for me.

The person writing about was saying how much it helped both his physical health and his mental health...

I've got a Fitbit so this is something I could easily track...

It would also be FREE (which would fit in well with my current financial budgeting focus...)

And my dog would be happy to be getting more walks...

I'm quite tempted to do this...

Need to mull on it a bit more to see if I can really commit for the next 365 days and stick to this on my (many) "bad" days too....

Hmmm....
 
I'm feeling pretty daunted by this atm... I'm up to 4,700 steps so far today and it's only lunchtime... (took the dog for a long walk this morning)

I'm not sure if I can commit to a full year at this stage... I'm going to do a trial period and do it one week at a time.

And I'm going to go for an average of 10,000 steps per day... So overall 70,000 steps per week and if I'm under 10,000 on one day, then I can make it up on the other days...
 
Just came across this exercise challenge... which actually feels both "challenging" and "doable" for me.

The person writing about was saying how much it helped both his physical health and his mental health...

I've got a Fitbit so this is something I could easily track...

It would also be FREE (which would fit in well with my current financial budgeting focus...)

And my dog would be happy to be getting more walks...

I'm quite tempted to do this...

Need to mull on it a bit more to see if I can really commit for the next 365 days and stick to this on my (many) "bad" days too....

Hmmm....
Yes try it and if you miss a day so what… keep going
I walk 4-5 or more miles 6 days taking Saturday off
I’m doing this in NATURE at sunrise for an added mental health benefit
 
Well, today was an awful day... Haven't had one of those recently, so it threw me all the more... No chance of getting 10,000 steps today... I'm at 5,200 and it's dinner time... I haven't committed to the challenge yet, but today was a wake-up call that some days it's just about surviving and getting the bare-bare-basics done... Ugh...

It's a stupid Catch 22 tho... because I know that getting enough physical movement would actually help lessen the depression symptoms and give me more energy...

Maybe I'll wait until I (hopefully) start the ketamine treatment... My intake appt for it is on the 31st... I read up on it yesterday and was really surprised and excited to read that it actually heals the brain... So maybe that'll help make this exercise challenge a more viable goal...

I guess for now, I'll just make sure I've got my Fitbit on and log my daily steps and just be happy with whatever number I achieve?

Keep me updated about how many steps you do @intothelight ! I was watching an incredible documentary recenty about a woman who survived a fire and had to learn to walk again and her bravery was just awe-inspiring... and each and every single step she had to relearn was a huge feat.
 
Okay, so pooch and I had a heart to heart and decided to go for an evening walk to see if we could hit the 10,000 target and we did... Back at home now and made it to 10,615 steps... One day down, 364 days to go... 🫣
awesome job 💪 some random internet stranger is very proud that you didn’t give in and give up like would have been easy. But got up got out and got it done. Go you dude!
 
Thanks @No More

What's that timeframe they say it takes to truly build a new habit? Google says: "The 21/90 rule states that it takes 21 days to make a habit and 90 days to make it a permanent lifestyle change."

That sounds about right...

I think the first 21 days are going to be the hardest and I'll be struggling massively during that time to fight the inertia of a decades long habit of not getting 10,000 steps a day... And I assume at around the 90 day mark it will get easier and feel like less of an intense struggle...
 
For most of my adult life I started off my day with a 5mi walk, and the best parts of my adult life that was a 5mi run up the beach & 5mi swim back… and that’s before my “real” day got started. Just a little light upkeep.

The times you DONT want to do that? Are when you feel like you’re coming down with “something” (you want your immune system kicking ass and taking names, which means little to no exercise), and when there’s the …warmth?… of a minor injury. Big injuries it’s actually fairly easy to work around, but minor injuries we ignore & BAM!

So I would never commit to a 365 challenge, as that just kicks common sense in the head. BUT? As a lifestyle change? It’s. Awesome. Bodies are meant to be in motion. Whether you start off your day with a 60-90 walk, or are parking in the farthest spot, taking the stairs, moving more by increments? The lifestyle change -or baseline- is awesome.

<<< Full disclosure : I’ve been sick for 2 years, and get maaaaaaybe 50-100 steps in a day. At most. And that’s just because the bathroom is about 10 steps away. So while for most of my adult life I had 14 hours of moderate to oomph! exercise? (4 hours of fun, 10 hours of work, leaving me with 6 hours of sitting around, and 4 sleeping). I would really love to be able to walk 50 feet in one go without collapsing in a ball of pain.

If you’re stretching to reach 2k steps a day? You. Badass. Because? You’re STRETCHING. THATS CHANGE. Maybe not real & lasting change, but the bleeding edge of deciding, whether it will be or won’t be. So be smart. Take rest & recuperation days, aa illness & minor injury dictate. Go for lifestyle change.
 
Exercise challenge: 10,000 steps per day for a full year is easily achievable by anyone, any age, any fitness level. Here is the BUT... if you aren't someone who exercises... then jumping into failure just creates failure. This is basically similar to the cycle of depression... you try something massive, fail, become depressed, then looking for the next failure.

It's easy for people to say stupid shit online, like a 10k daily exercise challenge, but the reality is that those people are probably already super fit, or its their lifestyle, or they aren't very busy people (ie. running a hectic business or have a bunch of kids hanging around), etc etc. There may be a small group of people who do all those things, but that is how they get their 10k daily, and that group is small.

Too many big mouths behind keyboards. Set realistic goals... ie. 2500 step challenge for 30 days. Then up it to 5k steps, then 7.5k and so forth. It takes small progressive change to become normal.

What I'm saying is... be reasonable when starting in order to reduce failure, as you become better with time management, fitness, capacity to achieve distance for total steps, then, and only then, actually commit to the challenge itself. Nobody is saying you have to start today at 10k. You can start in a month or two months, where you are progressively building up to it and changing your life in order to close in on that daily figure.

Yes... I can say all of this from experience, as I do this already.
The person writing about was saying how much it helped both his physical health and his mental health...
I'm not sure why you need this one person online telling you the obvious, which any doctor should have already told you. It is fact that regular, ongoing exercise improves your physical and mental health. Every doctor on the planet should know this basic fact and be helping their patients by imparting this upon them.

You can see from mine that there are two months I didn't reach 10k, and likely I was away a lot during those months. That is life... so don't beat yourself up over it, just focus on small goals, meet them, increase, maintain, increase, maintain, to where you are comfortable. There will always be interruptions from life... just keep going on and account that it happens, so maybe you make an average of 12k or more per day, so when there are days off, holidays, sick days, etc, you automatically have it covered.

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