I want to be a good girl, I really do, but 10,000 steps a day for the rest of my life! It just sounds too much. 10,000 steps. What's so special about that number, that magical number?
It didn't start out as a magical number, 10,000 steps was a Japanese campaign to sell pedometers, but once people started stepping 10,000 times, those steps showed magic.
According to the data, 10,000 steps IS a magical number. It lowers blood pressure (after 24 weeks of daily 10,000 steps), reduces the waist line, increases energy, lessens the risk for Type II Diabetes and heart disease, lessens mental decline, improves sleep, and helps relieve depression. Sounds good.
Personally, I like the reduced waist line and increased energy. (I'm always working on that energy level). And since mini-strokes run in the family I am interested in anything that will help me prevent those from happening. So, I jumped for joy when I read that the Harvard School of Public Health found that 30 minutes of exercise a day cuts stroke risk by a minimum of 20%. I want some of that!
That is what 10,000 steps should equal -- 30 minutes of exercise. Notice I said "should". I must have a very short stride because my 10,000 steps equals anywhere between 45-60 minutes. There are days when I do reach 10,000 steps. Not many in a week, on average two, but I do hit it and I am so proud. I would smile from ear to ear when I do but it's usually late at night when I am trying to get in the last 1,000, and by the time I hit the 10,000 mark, all I want to do is sleep. That is what I do -- a sound, good sleep.
I have sedentary days when I am writing all day, or if I am flying for the majority of the day, and in my sedentary days I only have 2,000-3,000 steps a day. Not good. Without any effort of taking extra steps, an average day for me runs anywhere between 5,000-7,000 steps. Those steps I obtain in simply living a life -- running errands, straightening the house, working on a project, nothing special. Those extra 3,000-5,000 steps are added with effort. Maybe I will go to the gym for 30 minutes and walk on the treadmill, or I will walk around the house 10 minutes at a time so many times a day.
I can tell you through my own experience that I have lost weight by adding steps to my life. According to data, when you walk 10,000 steps a day every day for a week, you will burn between 2,000 and 3,500 calories a week. That equals between 1/2 and 1 pounds of fat gone. Gone. Of course, I do not eat all junk either.
One thing I have found out through the steps is that my food choices have improved. Some. I still have chocolate, and once a week or twice, not daily or even close to daily I will have a sweet, like a donut or brownie (my downfalls), but that is not bad. Not what it could be. And my weight has been lowering, so I believe the data.
They say that once a person hits 10,000 steps a day, every day, for 6 months, it will become habit.
I think I have a ways to go for it to be habit. Since I average 10,000 steps 2 times a week, there is a good possibility that I can up that to 3 times a week. Everything in it's own good time. I guess it will be a long while before 10,000 steps becomes a habit for me, but I do know one thing, that China tour is more in reach with every step I take. That's how all this started. I want to go to China, and I better be able to keep up with the tour guide.
As I write these last words, it is 5:30 p.m EST and I have about 5,000 steps in today. I think I should be able to get in 7,000 steps without much of an effort.
Until tomorrow...have a great steppin' day!
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