10,000 Steps

For the month of May I set out to walk 10,000 steps a day.

I needed something that was going to challenge me, but also be something that was actually achievable without having to exhaust myself. I go to Orange Theory at least 3x per week, and as I thought about my goal I wanted it to involve physical movement on the days I don’t go to Orange Theory. Could I increase the number of times I go? Certainly, but I also recognize that it’s important to give the body rest for continuous strenuous exercise. That combined with the fact that my job is a desk job, which means I’m not moving throughout the rest of the day, I decided I would incorporate walking as my goal.

We often hear that it is recommended to walk 10,000 steps per day, and with my sedentary job I was maybe getting 2,000 steps on non-gym days. 10,000 was going to be a stretch, but I also knew that it was something that I could push myself to accomplish. On May 1st I had a dinner night with my friends. Upon leaving the house I was at around 5,000 steps and I thought to myself, “well you might not get to 10,000 let’s change our goal to 5,000 per day. It’s still more than you would normally get.” When I got home around 11:00pm that night I looked at my watch and I had about 1,500 steps to go to get to 10,000. Dropping my purse off in my apartment and grabbing my head phones, I walked outside and did a few loops around the pool. Upon completing the 10,000 steps I felt a sense of satisfaction and whispered to myself, “I can do this.”

Over the next few days I kept my Garmin step goal at 5,000 steps just in case maybe I really couldn’t do 10,000. It was a big stretch from my normal daily activity. Perhaps I needed to start small and achieve 5,000 steps and slowly increase as the weeks went by. I had a fail safe in place just in case, but I found I didn’t need it. The determination was strong and before I knew it I went into my Garmin and changed my step goal to 10,000 steps.

Not every day was easy. There were days I worked from 8:00am to 2:30am and thought it would be a waste of time to get up and go for a walk. I told myself that I had work to get done and the more time I spent away from my computer, the later I’d have to work. That urge to give up, the urge to make an excuse was strong, but I told my coworker that I was going to walk a lap. Instead of spending an hour plus getting my steps in, I broke them into 15 minute loops that gave me a mental break and ended my night achieving my daily goal.

Other days I had food poisoning, my body was tired from the gym, or I had plans with friends. In those moments I asked myself, “what am I truly capable of?” Was it going to be too difficult to walk around while sick, or could my body do small increments? Could I walk 20 minutes before hopping in the shower to wind down for the evening? Will my friends join me for my walks instead of me trying to squeeze both in? The answer to all of the above was a resounding YES! My friends joined me, my body moved slowly through the pain and exhaustion, I got my steps in, even if it took all day.

Last night, on May 31st, I laid on the couch with 1,800 steps left for the day. I was tired and knew that I didn’t want to have the last day of my “10,000 steps a day for the month of May” to end without accomplishing my goal. I didn’t want to get up, but then I remembered that I had to make a return at Target. This was my chance to get enough motivation to move, plus the distance spanning my home to the car, car to the store, and back would get me close to the finish line. Entering my apartment at 9:00pm I felt the vibration go off on my watch, I had done it!!

10,000 steps per day.

31 days in the month of May.

No missed days, no excuses, no giving up.

The 10,000 steps per day won’t end here for me. It’s a habit I’d like to continue on with while working towards my overall health goals. My body, my mind, and my spirit are all better thanks to the forward momentum of my feet and the feats that they achieve!