I had this fantastic plan to do 10,000 steps daily starting on my 5th month of Keto. Yes, I know there’s little science behind that number. However, I wanted to push myself to be more active. I mean, how hard could it be right?
Limitations:
While my goal is a tad idealistic, I was fully aware that I had to work with a few limitations:
- https://amzn.to/32LpppoI’m a Stay-At-Home-Mom right now.
- My current activity level is not stellar. In fact, my only exercise would be household chores, carrying my toddler, and a trip to the grocery on weekends.
- I also live in Saudi Arabia so walking outside to do errands isn’t something I usually do.
- Ladies’ Gyms are hella expensive here so going to the gym is a no go.
- I own a MiFit activity tracker that’s worn on my wrist.
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I wanted to make sure that I was measuring accurately. My goal was 10,000 steps, so I wondered if the location of my fitness band would be an issue. So I decided to test it out first. With the band on my left wrist, I went about my normal day and registered 6108 steps. Hmm.. not bad.
The next day, I placed the band and strapped it to my left ankle, then just went about my regular day. I knew the numbers would be different but I was shocked to see that I only walked 3738 steps. That’s almost half of my supposed average steps. It confirmed my suspicion that the band counted each hand movement as well, not just my steps. So I decided to strap the band to my ankles to accurately measure my steps.
Reaching 10,000 steps
I decided to add more steps by following Jessica Smith’s Full Length 30-Minute Power Walk. I just find her pleasant to watch.
Day 1: So I woke up earlier than my baby and followed the video. About 10 minutes into the video, I silently thanked God that my husband was not awake to see me so uncoordinated. Hahaha. I did one session and went about my normal day, I clocked in only 5656 steps. I was a bit disappointed.
Day 2: I woke up earlier again. I followed the same video and was happy that I was able to keep up. Definitely improved compared to my first attempt. Then when my son took a nap, I added another session. So total 1 hour of extra steps, totalling 7825 steps. Still 2000+ steps to go.
Day 3: This time I was determined! I am going to do 10,000 steps or so help me! So, I did two sessions of Power Walk and I also took my son out on the roof deck. I walked around in circles and my son thought I was playing tag with him. So I ran with that. I also made extra efforts to get off the couch. I walked around my living room just to get the remote. I edited a video while standing up. At the end of the day, I was so proud of my 11158 steps. Yes! I did it. I surpassed my goal!
Conclusion
So, is it doable? Yes. Absolutely. You can clock in 10,000 steps even if you’re at home. But, and this is a big but, you have to work for it. I spent about 2-3 hours moving around on top of my normal daily routine. Plus, it’s not easy working on your computer standing up.
I still strap my Mi Fit band to my ankles, but I’m less obsessive about the numbers now. Plus, there’s this conscious effort to move more, so there’s that. I did sweat and felt my heart pump a bit around 20 minutes into the Power Walk video but I didn’t feel any muscle soreness afterwards. I felt that I could get more benefits from a 20-minute HIIT working, as opposed to relying on 10,000 steps per day.
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