I have a friend of a friend who I always end up in Fitbit challenges with (due to our mutual friend). I have met her several times and like her, but always complain because she kicks my butt in the challenges every single time. And the more I think about it, the more confused I am - like, even when I was training for a marathon, she would still win every time. I live in NYC and walk a lot, and even on days when I would do a 10 mile run and walk around the city, she would get more steps than me. I'm talking 20,000-25,000 steps on a normal day - and she lives in a city where not a lot of people walk and you have to drive everywhere. She does run, but that only accounts for a relatively small portion of those steps.
I asked her about it one time when I saw her, and she just said it was because she's a teacher so she's on her feet all day. Do teachers really take that many steps in the classroom?! I never imagined. I saw a post on here once from a teacher saying she was getting a lot of "steps" from writing on the whiteboard, so I kind of have to wonder if that's contributing here - but of course I would never say anything, that would be super awkward, and it's just a silly fitbit challenge anyway.
Anyway, I'm just genuinely curious if it's normal for a teacher to take 15,000+ steps at work each day. If so, that's awesome! Teaching is a much more active job than I thought!
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Either way, it is curious!
I have to walk my kids to and from lunch, to and from the bathroom (three times a day) and to and from Connections and to the buses at the end of the day. The steps add up pretty quickly. There will be some days when I will have over 7,000/8,000 steps before 11 AM. I have a Fitbit One, so there is no way that I am getting "steps" for writing on the board (wouldn't happen anyway, as I would wear it on my left hand and I am right handed) or by moving my hands a lot.
I usually get 10,000 steps easily at work. Though, I average around 14,000 at work a day. The most I got in one day was 17,000. While I have gotten over 20,000 steps on a workday, I usually get that because I get home having around 14,000-15,000 steps and get over 20,000 by walking around my apartment and working out.