'Gentle' July Step Support

Wysewoman53
Wysewoman53 Posts: 582 Member
edited June 2016 in Motivation and Support
I have been on two different step challenges that have both been 10,000 steps challenges. Everyone starts out all gung-ho...got a gazillion steps in today or this week...and then, they are gone! I don't know if members just lost interest or the 10,000 steps were just too much for someone just starting something like this.

What I would like to start is something more realistic for people who work in offices or are just starting out as far as walking is concerned.

There would be no limit...top or bottom...just recording steps taken in a day. The goal would be your own and, I think, would be a little easier to maintain if the only person in competition with you would be YOU. This would just be a place to record what a person is doing and maybe help with motivation to keep moving forward.

How this would work is for each person to record how many steps taken in a day...or a week...or how ever you would want to do this. Record it even if you only took 100 steps or 30,000 or anywhere in between. With this gentle challenge, there would be no failure, no judgement. As I said, the goal is your own. Summer is pretty much here so we are probably going to be outside more, walking more, just plain doing more and this challenge would just be a little incentive to keep us all moving.

Anyone want in? I will be here all month.

For those of you who are new to this walking thing, please don't let the amount of steps I take in a day be daunting. I really meant what I said about this not being a competition!

Some things you might want to know about me. I am 62, a wife, a mother and a grandmother, if I have to be labeled as something other than a woman or human being. In 1988, we were in a pretty horrible motorcycle accident during which my husband broke his leg in 5 places from his hip to his knee and each break was shattered. I walked away with a little road rash and pretty much unscathed...or so we thought. He had surgery and everything worked out okay for him and he has no problems associated with that accident to this day. I, on the other hand, had more problems than we realized at the time.

About 2000-2001, I started having a little pain in my hip and started walking with a slight limp to accommodate for that pain and kept on truckin'. The limp was getting worse but when I could no longer lift my leg up or bend over to tie my own shoes, I went to the doctor. I was told that because of the accident, I was developing arthritis and nothing could be done about it...my first round of pain pills began. It's just what happens as we get 'older', he said. SMH!

This went on for years and I kept going back to doctor after doctor because even tho' I was no expert, I had a feeling this was more than arthritis but what did I know? I wasn't a doctor after all. More rounds of pain pills AND now Celebrex was added to the mix. It wasn't helping. During one of these 'visits', one of the doctors 'prescribed' a cane to help me walk. So, here I am, barely able to walk at all even with a cane and just getting out the front door to my car in the driveway was pretty much a miracle for me because my hip and back hurt so much (even with pain killers!), I pretty much gave up walking at all unless absolutely necessary. I walked with that cane for almost a decade!

As mentioned, I had been going to doctors for years and finally I just got mad...I mean really angry!! Getting dressed by myself had become so painful and hard, I was starting to need help with all aspects of it. I have a very loving, supportive husband who would do anything for me but he wasn't the problem...my inability to do anything on my own was the problem. So, I was angry after one more doctor tried to give me more pills to compensate for the pain I was feeling when I knew it wouldn't do any more good just as all the others had done no good. She seemed as tho' I was old anyway and with age comes aches and pains...something I would just have to learn to deal with as part of the aging process. I told her all I had ever wanted was an x-ray to see what was wrong inside and not one doctor would order one for me all these years. Smug as ever, she said "Fine. Let's check your range of motion in that leg" and I know she was trying to prove to me I couldn't possibly know more about my own body than a DOCTOR! Lo and behold! I had no range of motion and she immediately ordered an x-ray. Come to find out, my hip had deteriorated to the point of having almost no bone left! The miracle was that I was able to walk at all!

In October of 2014, I was blessed with a hip replacement. Normally, someone as 'young' as I was...see that stupid age thing again...would not be eligible because 'they' like to wait until someone is in his/her 70's before doing that but my hip was so far gone, my quality of life was effected so I qualified. It took me 14 months after the replacement to start walking again. Not because I couldn't but because I was so used to not walking, I didn't even know how to start. I still relied on my cane because now I was terrified I would fall and break my hip! All kinds of crazy scenarios would play out in my head as my anxiety got worse and worse. Basically, I was like a toddler, learning to walk all over again.

For Christmas, 2015, I got the activity tracker I had asked for from my wonderful husband and realized I was walking less than 1000 steps a day. I wasn't working anymore because I didn't feel like I could walk well enough to keep up with what was necessary for my job after this miracle operation...all mental-ality stuff only in my own head! I quit using my cane and started walking back and forth in my living room...a 'lap' consists of 14 steps but I was walking. I was ecstatic when I finally hit the 3,000 mark...for an entire day! It was not easy by any means but I just kept walking.

Now, I walk more than that first 3,000 step goal but I want all to know, I understand how hard it really is to get steps in everyday. I can really empathize with the struggles each and every person has with motivation and support to get up and moving...Hence, this 'Gentle' challenge. Some of us will take a whole bunch of steps in a day, some of us will take fewer steps a day but just remember, every step each one of us takes is a Victory!

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Replies

  • spikeyhair
    spikeyhair Posts: 2,078 Member
    I'm in for July, great to have no limit and just be in competition with yourself
  • bert_1500
    bert_1500 Posts: 35 Member
    I'm in I record my steps through the day and 3-4 times a week I walk 3-5 miles.
  • Wysewoman53
    Wysewoman53 Posts: 582 Member
    Welcome, @bert_1500 !
  • typeitdaily
    typeitdaily Posts: 3,322 Member
    I'm in!
  • typeitdaily
    typeitdaily Posts: 3,322 Member
    July 1 - steps, - miles
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  • Wysewoman53
    Wysewoman53 Posts: 582 Member
    July 1 - steps, - miles
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    Love that you already have a plan for the month!!
  • typeitdaily
    typeitdaily Posts: 3,322 Member
    July 1 - steps, - miles
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    Love that you already have a plan for the month!!

    Thank you! This group keeps me accountable!
  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
    July 1 - 6 thousand 5 hundred and I hate me phone and texting.
  • brosa8023
    brosa8023 Posts: 37 Member
    I'm in
  • brosa8023
    brosa8023 Posts: 37 Member
    July 1 - 5,951
  • spikeyhair
    spikeyhair Posts: 2,078 Member
    July 1 - 11,341 steps. 4.68 miles
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
    I'll try even though I have pain in my right heel... :/

    July 1- 4,530
  • Wysewoman53
    Wysewoman53 Posts: 582 Member
    Welcome, @brosa8023 and @Lasmartchika !
    I'll try even though I have pain in my right heel... :/

    July 1- 4,530

    Be careful not to cause further pain to your heel.

    July 1st

    19,499 steps
  • Kari_Bear78
    Kari_Bear78 Posts: 533 Member
    I'm in!!

    July 1st

    4580 steps

    I have to be careful when outside cause I'm allergic to the sun. I wear spf 110 and I can stay out for about 30 mins. It sucks but I don't let it discourage me.
  • Wysewoman53
    Wysewoman53 Posts: 582 Member
    Welcome, @KariBush78 ! Sorry to hear about your allergy but very glad you aren't letting it discourage you!
  • Kari_Bear78
    Kari_Bear78 Posts: 533 Member
    July 2nd

    5859 steps

    That's pretty good for me
  • typeitdaily
    typeitdaily Posts: 3,322 Member
    July 1 - 1790 steps, 1- miles
    July 2 - 7226 steps, 3.08 miles
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  • spikeyhair
    spikeyhair Posts: 2,078 Member
    July 2. 9,172 steps. 3.7 miles
  • brosa8023
    brosa8023 Posts: 37 Member
    July 2, 6,446
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
    Welcome, @brosa8023 and @Lasmartchika !
    I'll try even though I have pain in my right heel... :/

    July 1- 4,530

    Be careful not to cause further pain to your heel.

    July 1st

    19,499 steps

    Yes I'm taking it really easy so I won't hurt it more.

    July 2 - 1,100 :/
  • bert_1500
    bert_1500 Posts: 35 Member
    July 1 - 17168 steps, 7- miles
    July 2 - 10565 steps, 4.5miles

    Sorry forgot to share yesterday
  • Wysewoman53
    Wysewoman53 Posts: 582 Member
    July 2nd

    14,519 steps
  • bert_1500
    bert_1500 Posts: 35 Member
    When I go to the grocery store I park near back of lot, that and walking in store worth over3000 steps
  • typeitdaily
    typeitdaily Posts: 3,322 Member
    edited July 2016
    July 1 - 1790 steps, 1 mile
    July 2 - 7226 steps, 3.08 miles
    July 3 - 5670 steps, 2.26 miles
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  • Kari_Bear78
    Kari_Bear78 Posts: 533 Member
    July 3rd

    7900 steps!!
  • spikeyhair
    spikeyhair Posts: 2,078 Member
    3 July - 13,940 steps 5.66 miles
  • Lavender2222
    Lavender2222 Posts: 105 Member
    Hi, I would like to join in but forgot the record, tomorrow!
  • bert_1500
    bert_1500 Posts: 35 Member
    July 3 - 21,947steps, - 9miles
  • Wysewoman53
    Wysewoman53 Posts: 582 Member
    Welcome, @Lavender2222 !

    July 3rd

    8,144 steps
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
    July 3 - 4,327