Step Goal
Ruben_244
Posts: 258 Member
What’s everyone’s step goal for the day? I know the general goal should be 10K but just curious. I believe different people have different goals we are in different stages in our fit life. I have a daily step goal of 12K if I hit 12K in a day I know I’ve had a good day physically. 🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️
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A good physical day for me includes non stepping exercises and most of my dresses don't have pockets for my phone when I am dancing, so I have my goal set to 9k.
I bet Google fit asks me to reconsider soon; multiple hikes in one week throw off the averages!1 -
8K. I have a desk job so hitting more than that is difficult and I have to get up and deliberately move around to hit it. My deliberate exercise is not step based either...I lift and cycle.0
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Mine's 7K. Desk job too. I have to get up and walk around the office on my breaks in order to hit it. So it's just challenging enough and keeps me from the sedentary activity level. On days with purposful excersise I tend to hit 10k pretty easily.1
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Mine is 6000 before purposeful exercise1
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I had always tried to get to the 10,000 mark. But recently I've focused on a stair-climbing goal instead. I'm trying to get to 40 flights of stairs each day. I no longer take the elevator at work unless I'm carrying something heavy.3
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In past years I’ve always had my Fitbit goal set to the default 10K.
This year I’ve changed my step goal is 12K as I’m trying to walk/run 2019 miles by the end of the year.3 -
The 10K goal was actually a fairly arbitrary number -- there's no real science behind that figure.
My goal is to do at least 350 calories a day through intentional exercise and my walking commute.1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »8K. I have a desk job so hitting more than that is difficult and I have to get up and deliberately move around to hit it. My deliberate exercise is not step based either...I lift and cycle.
That’s actually very true wolfman. I agree with you 100%. I also work a desk job and can totally relate to your post along with the others who have to go the extra mile to obtain those steps throughout the day.
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SuzySunshine99 wrote: »I had always tried to get to the 10,000 mark. But recently I've focused on a stair-climbing goal instead. I'm trying to get to 40 flights of stairs each day. I no longer take the elevator at work unless I'm carrying something heavy.
40 flights of stairs is awesome Suzy! I bet that’s a great leg/quad workout!1 -
Mine is about 7,000 before exercise. I usually run as a workout and that brings it up to 10,000. I'm a student-teacher so I'm on my feet a lot. I still find myself walking around the classroom just to fit my steps in.0
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Not being snarky: Most of the time, however many steps accumulate while doing the things I need to do.
I rarely walk for exercise (gasp!). I'm a fairly active li'l ol' lady (regular rowing boat/machine and spin classes, mostly but not entirely), age 63. However, I'm working with bad knees (torn meniscus for which I'm deferring surgery as long as tolerable, and some osteoarthritis). From experiment, I've learned that risk points for me are activities that involve impact (like walking, let alone running), or torque (stuff like Zumba, tennis, etc.)
I just try to walk enough to stay conditioned to it, enough so I can enjoy walking-intense other activities like music festivals, art fairs, etc. I can walk a few miles without major problems, but it's not something I should do often.
I'm not saying any of this to be critical: I think step goals are a wonderful thing, and a great way to increase either exercise, or non-exercise activity level, depending on how you think of it.
I'm just chiming in so that there's a voice for those who may not be able to hit a high steps goal. It's often talked about popularly as if one ought to push for a high step count, but it's not an essential, irreplaceable element in weight loss, fitness or health. I lost weight just fine with minimal walking (let's say 1500-5,000 steps most days), am reasonably fit (quite so among my age group), and pretty healthy.8 -
Not being snarky: Most of the time, however many steps accumulate while doing the things I need to do.
I rarely walk for exercise (gasp!). I'm a fairly active li'l ol' lady (regular rowing boat/machine and spin classes, mostly but not entirely), age 63. However, I'm working with bad knees (torn meniscus for which I'm deferring surgery as long as tolerable, and some osteoarthritis). From experiment, I've learned that risk points for me are activities that involve impact (like walking, let alone running), or torque (stuff like Zumba, tennis, etc.)
I just try to walk enough to stay conditioned to it, enough so I can enjoy walking-intense other activities like music festivals, art fairs, etc. I can walk a few miles without major problems, but it's not something I should do often.
I'm not saying any of this to be critical: I think step goals are a wonderful thing, and a great way to increase either exercise, or non-exercise activity level, depending on how you think of it.
I'm just chiming in so that there's a voice for those who may not be able to hit a high steps goal. It's often talked about popularly as if one ought to push for a high step count, but it's not an essential, irreplaceable element in weight loss, fitness or health. I lost weight just fine with minimal walking (let's say 1500-5,000 steps most days), am reasonably fit (quite so among my age group), and pretty healthy.
Agreed. If I'm choosing between more purposeful workouts or steps, I'm going with the workout. I've even known people to forgo more purposeful exercise just so they can do more steps. 8,000 is the high water mark for me and I'm usually closer to 6,000. To get more, I would have to forgo my lifting sessions and go for a walk instead of a good long bike ride and that isn't happening.
I mainly look at my steps as a way to avoid being sedentary in my day to day, so I'm good with anything over 5,000...but there are lots of days when I'll look at my FitBit at quitting time at the office and they're like 2,500 or something.
On a somewhat weird tangent, I quit smoking cigarettes in the fall of 2012...my steps went way down from not walking to the far flung smoking area of the office parking lot...less steps, but far healthier for it.5 -
I aim for 10k a day. Sometimes this is a struggle with school. Sitting in class for 4-6 hours a day does not help! Working days I get an average of 14-15k.
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Hi! I have had two hips and a knee replaced as a result of 22 years of refinery work.
I wear my Fitbit every day as I believe it gives me a very accurate TDEE for each day. I too can't tolerate impact walking. However my Gazelle counts my steps very accurately with no impact at all. Love it!
Congratulations to all of you for being so dedicated to your health!2 -
I’m not a step counter.
Like @AnnPT77 and @cwolfman13, I am active in other ways.
A few years ago I borrowed a Fitbit and found that being so focused on getting steps in, everything else, which had much more varied movement, suffered.
That being said, there was a similar conversation a couple of weeks ago and I decided to look at the tracker thing that comes on an IPhone.
Apparently I averaged 6500 steps a day last year. Got to say a lot of those days were probably a couple of thousand under, and quite a few were a few thousand over.
I don’t have a goal, can’t see me having one in the near future. I just try to keep a reasonable amount of movement in my day, and do some form of exercise 5x60 a week.
Cheers, h.
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I set mine to 10k as well when I first got my Fitbit but having an active job(s) I have no problem hitting it during the week. I routinely hit a minimum of 17,000 to as much as 25,000 with the higher end being days I work 2 jobs. I bought a treadmill nearly 3 years ago before finding this app and getting the Fitbit and now only really get on it over the weekends after realizing I actually was quite active and just needed to eat healthier.2
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I have mine set at 15,000 steps but average over 20,000. 15,000 gives me the amount of food I like to eat (don't know how I'd cope with less than 2000 calories anymore) and walking is the exercise I can do and enjoy.2
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5-6K on a non workout day, 10K on a workout day1
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My step goal is just 5,000 a day. This motivates me to get up every now and then and move or park further away at the grocery store. I can't imagine hitting 10K without deliberately spending hours of my day walking! I already exercise 4-6 times a week; what more do you want from me?!? Haha1
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My step goal is 10,000 a day. I have a desk job. I use public transport so i walk to and from the bus before and after work, on my break and then around the shops after work until i hit my goal for the day. Walking is my exercise as i have osteoarthritis in one of my knees and i find walking to help most of the time.1
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I have had a Fitbit for 6 years.
I do a lot of walking and routinely get 15k to 18k. I love walking and my dog is appreciative too.1 -
Mine is at 8k a day, but at the end of the month, I'm planning on increasing it to make it more challenging. I'm on my feet all day chasing and carrying babies, so 8k is pretty attainable without putting in too much extra effort. But I want to start purposeful activity, so increasing it will help me get out and take a walk.0
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10k, but most days I get 12-13k but I like to keep mine at 10k for non workout days.0
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emmylootwo wrote: »My step goal is just 5,000 a day. This motivates me to get up every now and then and move or park further away at the grocery store. I can't imagine hitting 10K without deliberately spending hours of my day walking! I already exercise 4-6 times a week; what more do you want from me?!? Haha
If you work an active job, 10k isn't too hard. When I first started working with children, I spent all day (8+ hours) chasing toddlers, walking with them (because they enjoyed doing active circle time), running with them outside, pulling them off tables, and more.
My less active job before that, I made a point to get up and walk every hour. I worked as a programmer, so it was good to just stretch my legs and get away from the screen. I gave myself a few personal minutes to make a couple of loops around the floor or do a flight of stairs (I also used it to hit the restroom and took the long way around so I could keep up with my water).0 -
I'm 74 and had surgery for cancer two and a half years ago. Immediately after the surgery I was ecstatic if I could do 2000 steps a day. I have slowly worked myself up where my goal is now 7000 steps a day. I still have MFP set for 10,000. Lately I've hit this upper goal several times and that feels good.
I have to now start concentrating on additional exercise, although the breathing still gives me issues.8 -
emmylootwo wrote: »My step goal is just 5,000 a day. This motivates me to get up every now and then and move or park further away at the grocery store. I can't imagine hitting 10K without deliberately spending hours of my day walking! I already exercise 4-6 times a week; what more do you want from me?!? Haha
If you work an active job, 10k isn't too hard. When I first started working with children, I spent all day (8+ hours) chasing toddlers, walking with them (because they enjoyed doing active circle time), running with them outside, pulling them off tables, and more.
My less active job before that, I made a point to get up and walk every hour. I worked as a programmer, so it was good to just stretch my legs and get away from the screen. I gave myself a few personal minutes to make a couple of loops around the floor or do a flight of stairs (I also used it to hit the restroom and took the long way around so I could keep up with my water).
Right, I wish I'd had a step counter when I was a machine operator and running around my machine and the warehouse for 8 hours a day.
These days I have a desk job and work from home, and "walking to work" means walking across the hall.
I do like to hike, but I like trail maintenance more, so I walk to where I'm working, and don't get many steps until it's time to walk back. So while I was active for 2 hours yesterday, I only got 1318 steps during that time.
Before I lost my FitBit, it was very rare that I broke 10,000 steps, and I'd have to do things like go for a 4 mile hike PLUS extensive shopping at a big box store to make that happen.
However, I did find my FitBit very motivating at first and do support step goals for others.0 -
Not being snarky: Most of the time, however many steps accumulate while doing the things I need to do.
I rarely walk for exercise (gasp!). I'm a fairly active li'l ol' lady (regular rowing boat/machine and spin classes, mostly but not entirely), age 63. However, I'm working with bad knees (torn meniscus for which I'm deferring surgery as long as tolerable, and some osteoarthritis). From experiment, I've learned that risk points for me are activities that involve impact (like walking, let alone running), or torque (stuff like Zumba, tennis, etc.)
I just try to walk enough to stay conditioned to it, enough so I can enjoy walking-intense other activities like music festivals, art fairs, etc. I can walk a few miles without major problems, but it's not something I should do often.
I'm not saying any of this to be critical: I think step goals are a wonderful thing, and a great way to increase either exercise, or non-exercise activity level, depending on how you think of it.
I'm just chiming in so that there's a voice for those who may not be able to hit a high steps goal. It's often talked about popularly as if one ought to push for a high step count, but it's not an essential, irreplaceable element in weight loss, fitness or health. I lost weight just fine with minimal walking (let's say 1500-5,000 steps most days), am reasonably fit (quite so among my age group), and pretty healthy.
I agree with this, and I have a crazy high step count.
But I genuinely *like* walking. Going back to when I was a kid, a brisk walk was a way for me to deal with stress and anxiety. I start every day with a power walk, it's my main form of exercise.
I also do a lot more less brisk walking throughout the day to burn off that excess nervous energy that comes with anxiety and to fight off the joint stiffness that comes with the form of arthritis I have.
Walking isn't my only form of exercise, though. I also lift/do something with kettlebells 2-4 times a week.2 -
I try not to really have fixed goals but weekdays is around 20-25000 for me with weekends and days off being a lot less.
I do feel a lot better when I'm walking more though and I'm looking to incorporate other non walking cardio on other days0
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