The 10,000 steps!

wisdomfromyou wrote: »

ericatoday wrote: »

Im a stay at home mom and i still get around 14000 a day but im also pretty active but on the days im not its around 5000 if i dont leave the house at all so really its not that hard.

I think that on average, SAHM-s would have a significantly higher chance of getting in all the steps than desk job workers. Unless, of course, the SAHM chooses to sit on the couch all day whereas the desk worker putters around for coffee, chats with colleagues, bathroom breaks and what not, all day.

Overall, I think it is a challenge for most people - given overschedules and long distances to be covered by driving, then elevators, buttons, and the temptations of the Internet etc. (see present typing, which admittedly, I normally don't do). :-)

wisdomfromyou wrote: »

Eliza,

I think calorie reduction is definitely a good adjustment for those who simply can't be that active. My fear though, based on readings, is that this is not enough from a health perspective.
It may work from a weight maintenance standpoint, based on the CICO equation, but does it also work from a health standpoint?

It's not that I would not maintain my weight if I adjusted calorie intake below farmer level to match my lower level of activity, but sedentarism might affect health anyway.

For example, I clearly noticed my blood sugar goes down significantly when I have been very active all day plus lifting weights and putting some extra effort in it. After such a day, it was down to 76 - which was amazing. The lowest I have tested.

Otherwise, if I am relatively sedentary, the Blood glucose can go anywhere from upper 80's (best case scenario) to close to 100, which is not exactly reassuring, given that's the pre-diabetes borderline. With one parent diabetic and the other prediabetic - I freak out.

The reality is most people are forced to scramble to find time to be active - but given the circumstances, we are still left with nothing but our efforts to try to make it somehow.
As many people here said, it CAN be done - even with busy schedules - but it is definitely a frantic struggle and sometimes I am afraid that this frantic living where you try to fit in everything, including fitness on top of work - can only lead to an overall poor and stressful quality of life.

After all, they do say that the third pillar of good health, in addition to eating well and staying active, is also minimizing stress. Finding the proverbial 15 minutes where you retire to a dark room, lie down, meditate, breathe throug the abdomen, whatever - that's important too.
And yet, between work, kids, pilling vegetabkes for fresh eating, exercise intensively AND doing tips and tricks to be in motion all day - it is absolutely unclear where the 15 min of "clam and meditation" would fit in.

What I see in this big picture is a case of "something's gotta give".

But yes - I guess all we have is doing the best we can.

What I, personally, would like to see would be how employers, schools, and other institutions that affect people's lives daily can respond to public health calls to allow people to make realistic choices about their health.
Tips and tricks at the individual level without any structural accommodations are bound to fail eventually because nobody can maintain a perfectly productive schedule every minute, every day - and even then many would not have enough time to squeeze in all health-related recommendations.
(Then again I do understand a possible answer would be that not everybody is supposed to live that long, after all).

The population in first world countries has been hearing about the importance of eating well, exercise and stress minimization for many decades now. So it's not like people are uninformed.
Yet, the rates of obesity and or illnesses related to obesity, sedentarism and poor eating are nowhere on the decline.

Oh, well.

wisdomfromyou wrote: »

Waow. Weird how so many people with very sedentary jobs seem to get so many steps in.
Based on my estimations, I am nowhere close to 10,000 steps a day - in fact, very far.

I walk back and forth to the gym and to the nearby store every day and that will give me about 2 miles at the very most. The steps I take around the house or at work (when I am there) for the rest of the day will not amount to more than a mile. I understand "the parking far away" trick and other similar measures but few acknowledge that such measures take away time from other tasks that MUST be completed during the day and for which employers or children do not make amendments.

Parking far away also means allocating extra time before leaving. I must leave much earlier which I most of the time I cannot afford because I often go with back-to-back with my tasks between children, career and cooking.

As people's workloads increase, the time they can allocate to just freely step around naturally decreases.

I will need to buy a pedometer that will give me the total number of steps I take throughout the day just to learn how far I am from the 10,000.
But based on my estimation, I am very far.

wisdomfromyou wrote: »

7elizamae wrote: »

"Workloads and workdays must change for people to lead healthier lives - until then it's just useless shaming and blaming. "

I think there's another way to look at it: adjust the calories to match the lifestyle. I agree with you that for many of us, sometimes the steps (or miles, or minutes, or reps) aren't going to make it on the agenda. And so we must adjust accordingly.

So, yes, my fitbit has motivated me to be more active. But it's also a helpful reminder that sometimes I am not very active -- mostly for reasons like those you have mentioned. Many days (most), I make it to my 12,000 step goal.

But some days I'm in meetings most of the day (ick), or have a long drive, or I'm hosting people at my house, or whatever. My fitbit reminds me that I haven't burnt much energy, and so I shouldn't consume too much. I adjust my calories accordingly.

For me, the point of my fitbit isn't the steps. It's knowing (approximately) how many calories I have spent, and how many I need.

I wish I could eat like a farmer! But I'm no farmer. So, here I am -- tracking my calories like a modern-day, urban, middle-aged woman.

zoeysasha37 wrote: »

wisdomfromyou wrote: »

7elizamae wrote: »

"Workloads and workdays must change for people to lead healthier lives - until then it's just useless shaming and blaming. "

I think there's another way to look at it: adjust the calories to match the lifestyle. I agree with you that for many of us, sometimes the steps (or miles, or minutes, or reps) aren't going to make it on the agenda. And so we must adjust accordingly.

So, yes, my fitbit has motivated me to be more active. But it's also a helpful reminder that sometimes I am not very active -- mostly for reasons like those you have mentioned. Many days (most), I make it to my 12,000 step goal.

But some days I'm in meetings most of the day (ick), or have a long drive, or I'm hosting people at my house, or whatever. My fitbit reminds me that I haven't burnt much energy, and so I shouldn't consume too much. I adjust my calories accordingly.

For me, the point of my fitbit isn't the steps. It's knowing (approximately) how many calories I have spent, and how many I need.

I wish I could eat like a farmer! But I'm no farmer. So, here I am -- tracking my calories like a modern-day, urban, middle-aged woman.

Eliza,

I think calorie reduction is definitely a good adjustment for those who simply can't be that active. My fear though, based on readings, is that this is not enough from a health perspective.
It may work from a weight maintenance standpoint, based on the CICO equation, but does it also work from a health standpoint?

It's not that I would not maintain my weight if I adjusted calorie intake below farmer level to match my lower level of activity, but sedentarism might affect health anyway.

For example, I clearly noticed my blood sugar goes down significantly when I have been very active all day plus lifting weights and putting some extra effort in it. After such a day, it was down to 76 - which was amazing. The lowest I have tested.

Otherwise, if I am relatively sedentary, the Blood glucose can go anywhere from upper 80's (best case scenario) to close to 100, which is not exactly reassuring, given that's the pre-diabetes borderline. With one parent diabetic and the other prediabetic - I freak out.

The reality is most people are forced to scramble to find time to be active - but given the circumstances, we are still left with nothing but our efforts to try to make it somehow.
As many people here said, it CAN be done - even with busy schedules - but it is definitely a frantic struggle and sometimes I am afraid that this frantic living where you try to fit in everything, including fitness on top of work - can only lead to an overall poor and stressful quality of life.

After all, they do say that the third pillar of good health, in addition to eating well and staying active, is also minimizing stress. Finding the proverbial 15 minutes where you retire to a dark room, lie down, meditate, breathe throug the abdomen, whatever - that's important too.
And yet, between work, kids, pilling vegetabkes for fresh eating, exercise intensively AND doing tips and tricks to be in motion all day - it is absolutely unclear where the 15 min of "clam and meditation" would fit in.

What I see in this big picture is a case of "something's gotta give".

But yes - I guess all we have is doing the best we can.

What I, personally, would like to see would be how employers, schools, and other institutions that affect people's lives daily can respond to public health calls to allow people to make realistic choices about their health.
Tips and tricks at the individual level without any structural accommodations are bound to fail eventually because nobody can maintain a perfectly productive schedule every minute, every day - and even then many would not have enough time to squeeze in all health-related recommendations.
(Then again I do understand a possible answer would be that not everybody is supposed to live that long, after all).

The population in first world countries has been hearing about the importance of eating well, exercise and stress minimization for many decades now. So it's not like people are uninformed.
Yet, the rates of obesity and or illnesses related to obesity, sedentarism and poor eating are nowhere on the decline.

Oh, well.