Getting more steps when you spend most of your time at home

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lindseyjhu
lindseyjhu Posts: 5 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi - I'm hoping some other people may have this same issue as I and have some good advice. I work from home and don't get much opportunity to step away from my desk all day, and am also a single mom so my evenings are often spent around the home too. When I was younger I would log 10,000 steps/day easily because I was more naturally active, but now I'm barely getting 2,000/day. I work out in addition to this, but I know I personally need more everyday activity in addition to focused workouts in order to meet my goals. Any tips for getting more activity (to the tune of the recommended 5 miles/day!) at home when I'm stuck to a computer or busy with children most of my time? Thanks for any tips!

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  • CoachJen71
    CoachJen71 Posts: 1,200 Member
    edited July 2016
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    Is there no way to structure in 20 minute walk breaks a few times a day? Or at least march in place in the corner while watching the kids play?
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,994 Member
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    Can you get up for even 5 or 10 minutes every couple hours, go outside and do a brisk walk? Just up the block and back.

    What about walking your children to and from school?

    In the evenings, walk with the kids to a park and play with them there for an hour or so ... play tag, play ball or whatever.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
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    Are your children stroller age? If too old for a stroller, do they ever go outside and play?
  • jagodfrey08
    jagodfrey08 Posts: 425 Member
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    I have 3 kids, and I stay at home and homeschool them. I take my kiddos on a walk in the mornings or evenings, and I let them push the cart at the store so my Fitbit will still track my steps. I do a LOT of laps through the house some days. A treadmill might be a good investment if you absolutely can't get out of the house. I tend to take evening walks here lately, which means I'm walking as the sun is going down to beat the heat, but it helps. I have also started running to get my steps in faster. Mowing grass on the weekends with a push mower also give you huge steps.
  • ibamosaserreinas
    ibamosaserreinas Posts: 294 Member
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    I have an aerobic step in my living room. Throughout the day I will use it for five-ten minute chunks of time. (Commercial breaks watching tv in the evening, while I'm straightening and cleaning, anytime I walk through the room,etc.)

    On days where I am in the house it really boosts my step count.
  • Shells918
    Shells918 Posts: 1,070 Member
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    I pace in my house while I'm home. If I'm cooking and waiting for something to be ready, I pace. If I'm on the phone, I pace.
    When I was working, I walked during my lunch. If it's raining, go to a mall and walk inside.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,608 Member
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    There are stationary pedal machines that you can put under your desk while you work.

    http://www.hayneedle.com/product/dmideluxepedalexerciser.cfm?redirect=false&source=mspla&kwid=ExerciseBikes High&tid=MAB062-1

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Leslie Sansone Walk at Home videos. She has many variations.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,615 Member
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    Sometimes I put my rebounder in the living room during my afternoon show and bounce during commercial breaks. Kids love it too, you can take turns. Pace while on the phone, stand when possible instead of sitting. Play tag with the kids or take them for a stroller or bike ride.
  • gradchica27
    gradchica27 Posts: 777 Member
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    I do sideways steps--somewhere between a step and a side lunge, sometimes adding in a back kick--while folding laundry, stirring dinner, etc. add in some walking around the bed (instead of reaching to the other side) while folding, and I can get 1000-1500 steps during 3-4 loads of laundry.
  • LokiGrrl
    LokiGrrl Posts: 156 Member
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    Let us sing the song of our people, fellow work-at-home person!

    I have two little dogs that have to go out several times a day on leash (our backyard's not fenced and my beloved whippet-doxie is a runner), and I pace up and down the driveway now when I take them out. It adds more steps than you would think. I also pace when I talk on the phone, as other posters have said above, and this thread has now given me the idea to do side steps while washing the dishes (we have no dishwasher... or rather, the dishwasher is me, LOL) and while I stand in the living room talking to my more sedentary roommate (right now I just rock side to side like I'm holding a baby, to keep moving). Doing them while folding laundry is a good idea too... hmmm... think I'll try getting up and doing this during loooooong boring reports too...

    Today, when I went to coffee with my son, we took a turn around the shopping center the Starbuck's is in, and I think I'm going to add that any time I go to a store that's in a shopping center, and if it's not, maybe I'll just do an extra circuit of the store. Also, with kids, nature walks are fun, and so are silly walks and marching in place (HOW FAR CAN WE GET WITHOUT GOING ANYWHERE?) and goose-stepping (my dad and I used to goose-step all over the house when I was a kid and it made us laugh so hard, I don't know why). At one point when my son was young, he went to a school that was pretty far from our house, and we only had one car that my husband took to work very early, so I, being unwilling to send him that far on the city bus by himself, rode the city bus with him to school and then back again to pick him up.

    My biggest barrier to steps is that I always feel guilty that I'm not working, if I'm walking, but really, my employer has two paid 15-minute breaks built into the workday as well as an unpaid lunch break, so now I use those times to get in some steps, rather than working through them. The first time I told my supervisor I was taking a break to walk my dogs I was terrified she was going to freak out and crack the whip, but she was just like, "Good for you, have fun, see you in 15!"

    I just ordered a new phone today so I can play Pokemon Go (I resisted, but it finally got me), which will be a new incentive to go out and walk when I'm not on the clock.
  • cwgrant67
    cwgrant67 Posts: 33 Member
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    I walk/ jog on a rebounder while playing walk it out on the wifi in front of a fan in the A/C. Can you tell I live in the hot, humid South!
  • JessicaMcB
    JessicaMcB Posts: 1,503 Member
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    I logged almost 15,000 steps in 4 hours today chasing my insane children, cleaning the house, mowing the lawn and taking a quick run. Can you involve your kids in some sort of group adventure to get your steps up since the day-to-day is obviously not panning out for you? Nature walk? That Pokemon Go thingy?
  • nina4w
    nina4w Posts: 126 Member
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    I don't know if this will help but I tend to walk in place while doing various things. Waiting for something to print? Walking in place. On the phone with someone talking business? Walking in place. Folding laundry? Something of a shimmy and dancing in place.

    I just try to keep moving one way or another.

    (Also, I also recommend Pokemon Go.)
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    I put on some music or a podcast, set a timer and walk briskly around my house for 30 minutes. I like to do that in the morning before things get busy. I'm usually awake before anyone else.
  • LokiGrrl
    LokiGrrl Posts: 156 Member
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    I tried out dancing while doing the dishes. I looked incredibly silly and would never do this if another person was in the house, but it netted me 1500 steps on Pacer!
  • dutchandkiwi
    dutchandkiwi Posts: 1,389 Member
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    Don't know how old your childrne are, but my SIL got a lot of steps in when her daughters were dacning to all these children DVD/program things Simply by joining in. She hated the music but loved the time with the kids and the kids loved the fact that mum joined them.
    They are a little older now and play hockey. SIL in has taken up a training/coaching role is adding to the step count then
  • B4Rachael
    B4Rachael Posts: 155 Member
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    If I am going to be sitting at a computer I set a 30 minute timer, when it goes off I get up and walk up and down my stairs 10 times (10 up & 10 down) then I go back to the computer and set another timer. This helps when I know I can't be away from my computer too long. If I feel I have more time/energy during one of my breaks I will pace from one end of my house to the next & I stop when I am out of time/energy sometimes I only make 4 round trips but it is better than nothing.
  • norie92
    norie92 Posts: 115 Member
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    Take your kids to the park

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