Step Goal

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sassynurse73
sassynurse73 Posts: 11 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
My step goal is 12,000 steps a day for now. Do you incorporate a step goal in your fitness plan?

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  • BZAH10
    BZAH10 Posts: 5,710 Member
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    Yes, (13,000 per day) but I keep in mind that balance is important. I don't let myself get so focused on hitting my step goal every day that I neglect lifting and yoga.

    It can be tough because I like when I have a several day or week long stretch when I hit my steps but for me, lifting and yoga are just as important.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,055 Member
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    No. Sometimes I incorporate intentional walking, but not step count per se. Most of my exercise is non-step exercise (rowing boats & machines, cycling stationary & outdoor, some strength training, stretching). I care about fitness, but literally don't care about steps as such. (I'm not saying that's the right approach for everyone!)

    FWIW, steps are a good way, but not the only way, to increase daily life activity (NEAT, non-exercise activity thermogenesis) and get a little extra calorie burn. This thread discusses some other approaches people use:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Yes, I have a step goal. I have a tendency to become gradually less active without even noticing. I'm an "energy preserver" by nature. I often do things the most energy-efficient way possible. Fewer trips to put away folded laundry, sit when waiting for the microwave, I feel like my fingers are about to fall off when I carry groceries from the car because I don't want to make two trips...etc. Changing how I do these things helped me increase my activity level, but I unconsciously start doing them the old way more and more often. Whenever my daily steps dip under 7k (10k on running days) it jolts me back into paying more attention and being more mindful.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    edited June 2021
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    Not really. My wife and I walk our dog most mornings which is a great way to start the morning and have some nice us time with some coffee while watching the sunrise. It's about a 2 - 2.5 mile loop depending on our route and available time. With that and my day to day walking around the office, etc I'm usually somewhere between 10K-15K per day depending on how bustling the office is and if I'm doing stuff like yard work, etc after I get off for the day.

    But then there are days like today where my wife really wanted to get a morning run in and I decided to get out on my road bike as I've been using it indoors with Zwift since winter and haven't hit the actual road in awhile. If I had to guess, I'll probably be somewhere around 6-8K steps at the end of the day...but at the same time, I got in a 20 mile bike ride this morning.

    I love a nice walk and I'm usually walking most mornings...maybe not everyday, but I'd say on average five days per week...and steps are great...but I also see a lot of people get overly wrapped up in their step count and forgoing other things that they may want to engage in just to get the steps in. I also think there is a point of diminishing returns unless walking or other step based activities like running are really what you like to do and don't really have any other fitness interests. I like all kinds of active recreation and many of them don't necessarily involve steps...so I wouldn't want to miss out on those things by being obsessed with my steps.

    I definitely think having a step goal can be really beneficial for someone new to fitness and learning how to move their bodies though. Walking is a great introduction to fitness.
  • Onedaywriter
    Onedaywriter Posts: 324 Member
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    For me it’s daily average of 10,000 but on a monthly basis so 310,000 most months. Currently at 9800 daily average since March but trying to catch up. Some days I get only 4K while others 15k. I try to balance it every weekend if I’m shorter at least get close.
  • TX_Bluebonnet
    TX_Bluebonnet Posts: 244 Member
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    I knew I was sedentary, but didn't realize how much really until about 6 weeks ago when I started wearing a step tracker on a daily basis. Since then I've increased my step average from 2-3k a day to about 7-10k. I may have overexerted myself yesterday in the heat because today I'd been feeling really lazy with lots of napping and computer surfing, and now it's 7:30 pm and I only have 1037 steps in so far. 😬 But I'm feeling better now so I'm heading out for an evening walk around the neighborhood. 👋🏻
  • sweetdaisy13
    sweetdaisy13 Posts: 357 Member
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    I have a daily step goal of 10,000 and generally average around 13,000 a day.

    I run, walk and use a Rebounder so it's easy to get my steps and after a long run I can easily get over 20,000 but... Rather than focus on the number of steps I focus on the quality.

    It's quite easy to just plod along each day to reach them just for the sake of meeting a goal, but I want the majority of them achieved through exercise and a bit of effort thrown into it i.e if I go for a walk it's at a brisk pace rather than a slow walk.
  • Xikaiden
    Xikaiden Posts: 37 Member
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    Trying for atleast 10K for my days off, the rest of the week I usually end up with around 20-25K due to work.

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