I was cleaning out a drawer and found this, a pedometer. It's one of those cheap plastic ones that they hand out for free, at health insurance fairs put on by employers.
I vaguely recalled Dr. Oz saying something about how a person should put on about 10,000 steps per day, to lose weight. So, having been unable to lose more than 2 pounds since the first of the year, I was curious just how many steps I put on per day. Surely, being the active person that I am, I was way beyond that magic 10,000.
Oh, how very humbling. That first day, I put on about 2,000 steps. How could this be? Me, always busy, always doing. But I didn't find the pedometer until about 10 AM. Perhaps I had missed counting a lot of steps.
The next day, I put the pedometer on bright and early, anticipating that big number at the end of the day. Embarrassingly enough, my so-called active lifestyle only put about 3,500 steps onto the counter that day.
Day 3, try again. Today, surely I would see a lot of steps at the end of the day. This was the day of the week that I babysit 6 very active little boys for 3 hours. You would think all the chasing around would really boost that number. Not exactly. Better, but still just a little over 5000 steps. I am getting no where, in a hurry. It's no wonder I've only lost 2 pounds since January.
So, it became clear that if I wanted to put 10,000 steps on per day, I had to make changes. I began by challenging myself to increase the steps in 1,000 increments per day. Mid last week, I was up to 15,000 steps per day. This requires brisk walking for 1 hour straight at some point every day, plus maintaining a high level of activity. I can't do this every day. I would say I'm averaging 10,000 per day. I have some days where I'm just spending too many hours in the car, driving daughters around, or at my desk pushing papers around, to have time to do some serious walking. It's frustrating, because I can have very good intentions. But can't fulfill them due to schedule constraints.
Anyway, this is my big change for this coming year of my life. I hope to become a more active person and shake off some of this fatigue that I've had for the past several years.
I was curious (and you may be, too), just how many calories are burned in all these steps. (Certainly a great many, one would think!) 3,000 steps burns, on average, 100 measly calories. Oh rats! That 300 calorie slice of birthday cake will take 9,000 steps or 1 and 1/4 hours of walking, just to burn it off.
How about you? Do you ever make birthday evaluations of the past year with hopes for the improving your life for the next? Or are you the live each day as it comes sort of person? I happen to be an over-thinker, I over-think just about everything. I envy the person who can just take things as they come.
Happy birthday to me! And many more (just keep stepping, just keep stepping)!
