10, 000 steps a day? With my fitbit

It has been said that we should walk 10,000 steps a day for health, fitness and weight loss.

How far is 10, 000 steps? Based on our average stride of 2.5ft  (76cm) a stride, it works out to approximately 5 miles or 8 km.

Is that possible for a normal person who doesnt include exercise in their daily routine?

I would say: No.

I am not a sedentary person. But neither am I all that active. But I am absent-minded. As a result, I find I am going up and down those steps in my home to retrieve things. I average 12 flights of steps a day. In the first week, I averaged 6300 steps a day. In the second week, a dismal 4800 steps. The number of steps for the 3rd week is not representative as I walked 13 km over 3 days as part of my effort to get more exercise into my routine. (in the first two weeks, I only swam).

My friends with pedometers have posted average readings of 4000 steps a day.

For most people with a desk-bound job, I think it is most difficult to achieve that 10,000 magic number.

In the 3 weeks that I have had my fitbit, I have only managed to exceed that magic number 4 times.

The first was on a day when two of my children had medical/dental appointments, and for both, I took the stairs instead of waiting for the lift, and on that day I had walked half a kilometer to the shops and back. And I took public transport down to town for a bit of shopping plus dinner with my girlfriends. All that just to touch that magic 10,000.

And for the other 3 occasions that I managed it, was when I did a 3- 5 km walk in the morning.

That's how difficult it is to be fit, healthy and get some weight loss!!

So, if you want to lose weight, like my fitbit always flashes me: Burn it, move it, Vamoose!!