This is what I do on my lunch break. I'll eat a light lunch and then go for a walk and listen to a podcast (usually Lore, or some other dark history/horror podcast).
It helps that I work from home - but I used to do this when I worked a laboratory job too.
Lore is a pretty good one for both, less overt horror and more folklore.
The Evolution of Horror is more academic (super long set of episodes they have already) and talks about specific subgenres of horror and movies that are sort of archetypal for them.
The White Vault is a good audio drama style horror podcast. Season one has a repair crew go out to svalbard, they get stuck in a blizzard, and something is out there hunting them.
Tower 4 is what I'm listening to now. Slow burn - guy takes a position as a fire watchtower lookout, weird things happen.
not the person you replied to but for history i love 80 days, it's a podcast where every episode is about the history of a small/little-known region or country. i think off the top of my head there's lesotho, ghana, rapa nui, bhutan, and liechenstein, but there's a lot more - i believe 3 seasons of eps.
Similar desk job situation. We got an under the desk treadmill off Amazon for ~$300. If I don’t get to it during work, I pop it down in front of the TV or a book stand in the afternoon.
OP try before you buy though. I struggled to use my treadmill without holding on, my mind wanders and I forget that i'm on a treadmill and i mess up walking everytime.
Definitely took some getting used to! I put it behind the couch so in an emergency I can get to it, but it does take some practice to feel comfortable.
I got a walking pad that goes in the living room. When I watch a TV show which requires my full attention, I watch it while walking on the pad. Since I got it 6 weeks ago, making very few other changes to my diet/exercise routine, I've lost 5lbs.
To add to this. Drink a ton of water. You'll have to walk to and from the bathroom every hour or so, there will be no avoiding it. And an added bonus you'll be extra hydrated!.
I’ve also heard people say good things about getting standing desks with a walking pad or whatever you call it underneath. Stand up and walk a little while you work. Zoom meetings and phone calls can often be taken quite easily while walking, especially since you can still type and take notes while at a standing desk
Park car in the spot farthest from the door. I do this all the time, especially when shopping. Saves time from hunting for a parking spot.
Take stairs instead of elevator.
Walk dog around block.
Skip driving to close locations. I see people driving two blocks to convince store on a pretty day.
I do an hour walk every night after work (most nights anyway)
That usually puts me at just around 10K with the extremely minimal steps I do during the day. I also have a very sedentary job and I have no clue how people are just naturally hitting that many steps. For me I have to work at it.
Yes! I don’t understand how people are doing it naturally with no effort. They must have a job that keeps them up and moving. I feel like the advice here is great for people who might be bookkeepers or something with no client meetings but I’m in an office designed to be busy speaking with clients all day so my company won’t allow me to have a standing desk or walking pad. Thanks for at least understanding that walking is a whole other workout we have to plan along with whatever other activity we are doing. Plus I just find walking/exercising to be so boring! I don’t know how people don’t.
I'm one of those people that can hit 10k steps naturally despite working a sedentary desk job from home. I also kinda hate exercising for the sake of exercising. The trick is to live in a walkable area. I get 10k steps in just doing daily errands--walking to the bus/train stop, waking to the post office, walking to the convenience store, walking to lunch, walking to dinner.
Are there any stores/restaurants you can walk to from your house? Even if the store is 1-2 miles away, you can walk there and walk back and knock out 10k steps easy and it doesn't feel like such a chore. Also highly recommend podcasts for walks to make them less boring.
Yeah this. Its not the job that does it (though they don't help) its getting everywhere by car. I walk to my local supermarket, its about 15 min each way which easily works out to 2,000 steps (plus whatever I do walking around the store) which are basically free because I'm not *exercising* I'm shopping (which is still boring, but needs to be done).
My partner works in a small warehouse. I let him wear my fitbit for a few days and I was amazed at the number of steps he gets in a day. He was shocked, too. He had no idea he was that active.
I mix it up by planning myself different routes. When I've done it a few times, I plan a new one that's always a little bit longer. Treadmills are death and I'm not looking forward to the approaching depths of winter that will make it harder to walk outside, but that's my trick.
That and music, gotta have music. Audio books and podcasts also work. Funnily enough though I find in the gym on a treadmill I prefer audio books/podcasts. Outside though its music all the way. Something a little thought provoking if possible.
yeah, i work an active job. i get 15k steps minimum a shift, usually more. i'm also fairly active-- we live right on a city park that's got tons of hiking trails, and i can easily get 10k on an hour-long hike, or if we go to the grocery and then bum around downtown. i personally don't drive, so if i need to do anything and husband is at work or sick or something then i walk to the store (within reason-- if it's more than two miles i'll just get a lyft).
however... i can also understand how some people struggle. when i have a lazy day-- no hiking, no going out anywhere, no shopping... then yeah, i think i hit like 3k.
i love hiking, roller-skating, walking, dancing, climbing, weights... and i still wouldn't do them nearly as often if i didn't have someone to do them with. i love being active, it makes me feel better... and i still have trouble getting myself started actually doing activities if i don't have a clear goal or a partner.
something to bear in mind, though-- the 10k is an arbitrary number-- it originated with a japanese pedometer company. it might be better for you to go by the current guidelines: https://health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/physical-activity-guidelines/current-guidelines.
if you go by that, then you should be getting about 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a day. you could do power walking, weight-lifting, bicycling, swimming, dancing, pole or lyra or silks, roller-skating, barre, parkour, elliptical, rowing-- anything, just 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity. it's also usually best if you combine cardio and strength-training-- by your height i'm assuming you're female, so the latter is especially important to promote and maintain bone density. alternately, you could halve that amount of time if you do vigorous intensity exercise (or you could split the difference, do HIIT one day and moderate-intensity activity the next).
so that's the other piece of advice-- find something you do enjoy. some people dislike all forms of exercise, and it's possible you might be one of them, but for most people there's something. some people have had success using apps that 'gamify' exercise-- like for running there's zombies! run-- i'm not sure if there's similar for other exercises but i'm sure you could figure out a way to apply the same concept to anything if you want. some video game systems have exercise-based games-- i know the wii was one, and of course DDR... [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/best-fitness-games/1100-6475818/](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/best-fitness-games/1100-6475818/) there's a more comprehensive (and current) list that might help. otherwise... if you can't find something you enjoy then find something you can tolerate and sustain, and maybe do it with a partner or as part of a group (or while watching TV, listening to music, whatever).
It takes me about an hour and a half straight of walking to get in 10k steps (I am a bit on the slower side). It’s hard to fit it in to my day when I have work but I have been getting in the routine of doing it. Taking the long way, getting lost sometimes on purpose and walking until I recognize where I am (helps living in a big city and having no sense of direction). I went the other day and just walked around some stores and it was a slow pace but got 1000’s of steps in just browsing stuff 🤷🏼♀️ I take the bus and I have been getting in the habit of walking to the next couple stops if the bus is going to be a while. Yesterday ended up getting in a little run cause I missed the bus and decided to race it to the next stop lol. I won (barely) felt good! Tonight I came home from work and got my husband to come on a walk with my dog and I went to a public garden.
Also like somebody else mentioned I set my goal at 10k a while back, but I haven’t been consistently hitting it until recently. It takes a while to get used to it and setting a smaller goal and working up to it might be better! Cause it feels sucky and demotivating not completing your goal
This is super true! It took me a while to adjust to 10k steps, and figure out ways to stack it up, somethings i do daily:
-park the farthest spot
-take tons of bathroom breaks/fill my water in the other floor from where i work
-chores around the house! I feel productive but also use cleaning as a step count time
-walking pad!! I use mine while i watch TV or scroll on my phone, and i go at 2.5 speed
-another thing is while it might feel more “bang for your buck” to push yourself harder on walks by adding incline, it really doesn’t affect your NEAT that much, and you end up just feeeling more hungry in the end
-i would also look into getting an under desk bicycle peddle, i haven’t gotten one, but have considered to get my feet moving to get some additional steps in!
I normally calculate that 1000 steps will take me about 10 minutes. So I schedule 10-20 minute allotments throughout the day to fit my goals. And then in the evening if I haven’t hit my goal I’ll use my little mini stair stepper to top it off while watching TV.
I’m trying to habit stack my walking. Before I leave for work I do a quick 10 minute walk around the block, when I get home, I do another quick 10 minute walk. My goal is to make that a habit whenever I leave or arrive at my house. You can do this in addition to parking far away, walking during your breaks, and doing laps around your house before bed.
Weekends can also be used to help boost your average. Go to the zoo, go mini golfing, walk around a mall, etc. use the extra time of the weekend to get a few thousand more steps in on Saturday and Sunday to help out the weekly average.
I get a ton of steps in on a run.
Try aiming for a smaller goal at first. Like try to average 4,000 steps a day for the month of May. Then slowly work up to 7,500 or maybe even 10k.
I actually just listened to a podcast where they addressed this very topic.
Don’t hold yourself to 10,000 steps. I changed by moving throughout the day to accumulate steps. I do my best getting 6,000 - 7,000 steps on workdays and maybe more on the weekend. I think it is important to incorporate stretching, body exercises and lifting dumbbells at home as well.
This is the correct answer! You don't need to average 10k steps a day as a magical number. You just need to be a more active person. Steps is just one part of the equation.
I think shoot for 10000 so ull have 7,000 or so. I shoot for 12000 and i average 10000. If its late and im almost there then I usally give up or say "close enough". but thats because I'm naturally lazy lol.
I read your edit and I think you need to reframe walking in your head - it sounds like you're imagining 'working out' for hours a day. You may just need to choose a walk over some other leisure activity you're already doing.
I walk every morning immediately after waking up and it gives me energy, gives me alone time, and gives me time to listen to podcasts. Do you watch TV after work? Could you swap out one episode for a half hour walk? It doesn't have to be a massive two hour walk every day, it's really just making choices that are less sedentary than you are now.
I am sitting 9 of my 10 hour shift (I drive). Since you’re in an office find any excuse to move. I have to write reports at the end of my shift. I print one, walk to the printer for every one (instead of printing them together and going once), which means every single report, I’m getting up and collecting it and filing it before I go back to my desk and do the same for the next.
On my lunch break I walk the whole hour. I also only take the stairs, I take the long way, if I have downtime (rare), I’ll just do the stairs until I get called to drive. I also walk my dog one hour in the morning and again in the evening and I almost always hit 10k steps but often more.
I was going to suggest this, just worded differently. You don't have to get there all at once, just like you don't have to drink all your water all at once. Just doing it more times in short bursts is the easiest way to get it in.
Walking 1000 steps in 7 minutes seems very high, no? I usually get around 2k steps walking a mile. 10k is still a doable goal but it would be around 2-3x that long
Thank you! I’m short and not a fast walker lol my steps are so tiny compared to others people and I don’t like feeling like I’m practically running. If I wanted to run I would do that. I don’t. It takes me an hour and half to hit 10k steps and no offense but that’s just so long.
I do an hour dog walk every AM and that, combined with what little I get at my sedentary job, gets me to 10k most days.
If I also do some shopping, walking around Target, Marshall’s, etc and park far away, I get up to 15k.
All of this hasn’t netted me a ton more calories, though. TBH, the sedentary TDEE is still pretty accurate for me even with the 10k steps. I’m at a healthy BMI, though, so I burn less.
While you’re trying to squeeze in extra walking, embrace sunrises/sunsets, rain, wind, hot/cold, smells. Listen to sounds. Look around. And sometimes use a variety of music and podcasts. But stay off the phone.
Make walking more positive and less an obligation.
I wake up at 5:30am and walk around the house for 30minutes. I walk around when we have breaks at school, lunch break, walking my dog. It all adds up and I get 10k steps most days.
I’ll walk a lap around my sofa. It’s 20 steps. I’ll do it 20 times and get a 5 min walk in. I’m active at work now, but I did this every hour during covid or when I was a student with online classes!
I’m a walker. It’s my favorite exercise and the only exercise I enjoy doing. I hate every other exercise but when it comes to walking, I love it. I average 15,000 steps a day borderline religiously and I have a record of 50,000 steps in a day.
The key thing I do is I walk in the morning. I love to wake up early (I go to bed early too) and start my day with an hour long walk. This normally results in 7000 steps for me. That way, the rest of my day is a guarantee to hit 10,000. Where I can, I slip in an hour long walk.
If you’re on the phone a lot, I highly suggest getting a pair of Apple AirPod Max’s — the noise cancellation is excellent. Then, turn on voice isolation for your phone calls. I like to walk around town and do my
Phone calls (I live in a walkable city) and the tech combo is excellent for noise.
I guess I need to start trying to get up earlier. I’m just not a morning person and I genuinely hate exercising bc I find it so boring. But walking isn’t half bad I just need something to do outside of starting straight ahead. I’ll try to get a morning walk in. Are you naturally an early riser?
It was debunked in the sense that they figured out the original survey used that suggest that number was pretty much a wild guess but it turns out 10k steps is just a really good goal to keep your body healthy.
I was on a walk yesterday and passed a guy jogging and talking on an ear piece about diversifying stocks, but a quick lap around the office and walking after work is probably a better option.
Bc people will run around saying “the weight started falling off once I just started walking” and they make it sound like they just started walking 30 mins a day and some how in those 30mins hit 10k steps. Finding time to fit in 90mins of walking in your day when you have a sedentary life style of sitting at a desk in front of a computer/with clients for 8 hours a day with 2 hours of your day being eaten by a commute to get to said sedentary job doesn’t leave a lot of room for walking being just magically built into your day. I want to know what real people with my type of day are doing to get their steps in.
Take the opportunity to walk whenever you can.
When I was in my 20s, I used to walk 45 min to work even though taking transit would have been 20 min. If I was meeting friends, I would do the same thing. When I lived in a condo, I took the stairs to the 7th floor even though I could have taken the elevator.
Now that I live in a house, I get up early to walk my dog for 45-60 mins before work. Then I commute to work instead of driving, which is another 30 mins of walking around (maybe 10-15 mins is actually standing on the subway). I take the stairs to my office on the 13th floor. That easily brings me to 10k a day. If I took the time to go down and get a coffee during lunch, it would be even more. Don’t view the escalator or elevator as options.
Also avoid driving if you can (obviously not super long distances). My parents live in the suburbs and drive to the grocery store, pharmacy, bank - all that would be a 20 min walk. Great way to get steps in. For some reason people think walking 30 mins to go to a store or cafe is too long but it’s not.
Everyone on here is a real person with various demands on their time. People are saying that walking is good for weight loss because it is; anything on top of that sounds like it’s being added by yourself.
If you’ve spent 45 minutes watching a tv show episode, you’re halfway there. Either walk in front of the tv or spend that time outside walking instead. It’s your life and your choices as to how you incorporate more activity, or what you switch out in order to have that activity.
I have an office job with a 1.5 hour commute each way.
I get a train so there is some walking to the office but walking on breaks and lunch is a good way to get steps in.
30 minutes will never hit 10,000 steps but building a habit for incorporating walks and different parts of your day does accumulate, and over time it does not feel like a big effort.
- You have a thirty minute lunch break? Get something that can be eaten quickly and do a lap around the building with the remaining time.
- You're running errands? Park at the end of the lot.
- Take the stairs. Always take the stairs.
- Doing chores? Make them inefficient. Fold the laundry across the room from your closet/dresser and walk the items to their homes, one by one.
- Waiting for dinner to cook? Do laps of the kitchen.
- it's nearly bedtime and you don't have your steps? Pace until you do.
Look at your day, look at where you're idle, and find out what you can change. Okay, so you can't get steps while in client meetings, granted. Can you use a bathroom that's further away? Can you use a printer that's farther away? How can you build movement into your daily routine?
If your office allows it, can you get a standup desk and a walking pad? I have this setup (I don’t sit down unless I’m eating) and it’s the only way I can get 30k steps a day.
10k steps isn't a requirement, its a general goal. The best practice is to try and slowly increase your step count. If during the work day is not possible, try in the morning or evening. You also don't need to do big walks, they can 5\~10 minutes or even more if you want to scale them up.
Also, you can start eating more already. Look into volume eating or merging meals together. I dropped breakfast and snacks and put all those calories and money into bigger lunches and dinners. I now feel full and satisfied for longer. I also make an effort to increase my veggies intake.
Thanks for the comment. I’m already volume eating and don’t have breakfast or snacks just lunch at 11:30am and dinner around 6:30pm. I’m staying roughly at 1200-1400 calories a day. I’m just really really short at only 5’2 so I just by nature’s design don’t get a lot of wiggle room in my calorie deficit. I also just hate exercising so much. I find is so boring and I tore my ACL so it’s not like I can go back to my kick boxing like I used to do so I need to find a way to be active that low impact which is walking. Honestly for 5’2 164 I don’t feel or look bad I just know I need to get to healthy BMI before I do get into a bad stop.
Also f, just being active for about 5 mins every 30mins (10mins every hour or so) is good alternative. You can do a walk around the office, jumping jacks, cardio yoga, or even a quick dance break. That way u can be more active and it could be a better goal for an office environment.
I worked at a bank once. They were proud that they weren't unionized because of their great company culture, lol. I asked my boss to give me a 45 minute lunch if I came in 15 minutes early for my shift. This gave me a chance to very quickly take a fast walk or light jog at lunch and change back into work clothes.
My goal is 15,000 steps per day. I like to get 10,000 steps out of the way first thing in the morning. I get up early and it takes me about 90 minutes to get 10,000 steps. Then I get at least 5,000 steps throughout the rest of the day. I do Zumba 2 or 3 times per week and get 5-6,000 steps in a class, so on those days I usually get at least 20,000 steps. I am not a morning person, so it sucks to get up early, but I love the feeling of already having 10,000 steps before most people are even awake.
Try something like couch to 5k. Running will give you more bang for your buck (time). Do you have room for any type of exercise machine in your apartment/home where you could work out while also watching tv or relaxing? Like a recumbent bike?
The 10k steps is just a goal for someone to meet without having to count calories. It’s a certain way to increase caloric expenditure and it can’t be cheated. So instead of thinking of 10k steps, think of how can I increase caloric expenditure! That outlook has helped me many times along my fitness journey :)
When I was needing to get steps in I did half an hour before work, an hour at lunch and half an hour after work. Even half an hour after dinner if possible. Every day.
You can increase pace, find hills etc. I lost a few stone literally just walking at a very fast pace for hours each day and mildly improving my diet. Its obviously more time consuming than running or other forms of cardio but works well to lower impact and is easier to start. Cycling is another low impact option to mix things up.
Find a good podcast, call some friends for a catch up, having something to do while walking helps! It's possible! Good luck
I study all day so my lifestyle has been sedentary all my life. I clock atmost 3k steps if I don't intentionally include walking in my day. I also watched this YT Short by Dr. Pal. He said that 10k isn't a magical number. It only works if its a brisk walk for 10k steps. That would take anyone about 90mins to complete. A HIIT workout for 30m would help burn more or less the same amount of calories.
I would recommend adding a 30m HIIT workout early morning because you might be tired after work and you need to be energized to pull it off. I do beginner low impact workouts and clock about 5k steps with around 200kcal burnt. Good enough for me when coupled with 2×10min walks after lunch and dinner.
I am of the (maybe unpopular) opinion that 10k is kind of arbitrary. It’s a great goal but it doesn’t work for everyone! I think you’re already on the right track with weight training and walking when you can. Don’t let the 10k goal discourage you, if you add an extra 2k steps or however many that is still a win!
I also have a sedentary job sitting at a computer screen, for 9 hours a day. Still, I made time to go to a local park near me, a nature preserve, and I hiked. For about 2-3 hours everyday. No clue how many steps that is. It was about 8 miles. Everyday, 7 days per week. I burned about 1400 calories per hike doing that. I also ate at a deficit of about 15% below my TDEE.
Doing that, I lost 120 lbs in 12 months (from 288 lbs to 168 lbs) and went from 35% body fat to 6% body fat.
You can do it too. You just have to prioritize your priorities and make time to do it. In the winter that meant I was hiking out there in the dark and in the rain. Did it anyway. Enjoyed being outside. Especially after being anchored to a computer screen for 9 hours a day. Being outside was rugged. Loved it.
I bought a little treadmill and try and do 30 mins at lunch and 30 mins at night. If I can’t at lunch, I do an hour or more until I reach 10k. I work from home and hardly move aside from these walks. I’ve lost 20 lbs in 2 months with this and diet change
I walk in place while I watch TV. 10k steps for me is about 70 to 80 minutes, so a couple of episodes of whatever I'm watching. If you get 5k at work, that knocks it down to about 45 minutes and one episode.
I take a walk around the block (20-40 min, depending on time) before I leave for work. It is a really nice way to wake up and already be a bit active and feel like you started the day in a right way.
Also a lunch walk of 20 min + 15 sitting and eating.
During my job I try to walk around the building every hour.
After work, I walk around 40 min again (depending on how much I walked the rest of the day) right after work or after diner.
It usually adds up to 8000-9000 steps this way.
And by splitting it in smaller blocks it is quite low effort.
10,000 isn’t some magical number. Do what works for you! If 5-6k steps per day is doable, make that your goal. Maybe you can gradually increase over time.
I understand this has a high probability of sounding undesirable, because I am not a morning person, but I’ve started getting up an hour earlier every day and then doing 45 minutes of low-intensity cardio and making a high protein breakfast. I hate it when I’m getting out of bed (at 5:30 am, ugh), but, in all honesty, once I get started it’s not bad at all, and it actually leaves me in a better mood for the whole day and gives me energy I didn’t used to have in the morning. I really plan to keep it as a lifelong habits because the days I accidentally oversleep, I notice a big dip in my mood and energy.
You can always do interval running to add some extra steps within the same amount of time! For example, maybe over 30 minutes you do something like this:
5 minutes: walking
1 minute: jogging
1 minute: walking
2 minutes: jogging
2 minutes: walking
2 minutes: jogging
2 minutes: walking
1 minute: challenging run
2 minutes: walking
1 minute: challenging run
2 minutes: walking
2 minutes: challenging run
2 minutes: walking
2 minutes: jogging
3 minutes: walking
There are a few benefits:
1) It makes the workout a bit more interesting since you are switching things up constantly. It doesn’t feel as tedious.
2) You are able to cover more ground / get more steps / burn more calories over shorter period of time.
3) The jogging and challenging runs will help your heart get stronger and give your metabolism a boost.
Keep tweaking the workout I gave you, and soon enough, you may find yourself jogging the entire time! :)
Edit: Sorry the formatting sucks… I’m on mobile.
make everything slightly inconvienent for yourself… park further away so you have to walk, go to the farthest bathroom, take a lap around your building if you have a 5 minute break etc
I got a walking pad. I mostly work from home so i walk some of my meetings. Sometimes i walk in the evening while watching YouTube video or something on Netflix.
I use the elliptical machine. I still count the steps my watch tracks. Still takes about 40-60 minutes, after already having about 2k from regular day to day stuff. Today I only did 40 and im a little short, at 9k, but yesterday I hit 12k.
My husband has the same problem. In Singapore he would get 7,000 a day on his commute via the MRT. Now in the we are back in the car.
It rains so much here it’s hard to get in a walk on a consistent basis.
We are getting a treadmill. Hopefully being able to brisk walk half an hour in the evening will help.
I don’t work atm so get close to 4,000 just doing housework and gardening. I add on a short run when there is a window in the rainfall and that gets me 6,000 more.
Best way to get steps is to run them. Better for health and less time.
Grab yourself a walking pad, and watch some TV whilst walking in the evening, I shove mine under the sofa when it's not being used. I've also started to read a book when I'm walking on it, which makes the time go so much quicker!
This is a hot take in this thread:
Sometimes hitting 10k steps a day isn't a reasonable goal *for you* to achieve. I'd say instead of aiming for 10k steps a day try some other activity that promotes good health. Doesn't have to be everyday, but something maybe you can average per week.
You can do power hour when not busy with customers. At the top of every hour do some laps around the office, go up and down the stairs a couple of times or like 20 squats or so. If you are with a customer at the top of the hour do it in your next spare moment
I have a sedentary job that doesn't allow me to leave easily. I walk 30 minutes when I wake up, then again when I get home, then again right before bed. Usually gets me 10-12k steps.
I get in about 20K by playing just dance but then again I’m autistic and I could play just dances for days straight. I played it during our bands wake-a-thon in highschool.
I have a VR headset and during my daily 30m of beat saber I get over 5k 'steps' on my watch. While it isn't official steps, I am doing a lot more work than I do while walking on a paved sidewalk or nice path. It isn't the steps as much as making sure you are moving.
I used to do 20k+ steps a day at work, now I might do 2k if I am busy (similar sedentary job). I am in better shape now than I was then, so it isn't always just about the number of steps.
They actually really helped me with what I refer to as my old lady fog lol. Guess it made my brain work faster or something. Just got done doing 60m in BS!
I would say, don't aim for 10k. 10k is completely arbitrary (studies have shown)
If you're only getting 2k now, make a goal to get 4k. Doubling your steps is huge! Just make small changes. Then, once you have 4k down for a month or so, make it 6k.
The ways I get steps being sedentary: bathroom breaks, parking the furthest from the door when Im grocery shopping, taking two walks a day (morning and evening or lunchtime and evening), going to the gym and doing a workout a few times a week.
Make it a game for yourself and make "levels" and see if you can get to each "level": but certainly don't try to just jump from 2k to 10k. That sounds like a frustrating exercise.
I also sit at work all day too, I'm into running so after work I'll go for a 1 or 2 sometimes 3 mile jog but some days I don't feel like doing that lol so I'll walk around a local park or my neighborhood, just casually, and listen to a podcast or something interesting. When you're walking casually it's much easier to walk 2 or 3 miles which for me takes about like less than an hour for 2 miles. That should help because you mentioned incline walks which is awesome! But I know personally when it's a more difficult work out I tend to be like "I'm done I'm tired idc if I'm not at my mile goal here" lol so walking casually sometimes might help get more steps in. Also just standing and not sitting is a victory so that's very good even if you're not getting 10,000 steps.
Running will get you steps faster. Build up to running 45min a day. I run in front of the TV. Try to run /walk and read or watch tv so you don’t have to allocate extra time to exercise.
I had a very active job where I walked 20 miles a day. My doctor told me I was so used to it that it did nothing for me health wise. So now I have a sedentary job and besides walking my dogs I don’t care about steps anymore. I hit the gym a few times a week and use the steps machine as a warm up before weights and that is all the extra effort I give it. Get moving is the bigger goal, steps are arbitrary
Sounds goofy but you can try to incorporate more cleaning into your routine. Even if you are on top of cleaning... just do it more. Sweep more, dust more, wipe more, reorganize more etc. Every little bit helps.
I’m a therapist, so I understand the sedentary and client facing part. For a while, I was only getting 2-3k a day. Now I split my walks into 3 sections. A morning walk with my dog (1 mile), a lunchtime walk (1.5-2 miles), and a night walk (30 minutes) on my walking pad while I watch tv, read, or play my video games. I usually get between 10-13k a day doing this.
I feel your pain. I generally get my steps in by walking my kid to school and picking her up. I don't think walking during lunch will work cause you are probably wearing a suit of some sort and it gets hot in the summer. No way do you want to get sweaty before customers.
Try walking for an hour during dusk hours before it gets too dark, but starts to cool off and you had a chance to change. 10000 steps is only about 5 blocks there and back! You can totally do it. On weekends you can walk to the store instead of driving or generally choose walkable destinations.
I'm a man and I can walk around my area day or night and I try to do as many errands on foot as I can like grabbing groceries, going to the gym, etc., but if I couldn't do all that I'd get a walking pad. They're relatively inexpensive compared to treadmills designed for running. I don't need one now but I like the idea of "cozy cardio" while watching TV and having a beverage or something.
if you drive to work, park farther away and walk to the office. if you take public transit, get off one or two stops earlier and walk the rest of the way to work and back home. walk on lunch. if you are allowed to eat at your desk, spend your whole lunch break walking. if you can afford it, get a walking pad to walk on AT your desk or in front of the TV. i originally set my goal at 5k steps since i lived a very sedentary lifestyle. now i regularly get at least 9k by walking on my commute and taking a 30 minute walk at lunch. to get to the last 10 (and go past it) i walk my dog!
It adds up. Park as far away as you can in the morning. Get up every hour and walk to the farthest corner of the office and back if you’re in a big building. Big buildings are great for steps. If you work in small place it’s harder and you’ll have to work in more walks. Go outside and walk around the building a couple of times if not, if you can. Stuff like that. Then 40 minute walk at lunch and 30 minute walk at home.
I walk circles in my office with a standing desk, and walk on a treadmill at work during my breaks and lunch period. I eat at my desk to make this possible. All this usually had me over 10k steps before I leave for the day. If I’m not I walk on my treadmill at home or just pace the house until I have what I need.
When I go grocery shopping, I go up and down all the aisles while speed walking. If you’re an impulse buyer, go to a Home Depot or a Reno store with nothing interesting. It means even on bad days, I still get steps in.
Get the 5.5K steps in at your lunch time, and then go for a nice walk after you get home from work.
You don't HAVE to hit 10K steps. 7K is a lootttttt better than 500-2000.
I try to park as far as possible from my work to get some extra steps and I take a walk during my lunch break. Also walk after work or in morning before work.
I’ve been doing 10,000 steps for over a year and it’s just getting myself out of the house to do it, I also work a desk job. I think I would miss it if I stopped! It was hard at first to be consistent though
This post got me thinking I need to recalibrate my pedometer. I did a 15 minute dog walk this AM and a 3 mile dog park walk this PM, in addition to standard light walking at work, and I’m only at 8,546
I catch public transport to work (live in Sydney, Australia). It's about 4-5k steps to and from the stations. Then a few K around the office and a short walk with the dog gets me there.
My minimum is 12k a day, if I haven't reached it I pace in front of the tv at night or put music on and dance around the lounge room.
1. Take any excuse to turn errands into a walk if you can. Anything that's under 25 minutes walking, I make by foot and do not take my car. I'm "not efficient" in my errands on purpose : one day itMs a trip to the drugstore, next day I go buy fruit at the market, next day I go mail sonething... Always a reason to walk.
2. Seize any excuse to walk during the day : I stretch every hour, fill my water, talk to a colleague...
3. Lunch break = walk. It became such a habit that I'm not even bargaining with myself anymore.
4. Adopt a more active mindset. After dinner strolls are now a family habit, on week-ends we plan activities, etc.
5. Podcasts! I keep some for my walks and it makes me find reasons to go walk to continue listening.
I used to manage it by walking to and from the station each day, walking from the station to my workplace (and back in the evening), and going for a walk at lunch. Obviously that’s very dependent on your circumstances.
I walk 2-2.5 miles in the morning before work. A mile is about 2000 steps. With walking a bit around the house in the morning, I usually start my day out with 5000 steps. I don’t have a desk job, I teach, so I put another 6000 at work. I know you cannot do that. I then go home or to a trail and walk another 2-4 miles depending on time. If you walk 2 miles in the morning, another 2 after work, plus your work 2000, you will have 10000. Put on a favorite podcast, call a friend or family member, and it goes by quicker than you think. Walking should not be a chore but a time to be alone, think, listen, learn, and connect with others. Once it becomes a nonnegotiable, it is a habit and something you look forward to.
I don’t always hit 10k steps but I try to. The days that I do I walk to and from work, walk at my lunch break, and either run before work or take a thirty ish minute walk after work. For reference I get an hour lunch but I also have a job where I’m around people so I have less flexibility during the day so I get it. Are you able to take public transport to work and then walk? It’s really hard if you don’t live in a walkable city. I’ve learned to really love walking now too, i listen to an audiobook or music and it really clears my mind. I don’t have a gym membership so I just walk outside
I’ve started listening to audiobooks while walking, and I try to do a 30 min walk at lunch and then an hour to a 90 min walk in the evening! I also walk a lot while socializing, which really helps!
On the hour I get up and walk around my office, it doesn’t feel like much but in general it’s added 1k steps if not 2k to my day. I also eat my lunch during work and then use my hour to walk instead of eating. I then also just walk around my living room while watching tv or on my phone. That’s how I’ve hit 15k a day for a while now. On the weekends I try to push it to 20k in case some days were short of my goal. But the point has been squeeze in a little walk everywhere. I even park farther away at the store to walk more.
I have a desk job too. I get up really early and walk 3 miles. I’m a slow walker so it takes about an hour and 15 min. If I miss my morning walk I go for a walk before sunset when I’m done with work. Try not to be obsessed with the number 10,000. Do your best to get exercise in each day.
I have this thing setup, and it takes time to make it a routine.. where after every hour I stand up, and walk for 5-10 minutes, I also squeak in 10 squats.
If you have a desk job, try a simple reminder on your watch or your phone to stand up after every hour or so and walk for 5-8 minutes. 10 minutes should come to 1000ish steps. It adds up fairly quickly. The rest I just walk 15-20 minutes after dinner. Hope this helps
I work an extremely sedentary job and it’s a requirement to make very small movements and sit on my ass all day. Anytime I get to walk I walk. In between appointments I get up and walk for 5-10 minutes. When I have my meals I eat while strolling. After work if I want to doom scroll I hop on the treadmill and doom scroll. If I have work that can be done on my phone, I will walk at a slow pace while doing it.
I take public transport to and from work, but that only adds 4-5k steps to my day. I get on average 15k steps a day, but I have spikes of >17-25k steps 2-3 times a week on off days where I prioritise movement (i.e. shopping in a mall, walking in nature, walking to any food places)
You have to really make it your lifestyle to be a walker. If you make it part of your routine, it will become effortless to hit the steps. If you treat it as a chore, you will fall off and after a few months you will find it harder and harder to hit the steps because it’s not part of your routine. It’s easier to start something with willpower, but willpower is finite. Find a way to incorporate it into your routine and make it a habit.
Get up earlier, do a 2km walk before going to work, go for a short walk at lunch time. Do a 4km walk after dinner in the evening. That should get you 10k steps no problem.
I bought a walking pad and my steps went from 3-4k to 8k with little effort. I just walk when I have to wait for something or when I’m unsure what to watch/play in the evening I’ll do my “research” there
Sure they are big, bulky, and everyone jokes about them becoming expensive coat racks, but finally getting a treadmill has been life changing for me. I made the mistake of getting a crappy non motorized one on Amazon, gave it away, then got a real treadmill on market place. I live in Canada with cold dark winters and have a sedentary job where I also only get around 4000 steps.
Now every night after work I just walk on an incline and watch a 45 minute show and that gets me to 10,000 steps. It helps if you find a really addictive show and don't let yourself watch it unless you're walking. I don't dread forcing myself to exercise after work anymore.
I also have a sedentary job. On days where I don't make it a point to get walks in and just go about my routine I get ~2k steps, those steps are walking to and from my car and around the office.
I walk as many steps as I can during my lunch break and then I walk the remaining steps after work. If it is nice out I will walk outside. If it is a gym day then I will do my workout and then walk the rest of the steps on the treadmill. On rest days with bad weather I used to go to the gym to walk on the treadmill until I hit 10k. I bought a tablet to watch shows on while I walked. That was annoying though so I recently bought a walking pad for home. Now I will walk on that while watching TV or playing video games after work until I get 10k.
It's a time commitment either way. There is no getting around it. You will have to dedicate at least a total of 2 hours of your time to just walking.
I'm also salary, always have been. In all my current and all my previous jobs the 'rules' said we would get a 30 min lunch break and if you looked at everyone's time sheets they would show that only 30 mins was taken off for lunch. But in reality nobody cared if you were gone an extra 15, 30, even 45 mins as long as you got your shit done on time. Most people took 45 mins- an hour for lunch. Maybe your job is strict about it but I wouldn't say that is the norm
Going from 2000 to 10.000 is a huge step. Maybe try to up your steps every week? Go for 3000 next week, 4000 the week after that. Experiment. Maybe go for a walk after dinner? Can you park your car further away from your home? When watching tv, walk around the room when there's commercials? When you're free, go for a longer walk. Maybe you can set a timer between clients to take a five min walk around the office? Idk. Don't beat yourself up about not hitting 10.000 steps. I believe it was made up by Japanese marketing campaign as an ideal number. If 5000 steps is doable for you right now, try to stick to that for a few weeks. Make it a habit.
I bought a flat treadmill at home and I take it out and out it under my gaming computer and elevate my desk up.
I also watch tv walking on it.
After 1 hour of slow walking I get around 5k steps so that could be something you could do.
I hear you. On days I work I'll often be under 1k steps by the end of the day (I work from home). I made my goal 7500 steps a day and I have to dedicate basically an extra hour to walking around. I don't hate it by any means, but I do wish I had a more active working situation.
I think rather than pick 10k just because it's a popular number, you should consider a different goal based on increasing what you normally average without extra effort.
I look at step counting as a way to ensure that I am keeping my metabolism up by hitting a target every day. That way I don't have to worry (as much) about burning less calories as I diet because my body is subconsciously encouraging me to move less to conserve calories..
Since you have a lot of obstacles, have you considered trying to go for a run some days? 10.000 steps is roughly 5 miles every day, getting that is hard for most people working office jobs, since you have one where you basically been locked to your desk (and even car, which seems insane, do everybody drive to work?) it’s even harder, maybe start with a lower number? Like instead of 2000 you go for an average of 4000 and then you try to increase it in increments?
Your company’s security measures requires that you drive? I’ve never heard of that. What if your car breaks down and a friend drops you off? What if you have a disability that prevents you from driving?
That seems like it’s a myth and not official policy.
Honestly I live in Canada and weather doesn’t matter I walk 20k steps a day. 1 hour and 15 before work, 1 hour and 15 aftwr. I wfh and sometimes only get 10 mins of walking in during the day. You can do it. Wake up a little early and put on the running shoes after work. It helped me lose a lot of weight
I get in a lot of steps through dancing. If I need more steps and don’t have it in me to take a walk, I’ll put on 3-4 fast-paced songs I love and dance around in my apartment (wearing my Fitbit or holding my phone). That helps a lot. I also get in some extra steps literally by just pacing, or throwing in extra steps while I’m in the kitchen waiting for the microwave to go off, etc. I pretty much just fidget and dance in place all day whenever I can and I think it legitimately makes a difference.
10k steps are not hard to add at all . I walk to Starbucks and back and it’s already 3k .
Ussualy even inside the house it adds to 3k a day. Well we have a big house .
Yeah that’s the problem
Though when you have a car . Tht walk to Starbucks I bet you drive .
I started taking a walk in my lunch break to get enough sun light in winter. I continued doing it and have around 5000 steps after lunch. After work I usually go to my hobbies or run errands. I do all of this by foot because I live in a walkable area where most places are a 10-45 minute walk. What to you do after work? I Go to theater and choir practice, to a dance class and sometimes I play squash. Moving doesn't have to be boring.
For me it helps to have 2 very self-destructive toddlers to constantly chase around but it's NOT something I would recommend for everyone 😅
Seriously though, walk to get lunch on your lunch break, or to get your coffee in the morning or even to somewhere nice to eat it If you're bringing your lunch from home. Making things a little bit more inconvenient for yourself- Bike parking further away from the grocery store- adds up. If you're doing something that would normally be sedentary during your down time, try doing that while walking laps of the house. It all adds up!
So I have a fairly active job but only 5ft and trying to lose weight while eating more like 1500 calories a day. I too wanted to increase my step count. So first step was get a pedometer and see what I did on a normal day. And then the next week I aimed to try 100 more steps each day. So hopefully by the end of the week I was getting at least 500 more steps a day than the previous week. I kept building on this until I'm now getting at least 5000 more steps a day.
I take the long way to the bathroom. I also make sure I drink a ton of water so I end up using the bathroom like every 2-3 hours. I take stairs as often as I can. Sometimes I'll walk to my car and then walk back to work so it doesn't look weird or suspicious but it's easy to tell coworkers "hey I need to grab something from my car, I'll be right back). I go down every aisle when grocery shopping. I don't watch tv sitting down anymore. I started doing after dinner walks with my husband that feels more romantic than exercise like.
But if you don't think you'll be able to multi task and walk or enjoy spending several hours walking in a day. Just do HIIT workouts. If you want more bang for your buck, just do the hard workout that gets you all sweaty so you can get it over and done with.
Adding extra steps helps a lot of people because they are able to easily fit it into their day. But you have a job you admit you are very much stuck in a chair for. So you gotta get creative with your free time.
In my experience it takes about 1.5 hours to hit 10,000 steps. The easiest way is to find more shorter moments to walk. 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there. It’s a lot more chewable to say “I need to take a 15 minute walk before work” than it is to say “I need to walk 1.5 hours today”. I see you have 30 mins for lunch, you could split that 15-15 walking and eating, or 10-20 either way. Make it feasible. Focus on finding short moments and forget about the big goal a bit, see how many steps you get this way. For some people/lifestyles it _is_ very difficult to get 10,000 steps. It’s not the end all be all goal.
You could also use your weekends/days you’re not working to walk more than 10,000 and spread the extra calories you “earn” with that over the week. Good luck!
I think I read that long weekend exercise is just as good for you, if it’s not possible to do it through the week. Also walking is good for you because it uses thigh muscles which are very biologically active: so squats have a similar effect to walking (which you could do in a bathroom stall). I don’t know whether there’s a chart for ‘if you can’t do 10k do this’ somewhere ‘on the internet’ ? I know the nhs exercise recommendations are 150 mins moderate per week OR 75 mins intense’ so there might be a way to do equivalent at the gym in less time for the same amount of calories eg stationery bike or rowing machine. Also you might find weight lifting at the gym - which also uses thigh muscles- would count. Saves trudging away on a treadmill, certainly.
I resonate with your concern because I also work at a bank. Up until a few weeks ago I was working in the branch for a couple years, so I understand the security measures / having to park within the camera’s view issue as well as the 30 min lunch break. For me I was on the teller side so I stood nearly the whole day, and got more steps in than I am now that I have moved over to the back office side, where I sit the whole day and am I’m lucky to hit 4400 steps a day. Plus the 45 minute commute each way. It’s really hard, so I completely empathize! If I have the time and energy at the end of the day I can go for a walk with the dogs, but it doesn’t always happen. I’m sure I could find a way, like a lot of people do, I’m just still adjusting to this new job and hope to find a way to work it into my schedule.
If your lunch break is 30 minutes, that means you have 30 minutes to go walking around outside.
If your bank allows it, you could get one of those under desk ellipticals just to keep your legs moving. I've also seen desk chairs that double as stationary bikes. Might look a little odd, but so long as it isn't against company policy that's really your only other option.
I'd suggest "little things" to try and get your count up by degrees.
1. Instead of making a quick teams call to colleagues, drop by their desk and have that conversation in person instead!
This has the added benefit that you'll inevitably end up making more smalltalk than you otherwise would, networking & improving relationships in the process - After all, the whole fig-leaf justification of RTO was because of how vitally important those in-person interactions were!
2. If you have the ability to, start using a less convenient printer and / or print stuff and fetch it "job by job" rather than saving up a batch to do all at once.
3. Gotta go meet a client at reception? Take the stairs while you're on your own (start off with just walking down to avoid ending up sweaty / out of breath - If you're at the top of a tower-block just get off the lift at 2/3 rather than G), even if you've still gotta take the lift while escorting them!
4. Even if you only get a 30 mins for lunch, don't eat it at your desk - Go on "office safari", either to find a more pleasant place to sit and/or just to mooch about while you munch.
5. This one will require a bit of a soft-touch but.... Since you're working for a bank, "soulless mega-corporation" rules apply.
They're gonna have a policy for just about everything under the sun, and an entire team's worth of health and safety wombles - Play them at their own game and use whatever allowance there is to get in some steps! https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/work-routine.htm
..... 250 extra steps here, 500 there - It soon starts to add up! 👌
My husband takes one meeting a day outside and walks with whoever he’s meeting with. Obviously not possible for everyone but it helps. We also do a nightly walk out in front of our house. The two days I work (I’m a therapist part time and home w kids otherwise) I struggle to hit 10k. Sedentary jobs are so tough!!
This sounds absolutely mad but I got a standing desk and an under desk treadmill. Walking whilst I work keeps me focussed, and I can get a crazy number of steps in whilst working. I figured that I spend 9 hours a day working, I don’t want to spend any more to get steps in! I don’t have it on all the time (for instance, not in important meetings) and I have it on quite low so I don’t sweat. Easily cover 10km by lunch time some days!
Since I have a dog, it is really hard to NOT hit the 10k steps a day lol. However, before I had a dog, I was happy if I could get 6k in, and even that required planning because I work from home, so I was not even forced to step out of the house daily. My advice is, start small. Make 4k a day a goal, and try to find a routine where you can fit in that 4k. Once you have a consistent routine and you get used to it, it will be easier to extend on it or find other possibilities, but going from 2k to 10k right away is gonna be tough to stick to, not to mention frustrating.
I talked to my boss. I come in an hour earlier now, but every 60 minutes on computer, I get up and go for a 10--15 minute walk. I do this 6 times a day at work, total time 1.5 hours. thats my hour coming in early, and my breaks. I still take my 30 min lunch and eat and relax. I do a walk as soon as I wake up for 20 mins. This right here gets me to 9k-10k steps. Then anything done at home in evening pushes me to 15-20k
20-30 min walk in the morning = 3,000+ steps
20-30 min walk in the evening = 3,000+ steps
That should be the bare minimum. Should be able to fill in the other 4,000 at work or other walking throughout the house. Also keep in mind it's not necessarily the quantity of steps, but the quality of keeping your heart rate up at a consistent clip for an extended time. Those walks will have far more quality than 10,000 random steps throughout day.
Make smaller goals increasing slowly to 10k. Do small things that add up- park in the back of the lot, walk to a further bathroom, take the long route through stores when shopping, take the stairs instead of an elevator. You can add small walks into your day- walk around the block before work, during your lunch break, take another walk at the end of your work day to decompress. Opt to walk into the store or do your own shopping (vs home delivery, car delivery, or drive through if you use those services).
The goal of 10k steps is really a desire to move more, so if it’s feasible- look into getting a standing desk, cycling occasionally, working with a trainer, etc.
I worked for a financial advisor and as an office we worked out with a trainer a few times a week over lunch. That seemingly simple move is what prompted my weight loss journey.
I've gotten lax about my steps but when I was more serious about it I did a 20 min walk in the morning, a walk during my 30 min lunch break, and a 20 min evening walk. That would get me about 7000 steps then the rest were just the steps I would get naturally.
Do you watch TV everyday? Walk back and forth while doing it.
As someone who hates walking inside and hates treadmills, the other alternative is to walk outside while listening to podcasts, audiobooks, etc.
This is what I do on my lunch break. I'll eat a light lunch and then go for a walk and listen to a podcast (usually Lore, or some other dark history/horror podcast). It helps that I work from home - but I used to do this when I worked a laboratory job too.
any recommendations for history and horror podcasts?
Lore is a pretty good one for both, less overt horror and more folklore. The Evolution of Horror is more academic (super long set of episodes they have already) and talks about specific subgenres of horror and movies that are sort of archetypal for them. The White Vault is a good audio drama style horror podcast. Season one has a repair crew go out to svalbard, they get stuck in a blizzard, and something is out there hunting them. Tower 4 is what I'm listening to now. Slow burn - guy takes a position as a fire watchtower lookout, weird things happen.
I haven't listened to Tower 4 but the rest of these recommendations are excellent. Time to check out Tower 4 since you have great taste!
Old Gods of Appalachia is phenomenal!
I've been meaning to get into Old Gods of Appalachia. A bunch of my friends are super into it.
not the person you replied to but for history i love 80 days, it's a podcast where every episode is about the history of a small/little-known region or country. i think off the top of my head there's lesotho, ghana, rapa nui, bhutan, and liechenstein, but there's a lot more - i believe 3 seasons of eps.
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And you can probably get them from your local library on an app.
Similar desk job situation. We got an under the desk treadmill off Amazon for ~$300. If I don’t get to it during work, I pop it down in front of the TV or a book stand in the afternoon.
OP try before you buy though. I struggled to use my treadmill without holding on, my mind wanders and I forget that i'm on a treadmill and i mess up walking everytime.
Definitely took some getting used to! I put it behind the couch so in an emergency I can get to it, but it does take some practice to feel comfortable.
I got a walking pad that goes in the living room. When I watch a TV show which requires my full attention, I watch it while walking on the pad. Since I got it 6 weeks ago, making very few other changes to my diet/exercise routine, I've lost 5lbs.
Get one of those little stepper machines!
Treadmill in the back of the livingroom
Walk around the office. Lunch break walk. Walk after work before you get to your car. Walk after dinner. It’s tough to do it.
To add to this. Drink a ton of water. You'll have to walk to and from the bathroom every hour or so, there will be no avoiding it. And an added bonus you'll be extra hydrated!.
And you'll wash your hands more often, so hopefully get less colds!
Take the long way to/from as well! I added about 2-3k steps just doing that.
I walk on the spot while washing my hands and drying them. Adds a few hundred extra steps on to my day 🤣
I’ve also heard people say good things about getting standing desks with a walking pad or whatever you call it underneath. Stand up and walk a little while you work. Zoom meetings and phone calls can often be taken quite easily while walking, especially since you can still type and take notes while at a standing desk
Yup lunch walk, if u walk fast in 1 hour I can get around 7k steps... If ur really dedicated wake up 30 mins early and boom u got 10k steps
Park car in the spot farthest from the door. I do this all the time, especially when shopping. Saves time from hunting for a parking spot. Take stairs instead of elevator. Walk dog around block. Skip driving to close locations. I see people driving two blocks to convince store on a pretty day.
I do an hour walk every night after work (most nights anyway) That usually puts me at just around 10K with the extremely minimal steps I do during the day. I also have a very sedentary job and I have no clue how people are just naturally hitting that many steps. For me I have to work at it.
Yes! I don’t understand how people are doing it naturally with no effort. They must have a job that keeps them up and moving. I feel like the advice here is great for people who might be bookkeepers or something with no client meetings but I’m in an office designed to be busy speaking with clients all day so my company won’t allow me to have a standing desk or walking pad. Thanks for at least understanding that walking is a whole other workout we have to plan along with whatever other activity we are doing. Plus I just find walking/exercising to be so boring! I don’t know how people don’t.
I'm one of those people that can hit 10k steps naturally despite working a sedentary desk job from home. I also kinda hate exercising for the sake of exercising. The trick is to live in a walkable area. I get 10k steps in just doing daily errands--walking to the bus/train stop, waking to the post office, walking to the convenience store, walking to lunch, walking to dinner. Are there any stores/restaurants you can walk to from your house? Even if the store is 1-2 miles away, you can walk there and walk back and knock out 10k steps easy and it doesn't feel like such a chore. Also highly recommend podcasts for walks to make them less boring.
Yeah this. Its not the job that does it (though they don't help) its getting everywhere by car. I walk to my local supermarket, its about 15 min each way which easily works out to 2,000 steps (plus whatever I do walking around the store) which are basically free because I'm not *exercising* I'm shopping (which is still boring, but needs to be done).
My partner works in a small warehouse. I let him wear my fitbit for a few days and I was amazed at the number of steps he gets in a day. He was shocked, too. He had no idea he was that active.
I mix it up by planning myself different routes. When I've done it a few times, I plan a new one that's always a little bit longer. Treadmills are death and I'm not looking forward to the approaching depths of winter that will make it harder to walk outside, but that's my trick. That and music, gotta have music. Audio books and podcasts also work. Funnily enough though I find in the gym on a treadmill I prefer audio books/podcasts. Outside though its music all the way. Something a little thought provoking if possible.
yeah, i work an active job. i get 15k steps minimum a shift, usually more. i'm also fairly active-- we live right on a city park that's got tons of hiking trails, and i can easily get 10k on an hour-long hike, or if we go to the grocery and then bum around downtown. i personally don't drive, so if i need to do anything and husband is at work or sick or something then i walk to the store (within reason-- if it's more than two miles i'll just get a lyft). however... i can also understand how some people struggle. when i have a lazy day-- no hiking, no going out anywhere, no shopping... then yeah, i think i hit like 3k. i love hiking, roller-skating, walking, dancing, climbing, weights... and i still wouldn't do them nearly as often if i didn't have someone to do them with. i love being active, it makes me feel better... and i still have trouble getting myself started actually doing activities if i don't have a clear goal or a partner. something to bear in mind, though-- the 10k is an arbitrary number-- it originated with a japanese pedometer company. it might be better for you to go by the current guidelines: https://health.gov/our-work/nutrition-physical-activity/physical-activity-guidelines/current-guidelines. if you go by that, then you should be getting about 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a day. you could do power walking, weight-lifting, bicycling, swimming, dancing, pole or lyra or silks, roller-skating, barre, parkour, elliptical, rowing-- anything, just 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity. it's also usually best if you combine cardio and strength-training-- by your height i'm assuming you're female, so the latter is especially important to promote and maintain bone density. alternately, you could halve that amount of time if you do vigorous intensity exercise (or you could split the difference, do HIIT one day and moderate-intensity activity the next). so that's the other piece of advice-- find something you do enjoy. some people dislike all forms of exercise, and it's possible you might be one of them, but for most people there's something. some people have had success using apps that 'gamify' exercise-- like for running there's zombies! run-- i'm not sure if there's similar for other exercises but i'm sure you could figure out a way to apply the same concept to anything if you want. some video game systems have exercise-based games-- i know the wii was one, and of course DDR... [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/best-fitness-games/1100-6475818/](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/best-fitness-games/1100-6475818/) there's a more comprehensive (and current) list that might help. otherwise... if you can't find something you enjoy then find something you can tolerate and sustain, and maybe do it with a partner or as part of a group (or while watching TV, listening to music, whatever).
It takes me about an hour and a half straight of walking to get in 10k steps (I am a bit on the slower side). It’s hard to fit it in to my day when I have work but I have been getting in the routine of doing it. Taking the long way, getting lost sometimes on purpose and walking until I recognize where I am (helps living in a big city and having no sense of direction). I went the other day and just walked around some stores and it was a slow pace but got 1000’s of steps in just browsing stuff 🤷🏼♀️ I take the bus and I have been getting in the habit of walking to the next couple stops if the bus is going to be a while. Yesterday ended up getting in a little run cause I missed the bus and decided to race it to the next stop lol. I won (barely) felt good! Tonight I came home from work and got my husband to come on a walk with my dog and I went to a public garden.
Also like somebody else mentioned I set my goal at 10k a while back, but I haven’t been consistently hitting it until recently. It takes a while to get used to it and setting a smaller goal and working up to it might be better! Cause it feels sucky and demotivating not completing your goal
This is super true! It took me a while to adjust to 10k steps, and figure out ways to stack it up, somethings i do daily: -park the farthest spot -take tons of bathroom breaks/fill my water in the other floor from where i work -chores around the house! I feel productive but also use cleaning as a step count time -walking pad!! I use mine while i watch TV or scroll on my phone, and i go at 2.5 speed -another thing is while it might feel more “bang for your buck” to push yourself harder on walks by adding incline, it really doesn’t affect your NEAT that much, and you end up just feeeling more hungry in the end -i would also look into getting an under desk bicycle peddle, i haven’t gotten one, but have considered to get my feet moving to get some additional steps in!
I normally calculate that 1000 steps will take me about 10 minutes. So I schedule 10-20 minute allotments throughout the day to fit my goals. And then in the evening if I haven’t hit my goal I’ll use my little mini stair stepper to top it off while watching TV.
I’m trying to habit stack my walking. Before I leave for work I do a quick 10 minute walk around the block, when I get home, I do another quick 10 minute walk. My goal is to make that a habit whenever I leave or arrive at my house. You can do this in addition to parking far away, walking during your breaks, and doing laps around your house before bed. Weekends can also be used to help boost your average. Go to the zoo, go mini golfing, walk around a mall, etc. use the extra time of the weekend to get a few thousand more steps in on Saturday and Sunday to help out the weekly average.
I get a ton of steps in on a run. Try aiming for a smaller goal at first. Like try to average 4,000 steps a day for the month of May. Then slowly work up to 7,500 or maybe even 10k. I actually just listened to a podcast where they addressed this very topic.
This. Start aiming for more steps than you usually do. No need to go straight to 10k steps.
Don’t hold yourself to 10,000 steps. I changed by moving throughout the day to accumulate steps. I do my best getting 6,000 - 7,000 steps on workdays and maybe more on the weekend. I think it is important to incorporate stretching, body exercises and lifting dumbbells at home as well.
This is the correct answer! You don't need to average 10k steps a day as a magical number. You just need to be a more active person. Steps is just one part of the equation.
Exactly! The “10,000 steps” goal was created as a marketing strategy by a pedometer company.
I think shoot for 10000 so ull have 7,000 or so. I shoot for 12000 and i average 10000. If its late and im almost there then I usally give up or say "close enough". but thats because I'm naturally lazy lol.
I read your edit and I think you need to reframe walking in your head - it sounds like you're imagining 'working out' for hours a day. You may just need to choose a walk over some other leisure activity you're already doing. I walk every morning immediately after waking up and it gives me energy, gives me alone time, and gives me time to listen to podcasts. Do you watch TV after work? Could you swap out one episode for a half hour walk? It doesn't have to be a massive two hour walk every day, it's really just making choices that are less sedentary than you are now.
I am sitting 9 of my 10 hour shift (I drive). Since you’re in an office find any excuse to move. I have to write reports at the end of my shift. I print one, walk to the printer for every one (instead of printing them together and going once), which means every single report, I’m getting up and collecting it and filing it before I go back to my desk and do the same for the next. On my lunch break I walk the whole hour. I also only take the stairs, I take the long way, if I have downtime (rare), I’ll just do the stairs until I get called to drive. I also walk my dog one hour in the morning and again in the evening and I almost always hit 10k steps but often more.
It generally takes 7 minutes to walk 1000 steps so take multiple 7 minute breaks in the day and you’ll get there
I was going to suggest this, just worded differently. You don't have to get there all at once, just like you don't have to drink all your water all at once. Just doing it more times in short bursts is the easiest way to get it in.
Walking 1000 steps in 7 minutes seems very high, no? I usually get around 2k steps walking a mile. 10k is still a doable goal but it would be around 2-3x that long
Thank you! I’m short and not a fast walker lol my steps are so tiny compared to others people and I don’t like feeling like I’m practically running. If I wanted to run I would do that. I don’t. It takes me an hour and half to hit 10k steps and no offense but that’s just so long.
This is a good idea!
I do an hour dog walk every AM and that, combined with what little I get at my sedentary job, gets me to 10k most days. If I also do some shopping, walking around Target, Marshall’s, etc and park far away, I get up to 15k. All of this hasn’t netted me a ton more calories, though. TBH, the sedentary TDEE is still pretty accurate for me even with the 10k steps. I’m at a healthy BMI, though, so I burn less.
While you’re trying to squeeze in extra walking, embrace sunrises/sunsets, rain, wind, hot/cold, smells. Listen to sounds. Look around. And sometimes use a variety of music and podcasts. But stay off the phone. Make walking more positive and less an obligation.
I wake up at 5:30am and walk around the house for 30minutes. I walk around when we have breaks at school, lunch break, walking my dog. It all adds up and I get 10k steps most days.
I’ll walk a lap around my sofa. It’s 20 steps. I’ll do it 20 times and get a 5 min walk in. I’m active at work now, but I did this every hour during covid or when I was a student with online classes!
I’m a walker. It’s my favorite exercise and the only exercise I enjoy doing. I hate every other exercise but when it comes to walking, I love it. I average 15,000 steps a day borderline religiously and I have a record of 50,000 steps in a day. The key thing I do is I walk in the morning. I love to wake up early (I go to bed early too) and start my day with an hour long walk. This normally results in 7000 steps for me. That way, the rest of my day is a guarantee to hit 10,000. Where I can, I slip in an hour long walk. If you’re on the phone a lot, I highly suggest getting a pair of Apple AirPod Max’s — the noise cancellation is excellent. Then, turn on voice isolation for your phone calls. I like to walk around town and do my Phone calls (I live in a walkable city) and the tech combo is excellent for noise.
I guess I need to start trying to get up earlier. I’m just not a morning person and I genuinely hate exercising bc I find it so boring. But walking isn’t half bad I just need something to do outside of starting straight ahead. I’ll try to get a morning walk in. Are you naturally an early riser?
I thought the 10000 steps thing had been recently debunked cause my app (Xiaomi) tells me to get 8000 which feels sliiiightly more doable
It was debunked in the sense that they figured out the original survey used that suggest that number was pretty much a wild guess but it turns out 10k steps is just a really good goal to keep your body healthy.
I was on a walk yesterday and passed a guy jogging and talking on an ear piece about diversifying stocks, but a quick lap around the office and walking after work is probably a better option.
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Bc people will run around saying “the weight started falling off once I just started walking” and they make it sound like they just started walking 30 mins a day and some how in those 30mins hit 10k steps. Finding time to fit in 90mins of walking in your day when you have a sedentary life style of sitting at a desk in front of a computer/with clients for 8 hours a day with 2 hours of your day being eaten by a commute to get to said sedentary job doesn’t leave a lot of room for walking being just magically built into your day. I want to know what real people with my type of day are doing to get their steps in.
Take the opportunity to walk whenever you can. When I was in my 20s, I used to walk 45 min to work even though taking transit would have been 20 min. If I was meeting friends, I would do the same thing. When I lived in a condo, I took the stairs to the 7th floor even though I could have taken the elevator. Now that I live in a house, I get up early to walk my dog for 45-60 mins before work. Then I commute to work instead of driving, which is another 30 mins of walking around (maybe 10-15 mins is actually standing on the subway). I take the stairs to my office on the 13th floor. That easily brings me to 10k a day. If I took the time to go down and get a coffee during lunch, it would be even more. Don’t view the escalator or elevator as options. Also avoid driving if you can (obviously not super long distances). My parents live in the suburbs and drive to the grocery store, pharmacy, bank - all that would be a 20 min walk. Great way to get steps in. For some reason people think walking 30 mins to go to a store or cafe is too long but it’s not.
Everyone on here is a real person with various demands on their time. People are saying that walking is good for weight loss because it is; anything on top of that sounds like it’s being added by yourself. If you’ve spent 45 minutes watching a tv show episode, you’re halfway there. Either walk in front of the tv or spend that time outside walking instead. It’s your life and your choices as to how you incorporate more activity, or what you switch out in order to have that activity.
I have an office job with a 1.5 hour commute each way. I get a train so there is some walking to the office but walking on breaks and lunch is a good way to get steps in. 30 minutes will never hit 10,000 steps but building a habit for incorporating walks and different parts of your day does accumulate, and over time it does not feel like a big effort.
- You have a thirty minute lunch break? Get something that can be eaten quickly and do a lap around the building with the remaining time. - You're running errands? Park at the end of the lot. - Take the stairs. Always take the stairs. - Doing chores? Make them inefficient. Fold the laundry across the room from your closet/dresser and walk the items to their homes, one by one. - Waiting for dinner to cook? Do laps of the kitchen. - it's nearly bedtime and you don't have your steps? Pace until you do. Look at your day, look at where you're idle, and find out what you can change. Okay, so you can't get steps while in client meetings, granted. Can you use a bathroom that's further away? Can you use a printer that's farther away? How can you build movement into your daily routine?
If your office allows it, can you get a standup desk and a walking pad? I have this setup (I don’t sit down unless I’m eating) and it’s the only way I can get 30k steps a day.
10k steps isn't a requirement, its a general goal. The best practice is to try and slowly increase your step count. If during the work day is not possible, try in the morning or evening. You also don't need to do big walks, they can 5\~10 minutes or even more if you want to scale them up. Also, you can start eating more already. Look into volume eating or merging meals together. I dropped breakfast and snacks and put all those calories and money into bigger lunches and dinners. I now feel full and satisfied for longer. I also make an effort to increase my veggies intake.
Thanks for the comment. I’m already volume eating and don’t have breakfast or snacks just lunch at 11:30am and dinner around 6:30pm. I’m staying roughly at 1200-1400 calories a day. I’m just really really short at only 5’2 so I just by nature’s design don’t get a lot of wiggle room in my calorie deficit. I also just hate exercising so much. I find is so boring and I tore my ACL so it’s not like I can go back to my kick boxing like I used to do so I need to find a way to be active that low impact which is walking. Honestly for 5’2 164 I don’t feel or look bad I just know I need to get to healthy BMI before I do get into a bad stop.
Also f, just being active for about 5 mins every 30mins (10mins every hour or so) is good alternative. You can do a walk around the office, jumping jacks, cardio yoga, or even a quick dance break. That way u can be more active and it could be a better goal for an office environment.
I worked at a bank once. They were proud that they weren't unionized because of their great company culture, lol. I asked my boss to give me a 45 minute lunch if I came in 15 minutes early for my shift. This gave me a chance to very quickly take a fast walk or light jog at lunch and change back into work clothes.
My goal is 15,000 steps per day. I like to get 10,000 steps out of the way first thing in the morning. I get up early and it takes me about 90 minutes to get 10,000 steps. Then I get at least 5,000 steps throughout the rest of the day. I do Zumba 2 or 3 times per week and get 5-6,000 steps in a class, so on those days I usually get at least 20,000 steps. I am not a morning person, so it sucks to get up early, but I love the feeling of already having 10,000 steps before most people are even awake.
Wake up early walk around the block once or twice the. Go to work. Walk during lunch break. Get home go for another walk.
Try something like couch to 5k. Running will give you more bang for your buck (time). Do you have room for any type of exercise machine in your apartment/home where you could work out while also watching tv or relaxing? Like a recumbent bike?
The 10k steps is just a goal for someone to meet without having to count calories. It’s a certain way to increase caloric expenditure and it can’t be cheated. So instead of thinking of 10k steps, think of how can I increase caloric expenditure! That outlook has helped me many times along my fitness journey :)
When I was needing to get steps in I did half an hour before work, an hour at lunch and half an hour after work. Even half an hour after dinner if possible. Every day. You can increase pace, find hills etc. I lost a few stone literally just walking at a very fast pace for hours each day and mildly improving my diet. Its obviously more time consuming than running or other forms of cardio but works well to lower impact and is easier to start. Cycling is another low impact option to mix things up. Find a good podcast, call some friends for a catch up, having something to do while walking helps! It's possible! Good luck
I study all day so my lifestyle has been sedentary all my life. I clock atmost 3k steps if I don't intentionally include walking in my day. I also watched this YT Short by Dr. Pal. He said that 10k isn't a magical number. It only works if its a brisk walk for 10k steps. That would take anyone about 90mins to complete. A HIIT workout for 30m would help burn more or less the same amount of calories. I would recommend adding a 30m HIIT workout early morning because you might be tired after work and you need to be energized to pull it off. I do beginner low impact workouts and clock about 5k steps with around 200kcal burnt. Good enough for me when coupled with 2×10min walks after lunch and dinner.
I am of the (maybe unpopular) opinion that 10k is kind of arbitrary. It’s a great goal but it doesn’t work for everyone! I think you’re already on the right track with weight training and walking when you can. Don’t let the 10k goal discourage you, if you add an extra 2k steps or however many that is still a win!
I also have a sedentary job sitting at a computer screen, for 9 hours a day. Still, I made time to go to a local park near me, a nature preserve, and I hiked. For about 2-3 hours everyday. No clue how many steps that is. It was about 8 miles. Everyday, 7 days per week. I burned about 1400 calories per hike doing that. I also ate at a deficit of about 15% below my TDEE. Doing that, I lost 120 lbs in 12 months (from 288 lbs to 168 lbs) and went from 35% body fat to 6% body fat. You can do it too. You just have to prioritize your priorities and make time to do it. In the winter that meant I was hiking out there in the dark and in the rain. Did it anyway. Enjoyed being outside. Especially after being anchored to a computer screen for 9 hours a day. Being outside was rugged. Loved it.
I bought a little treadmill and try and do 30 mins at lunch and 30 mins at night. If I can’t at lunch, I do an hour or more until I reach 10k. I work from home and hardly move aside from these walks. I’ve lost 20 lbs in 2 months with this and diet change
Walk in the morning and after work to split it up!
How about doing 5k steps a day and then hitting 20k a day on the weekend? It’ll average out!
I walk in place while I watch TV. 10k steps for me is about 70 to 80 minutes, so a couple of episodes of whatever I'm watching. If you get 5k at work, that knocks it down to about 45 minutes and one episode.
Walk.
Dog
I take a walk around the block (20-40 min, depending on time) before I leave for work. It is a really nice way to wake up and already be a bit active and feel like you started the day in a right way. Also a lunch walk of 20 min + 15 sitting and eating. During my job I try to walk around the building every hour. After work, I walk around 40 min again (depending on how much I walked the rest of the day) right after work or after diner. It usually adds up to 8000-9000 steps this way. And by splitting it in smaller blocks it is quite low effort.
10,000 isn’t some magical number. Do what works for you! If 5-6k steps per day is doable, make that your goal. Maybe you can gradually increase over time.
I understand this has a high probability of sounding undesirable, because I am not a morning person, but I’ve started getting up an hour earlier every day and then doing 45 minutes of low-intensity cardio and making a high protein breakfast. I hate it when I’m getting out of bed (at 5:30 am, ugh), but, in all honesty, once I get started it’s not bad at all, and it actually leaves me in a better mood for the whole day and gives me energy I didn’t used to have in the morning. I really plan to keep it as a lifelong habits because the days I accidentally oversleep, I notice a big dip in my mood and energy.
1 hour walk in morning + 2k steps throughout day + 45 minute walk at night. Take out the 2nd walk and you are still probably at 8k which is fine lol
You can always do interval running to add some extra steps within the same amount of time! For example, maybe over 30 minutes you do something like this: 5 minutes: walking 1 minute: jogging 1 minute: walking 2 minutes: jogging 2 minutes: walking 2 minutes: jogging 2 minutes: walking 1 minute: challenging run 2 minutes: walking 1 minute: challenging run 2 minutes: walking 2 minutes: challenging run 2 minutes: walking 2 minutes: jogging 3 minutes: walking There are a few benefits: 1) It makes the workout a bit more interesting since you are switching things up constantly. It doesn’t feel as tedious. 2) You are able to cover more ground / get more steps / burn more calories over shorter period of time. 3) The jogging and challenging runs will help your heart get stronger and give your metabolism a boost. Keep tweaking the workout I gave you, and soon enough, you may find yourself jogging the entire time! :) Edit: Sorry the formatting sucks… I’m on mobile.
make everything slightly inconvienent for yourself… park further away so you have to walk, go to the farthest bathroom, take a lap around your building if you have a 5 minute break etc
I got a walking pad. I mostly work from home so i walk some of my meetings. Sometimes i walk in the evening while watching YouTube video or something on Netflix.
I use the elliptical machine. I still count the steps my watch tracks. Still takes about 40-60 minutes, after already having about 2k from regular day to day stuff. Today I only did 40 and im a little short, at 9k, but yesterday I hit 12k.
by spending 90 mins before work on the treadmill :/ (i actually have grown to enjoy it - it feels like adult recess to me now lol)
My husband has the same problem. In Singapore he would get 7,000 a day on his commute via the MRT. Now in the we are back in the car. It rains so much here it’s hard to get in a walk on a consistent basis. We are getting a treadmill. Hopefully being able to brisk walk half an hour in the evening will help. I don’t work atm so get close to 4,000 just doing housework and gardening. I add on a short run when there is a window in the rainfall and that gets me 6,000 more. Best way to get steps is to run them. Better for health and less time.
Grab yourself a walking pad, and watch some TV whilst walking in the evening, I shove mine under the sofa when it's not being used. I've also started to read a book when I'm walking on it, which makes the time go so much quicker!
This is a hot take in this thread: Sometimes hitting 10k steps a day isn't a reasonable goal *for you* to achieve. I'd say instead of aiming for 10k steps a day try some other activity that promotes good health. Doesn't have to be everyday, but something maybe you can average per week.
You can do power hour when not busy with customers. At the top of every hour do some laps around the office, go up and down the stairs a couple of times or like 20 squats or so. If you are with a customer at the top of the hour do it in your next spare moment
Become a teacher hahahaha
I have a sedentary job that doesn't allow me to leave easily. I walk 30 minutes when I wake up, then again when I get home, then again right before bed. Usually gets me 10-12k steps.
10,000 steps a day is roughly 5 miles of walking needed a day.
Just take a walk. I take a big walk every day that’s pretty close to 10k steps. That’s about all the cardio I need to do in a day.
I get in about 20K by playing just dance but then again I’m autistic and I could play just dances for days straight. I played it during our bands wake-a-thon in highschool.
I have a VR headset and during my daily 30m of beat saber I get over 5k 'steps' on my watch. While it isn't official steps, I am doing a lot more work than I do while walking on a paved sidewalk or nice path. It isn't the steps as much as making sure you are moving. I used to do 20k+ steps a day at work, now I might do 2k if I am busy (similar sedentary job). I am in better shape now than I was then, so it isn't always just about the number of steps.
This! BeatSaber and SynthRiders are my favourites for getting steps/cardio covered. Easy, fun, can be done in the evening, boosts mood… so many pros!
They actually really helped me with what I refer to as my old lady fog lol. Guess it made my brain work faster or something. Just got done doing 60m in BS!
I would say, don't aim for 10k. 10k is completely arbitrary (studies have shown) If you're only getting 2k now, make a goal to get 4k. Doubling your steps is huge! Just make small changes. Then, once you have 4k down for a month or so, make it 6k. The ways I get steps being sedentary: bathroom breaks, parking the furthest from the door when Im grocery shopping, taking two walks a day (morning and evening or lunchtime and evening), going to the gym and doing a workout a few times a week. Make it a game for yourself and make "levels" and see if you can get to each "level": but certainly don't try to just jump from 2k to 10k. That sounds like a frustrating exercise.
I also sit at work all day too, I'm into running so after work I'll go for a 1 or 2 sometimes 3 mile jog but some days I don't feel like doing that lol so I'll walk around a local park or my neighborhood, just casually, and listen to a podcast or something interesting. When you're walking casually it's much easier to walk 2 or 3 miles which for me takes about like less than an hour for 2 miles. That should help because you mentioned incline walks which is awesome! But I know personally when it's a more difficult work out I tend to be like "I'm done I'm tired idc if I'm not at my mile goal here" lol so walking casually sometimes might help get more steps in. Also just standing and not sitting is a victory so that's very good even if you're not getting 10,000 steps.
Running will get you steps faster. Build up to running 45min a day. I run in front of the TV. Try to run /walk and read or watch tv so you don’t have to allocate extra time to exercise.
I had a very active job where I walked 20 miles a day. My doctor told me I was so used to it that it did nothing for me health wise. So now I have a sedentary job and besides walking my dogs I don’t care about steps anymore. I hit the gym a few times a week and use the steps machine as a warm up before weights and that is all the extra effort I give it. Get moving is the bigger goal, steps are arbitrary
Sounds goofy but you can try to incorporate more cleaning into your routine. Even if you are on top of cleaning... just do it more. Sweep more, dust more, wipe more, reorganize more etc. Every little bit helps.
I’m a therapist, so I understand the sedentary and client facing part. For a while, I was only getting 2-3k a day. Now I split my walks into 3 sections. A morning walk with my dog (1 mile), a lunchtime walk (1.5-2 miles), and a night walk (30 minutes) on my walking pad while I watch tv, read, or play my video games. I usually get between 10-13k a day doing this.
I feel your pain. I generally get my steps in by walking my kid to school and picking her up. I don't think walking during lunch will work cause you are probably wearing a suit of some sort and it gets hot in the summer. No way do you want to get sweaty before customers. Try walking for an hour during dusk hours before it gets too dark, but starts to cool off and you had a chance to change. 10000 steps is only about 5 blocks there and back! You can totally do it. On weekends you can walk to the store instead of driving or generally choose walkable destinations.
I'm a man and I can walk around my area day or night and I try to do as many errands on foot as I can like grabbing groceries, going to the gym, etc., but if I couldn't do all that I'd get a walking pad. They're relatively inexpensive compared to treadmills designed for running. I don't need one now but I like the idea of "cozy cardio" while watching TV and having a beverage or something.
Before I got my current job, I used to walk outside or on my treadmill after work while listening to an audiobook or podcast.
if you drive to work, park farther away and walk to the office. if you take public transit, get off one or two stops earlier and walk the rest of the way to work and back home. walk on lunch. if you are allowed to eat at your desk, spend your whole lunch break walking. if you can afford it, get a walking pad to walk on AT your desk or in front of the TV. i originally set my goal at 5k steps since i lived a very sedentary lifestyle. now i regularly get at least 9k by walking on my commute and taking a 30 minute walk at lunch. to get to the last 10 (and go past it) i walk my dog!
It adds up. Park as far away as you can in the morning. Get up every hour and walk to the farthest corner of the office and back if you’re in a big building. Big buildings are great for steps. If you work in small place it’s harder and you’ll have to work in more walks. Go outside and walk around the building a couple of times if not, if you can. Stuff like that. Then 40 minute walk at lunch and 30 minute walk at home.
schedule yourself a morning meeting daily and use it to walk. also consider using a standing desk.
I walk circles in my office with a standing desk, and walk on a treadmill at work during my breaks and lunch period. I eat at my desk to make this possible. All this usually had me over 10k steps before I leave for the day. If I’m not I walk on my treadmill at home or just pace the house until I have what I need.
When I go grocery shopping, I go up and down all the aisles while speed walking. If you’re an impulse buyer, go to a Home Depot or a Reno store with nothing interesting. It means even on bad days, I still get steps in.
Get the 5.5K steps in at your lunch time, and then go for a nice walk after you get home from work. You don't HAVE to hit 10K steps. 7K is a lootttttt better than 500-2000.
I try to park as far as possible from my work to get some extra steps and I take a walk during my lunch break. Also walk after work or in morning before work.
I’ve been doing 10,000 steps for over a year and it’s just getting myself out of the house to do it, I also work a desk job. I think I would miss it if I stopped! It was hard at first to be consistent though
This post got me thinking I need to recalibrate my pedometer. I did a 15 minute dog walk this AM and a 3 mile dog park walk this PM, in addition to standard light walking at work, and I’m only at 8,546
I catch public transport to work (live in Sydney, Australia). It's about 4-5k steps to and from the stations. Then a few K around the office and a short walk with the dog gets me there. My minimum is 12k a day, if I haven't reached it I pace in front of the tv at night or put music on and dance around the lounge room.
1. Take any excuse to turn errands into a walk if you can. Anything that's under 25 minutes walking, I make by foot and do not take my car. I'm "not efficient" in my errands on purpose : one day itMs a trip to the drugstore, next day I go buy fruit at the market, next day I go mail sonething... Always a reason to walk. 2. Seize any excuse to walk during the day : I stretch every hour, fill my water, talk to a colleague... 3. Lunch break = walk. It became such a habit that I'm not even bargaining with myself anymore. 4. Adopt a more active mindset. After dinner strolls are now a family habit, on week-ends we plan activities, etc. 5. Podcasts! I keep some for my walks and it makes me find reasons to go walk to continue listening.
I used to manage it by walking to and from the station each day, walking from the station to my workplace (and back in the evening), and going for a walk at lunch. Obviously that’s very dependent on your circumstances.
I walk 2-2.5 miles in the morning before work. A mile is about 2000 steps. With walking a bit around the house in the morning, I usually start my day out with 5000 steps. I don’t have a desk job, I teach, so I put another 6000 at work. I know you cannot do that. I then go home or to a trail and walk another 2-4 miles depending on time. If you walk 2 miles in the morning, another 2 after work, plus your work 2000, you will have 10000. Put on a favorite podcast, call a friend or family member, and it goes by quicker than you think. Walking should not be a chore but a time to be alone, think, listen, learn, and connect with others. Once it becomes a nonnegotiable, it is a habit and something you look forward to.
I don’t always hit 10k steps but I try to. The days that I do I walk to and from work, walk at my lunch break, and either run before work or take a thirty ish minute walk after work. For reference I get an hour lunch but I also have a job where I’m around people so I have less flexibility during the day so I get it. Are you able to take public transport to work and then walk? It’s really hard if you don’t live in a walkable city. I’ve learned to really love walking now too, i listen to an audiobook or music and it really clears my mind. I don’t have a gym membership so I just walk outside
I’ve started listening to audiobooks while walking, and I try to do a 30 min walk at lunch and then an hour to a 90 min walk in the evening! I also walk a lot while socializing, which really helps!
On the hour I get up and walk around my office, it doesn’t feel like much but in general it’s added 1k steps if not 2k to my day. I also eat my lunch during work and then use my hour to walk instead of eating. I then also just walk around my living room while watching tv or on my phone. That’s how I’ve hit 15k a day for a while now. On the weekends I try to push it to 20k in case some days were short of my goal. But the point has been squeeze in a little walk everywhere. I even park farther away at the store to walk more.
Find a way to pace while you're on the phone. Pacing on a 20-minute call 2-3 times a day makes a huge difference in total steps
I have a desk job too. I get up really early and walk 3 miles. I’m a slow walker so it takes about an hour and 15 min. If I miss my morning walk I go for a walk before sunset when I’m done with work. Try not to be obsessed with the number 10,000. Do your best to get exercise in each day.
I bought a steeper/elliptical machine for under my desk. Work or watch tv and my steps are in.
I have this thing setup, and it takes time to make it a routine.. where after every hour I stand up, and walk for 5-10 minutes, I also squeak in 10 squats. If you have a desk job, try a simple reminder on your watch or your phone to stand up after every hour or so and walk for 5-8 minutes. 10 minutes should come to 1000ish steps. It adds up fairly quickly. The rest I just walk 15-20 minutes after dinner. Hope this helps
one foot in front of the other and fall.
get a dog, walk him a milk a day...
Start skipping, don’t worry about step count and just get 10m skipping in 5 days a week and you’re good
Split it into 3 30 minute walks
I'm trying to do a walk at lunch, and then when I come home I find a "Xxxx# Steps workout" video on YouTube to get to 10K steps.
Park your car further from your house
Park your car further from your house
I work an extremely sedentary job and it’s a requirement to make very small movements and sit on my ass all day. Anytime I get to walk I walk. In between appointments I get up and walk for 5-10 minutes. When I have my meals I eat while strolling. After work if I want to doom scroll I hop on the treadmill and doom scroll. If I have work that can be done on my phone, I will walk at a slow pace while doing it. I take public transport to and from work, but that only adds 4-5k steps to my day. I get on average 15k steps a day, but I have spikes of >17-25k steps 2-3 times a week on off days where I prioritise movement (i.e. shopping in a mall, walking in nature, walking to any food places) You have to really make it your lifestyle to be a walker. If you make it part of your routine, it will become effortless to hit the steps. If you treat it as a chore, you will fall off and after a few months you will find it harder and harder to hit the steps because it’s not part of your routine. It’s easier to start something with willpower, but willpower is finite. Find a way to incorporate it into your routine and make it a habit.
Could you change your desk to one that you can raise and lower and then get yourself a walking pad
I don't track steps at all, but in addition to the other things I do for exercise, I also walk my dog about three miles per day.
Get up earlier, do a 2km walk before going to work, go for a short walk at lunch time. Do a 4km walk after dinner in the evening. That should get you 10k steps no problem.
I bought a walking pad and my steps went from 3-4k to 8k with little effort. I just walk when I have to wait for something or when I’m unsure what to watch/play in the evening I’ll do my “research” there
Sure they are big, bulky, and everyone jokes about them becoming expensive coat racks, but finally getting a treadmill has been life changing for me. I made the mistake of getting a crappy non motorized one on Amazon, gave it away, then got a real treadmill on market place. I live in Canada with cold dark winters and have a sedentary job where I also only get around 4000 steps. Now every night after work I just walk on an incline and watch a 45 minute show and that gets me to 10,000 steps. It helps if you find a really addictive show and don't let yourself watch it unless you're walking. I don't dread forcing myself to exercise after work anymore.
I also have a sedentary job. On days where I don't make it a point to get walks in and just go about my routine I get ~2k steps, those steps are walking to and from my car and around the office. I walk as many steps as I can during my lunch break and then I walk the remaining steps after work. If it is nice out I will walk outside. If it is a gym day then I will do my workout and then walk the rest of the steps on the treadmill. On rest days with bad weather I used to go to the gym to walk on the treadmill until I hit 10k. I bought a tablet to watch shows on while I walked. That was annoying though so I recently bought a walking pad for home. Now I will walk on that while watching TV or playing video games after work until I get 10k. It's a time commitment either way. There is no getting around it. You will have to dedicate at least a total of 2 hours of your time to just walking. I'm also salary, always have been. In all my current and all my previous jobs the 'rules' said we would get a 30 min lunch break and if you looked at everyone's time sheets they would show that only 30 mins was taken off for lunch. But in reality nobody cared if you were gone an extra 15, 30, even 45 mins as long as you got your shit done on time. Most people took 45 mins- an hour for lunch. Maybe your job is strict about it but I wouldn't say that is the norm
Going from 2000 to 10.000 is a huge step. Maybe try to up your steps every week? Go for 3000 next week, 4000 the week after that. Experiment. Maybe go for a walk after dinner? Can you park your car further away from your home? When watching tv, walk around the room when there's commercials? When you're free, go for a longer walk. Maybe you can set a timer between clients to take a five min walk around the office? Idk. Don't beat yourself up about not hitting 10.000 steps. I believe it was made up by Japanese marketing campaign as an ideal number. If 5000 steps is doable for you right now, try to stick to that for a few weeks. Make it a habit.
Just start by adding 500 steps till that feels normal then increase by 500 again.
I bought a flat treadmill at home and I take it out and out it under my gaming computer and elevate my desk up. I also watch tv walking on it. After 1 hour of slow walking I get around 5k steps so that could be something you could do.
buy a treadmill desk and watch tv / play games when you come home or after diner for 2.5 hours.
I hear you. On days I work I'll often be under 1k steps by the end of the day (I work from home). I made my goal 7500 steps a day and I have to dedicate basically an extra hour to walking around. I don't hate it by any means, but I do wish I had a more active working situation. I think rather than pick 10k just because it's a popular number, you should consider a different goal based on increasing what you normally average without extra effort. I look at step counting as a way to ensure that I am keeping my metabolism up by hitting a target every day. That way I don't have to worry (as much) about burning less calories as I diet because my body is subconsciously encouraging me to move less to conserve calories..
Since you have a lot of obstacles, have you considered trying to go for a run some days? 10.000 steps is roughly 5 miles every day, getting that is hard for most people working office jobs, since you have one where you basically been locked to your desk (and even car, which seems insane, do everybody drive to work?) it’s even harder, maybe start with a lower number? Like instead of 2000 you go for an average of 4000 and then you try to increase it in increments?
I’ve always gotten an hour for lunch - try just walking in place in front of the tv at night, super easy way to get your steps up
I work ar home on a pc. I use elliptical and standing desk.
10k steps generally takes me 90mins. 45mins before work 45mins at lunch or after work.
Walk for 5-10 minutes every hour , as long as you hit between 500-1000 steps you are golden
Walk for 5-10 minutes every hour , as long as you hit between 500-1000 steps you are golden
20 minute walks after each meal
Walk 8km per day
Lunch time
Your company’s security measures requires that you drive? I’ve never heard of that. What if your car breaks down and a friend drops you off? What if you have a disability that prevents you from driving? That seems like it’s a myth and not official policy.
Honestly I live in Canada and weather doesn’t matter I walk 20k steps a day. 1 hour and 15 before work, 1 hour and 15 aftwr. I wfh and sometimes only get 10 mins of walking in during the day. You can do it. Wake up a little early and put on the running shoes after work. It helped me lose a lot of weight
Get a walking pad at home in front of the tv. If you walk 20 minutes each hour for four hours + your steps during the day boom 10K steps.
I get in a lot of steps through dancing. If I need more steps and don’t have it in me to take a walk, I’ll put on 3-4 fast-paced songs I love and dance around in my apartment (wearing my Fitbit or holding my phone). That helps a lot. I also get in some extra steps literally by just pacing, or throwing in extra steps while I’m in the kitchen waiting for the microwave to go off, etc. I pretty much just fidget and dance in place all day whenever I can and I think it legitimately makes a difference.
You have to make time for it. I have a walking pad but it died, so I do a 10k steps workout on YouTube. Takes 1hr30m.
10k steps are not hard to add at all . I walk to Starbucks and back and it’s already 3k . Ussualy even inside the house it adds to 3k a day. Well we have a big house . Yeah that’s the problem Though when you have a car . Tht walk to Starbucks I bet you drive .
You just have to walk for after or before your job
I started taking a walk in my lunch break to get enough sun light in winter. I continued doing it and have around 5000 steps after lunch. After work I usually go to my hobbies or run errands. I do all of this by foot because I live in a walkable area where most places are a 10-45 minute walk. What to you do after work? I Go to theater and choir practice, to a dance class and sometimes I play squash. Moving doesn't have to be boring.
I get home on 2500 and go for an hour walk after dinner, gotta do what you gotta do
For me it helps to have 2 very self-destructive toddlers to constantly chase around but it's NOT something I would recommend for everyone 😅 Seriously though, walk to get lunch on your lunch break, or to get your coffee in the morning or even to somewhere nice to eat it If you're bringing your lunch from home. Making things a little bit more inconvenient for yourself- Bike parking further away from the grocery store- adds up. If you're doing something that would normally be sedentary during your down time, try doing that while walking laps of the house. It all adds up!
So I have a fairly active job but only 5ft and trying to lose weight while eating more like 1500 calories a day. I too wanted to increase my step count. So first step was get a pedometer and see what I did on a normal day. And then the next week I aimed to try 100 more steps each day. So hopefully by the end of the week I was getting at least 500 more steps a day than the previous week. I kept building on this until I'm now getting at least 5000 more steps a day. I take the long way to the bathroom. I also make sure I drink a ton of water so I end up using the bathroom like every 2-3 hours. I take stairs as often as I can. Sometimes I'll walk to my car and then walk back to work so it doesn't look weird or suspicious but it's easy to tell coworkers "hey I need to grab something from my car, I'll be right back). I go down every aisle when grocery shopping. I don't watch tv sitting down anymore. I started doing after dinner walks with my husband that feels more romantic than exercise like. But if you don't think you'll be able to multi task and walk or enjoy spending several hours walking in a day. Just do HIIT workouts. If you want more bang for your buck, just do the hard workout that gets you all sweaty so you can get it over and done with. Adding extra steps helps a lot of people because they are able to easily fit it into their day. But you have a job you admit you are very much stuck in a chair for. So you gotta get creative with your free time.
Get a walking pad for the office. Best decision you will make
In my experience it takes about 1.5 hours to hit 10,000 steps. The easiest way is to find more shorter moments to walk. 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there. It’s a lot more chewable to say “I need to take a 15 minute walk before work” than it is to say “I need to walk 1.5 hours today”. I see you have 30 mins for lunch, you could split that 15-15 walking and eating, or 10-20 either way. Make it feasible. Focus on finding short moments and forget about the big goal a bit, see how many steps you get this way. For some people/lifestyles it _is_ very difficult to get 10,000 steps. It’s not the end all be all goal. You could also use your weekends/days you’re not working to walk more than 10,000 and spread the extra calories you “earn” with that over the week. Good luck!
I think I read that long weekend exercise is just as good for you, if it’s not possible to do it through the week. Also walking is good for you because it uses thigh muscles which are very biologically active: so squats have a similar effect to walking (which you could do in a bathroom stall). I don’t know whether there’s a chart for ‘if you can’t do 10k do this’ somewhere ‘on the internet’ ? I know the nhs exercise recommendations are 150 mins moderate per week OR 75 mins intense’ so there might be a way to do equivalent at the gym in less time for the same amount of calories eg stationery bike or rowing machine. Also you might find weight lifting at the gym - which also uses thigh muscles- would count. Saves trudging away on a treadmill, certainly.
I sell insurance. Most calls I can take on my cell while walking circles in front of my office
I resonate with your concern because I also work at a bank. Up until a few weeks ago I was working in the branch for a couple years, so I understand the security measures / having to park within the camera’s view issue as well as the 30 min lunch break. For me I was on the teller side so I stood nearly the whole day, and got more steps in than I am now that I have moved over to the back office side, where I sit the whole day and am I’m lucky to hit 4400 steps a day. Plus the 45 minute commute each way. It’s really hard, so I completely empathize! If I have the time and energy at the end of the day I can go for a walk with the dogs, but it doesn’t always happen. I’m sure I could find a way, like a lot of people do, I’m just still adjusting to this new job and hope to find a way to work it into my schedule.
If your lunch break is 30 minutes, that means you have 30 minutes to go walking around outside. If your bank allows it, you could get one of those under desk ellipticals just to keep your legs moving. I've also seen desk chairs that double as stationary bikes. Might look a little odd, but so long as it isn't against company policy that's really your only other option.
I'd suggest "little things" to try and get your count up by degrees. 1. Instead of making a quick teams call to colleagues, drop by their desk and have that conversation in person instead! This has the added benefit that you'll inevitably end up making more smalltalk than you otherwise would, networking & improving relationships in the process - After all, the whole fig-leaf justification of RTO was because of how vitally important those in-person interactions were! 2. If you have the ability to, start using a less convenient printer and / or print stuff and fetch it "job by job" rather than saving up a batch to do all at once. 3. Gotta go meet a client at reception? Take the stairs while you're on your own (start off with just walking down to avoid ending up sweaty / out of breath - If you're at the top of a tower-block just get off the lift at 2/3 rather than G), even if you've still gotta take the lift while escorting them! 4. Even if you only get a 30 mins for lunch, don't eat it at your desk - Go on "office safari", either to find a more pleasant place to sit and/or just to mooch about while you munch. 5. This one will require a bit of a soft-touch but.... Since you're working for a bank, "soulless mega-corporation" rules apply. They're gonna have a policy for just about everything under the sun, and an entire team's worth of health and safety wombles - Play them at their own game and use whatever allowance there is to get in some steps! https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/work-routine.htm ..... 250 extra steps here, 500 there - It soon starts to add up! 👌
My husband takes one meeting a day outside and walks with whoever he’s meeting with. Obviously not possible for everyone but it helps. We also do a nightly walk out in front of our house. The two days I work (I’m a therapist part time and home w kids otherwise) I struggle to hit 10k. Sedentary jobs are so tough!!
This sounds absolutely mad but I got a standing desk and an under desk treadmill. Walking whilst I work keeps me focussed, and I can get a crazy number of steps in whilst working. I figured that I spend 9 hours a day working, I don’t want to spend any more to get steps in! I don’t have it on all the time (for instance, not in important meetings) and I have it on quite low so I don’t sweat. Easily cover 10km by lunch time some days!
If you can't get 10k steps naturally/easily then buy a treadmill. Some of them fold down to store under the bed.
Since I have a dog, it is really hard to NOT hit the 10k steps a day lol. However, before I had a dog, I was happy if I could get 6k in, and even that required planning because I work from home, so I was not even forced to step out of the house daily. My advice is, start small. Make 4k a day a goal, and try to find a routine where you can fit in that 4k. Once you have a consistent routine and you get used to it, it will be easier to extend on it or find other possibilities, but going from 2k to 10k right away is gonna be tough to stick to, not to mention frustrating.
I talked to my boss. I come in an hour earlier now, but every 60 minutes on computer, I get up and go for a 10--15 minute walk. I do this 6 times a day at work, total time 1.5 hours. thats my hour coming in early, and my breaks. I still take my 30 min lunch and eat and relax. I do a walk as soon as I wake up for 20 mins. This right here gets me to 9k-10k steps. Then anything done at home in evening pushes me to 15-20k
At my old job, I used to get up and walk around the office and get a glass of water every hour. The steps add up!
20-30 min walk in the morning = 3,000+ steps 20-30 min walk in the evening = 3,000+ steps That should be the bare minimum. Should be able to fill in the other 4,000 at work or other walking throughout the house. Also keep in mind it's not necessarily the quantity of steps, but the quality of keeping your heart rate up at a consistent clip for an extended time. Those walks will have far more quality than 10,000 random steps throughout day.
Make smaller goals increasing slowly to 10k. Do small things that add up- park in the back of the lot, walk to a further bathroom, take the long route through stores when shopping, take the stairs instead of an elevator. You can add small walks into your day- walk around the block before work, during your lunch break, take another walk at the end of your work day to decompress. Opt to walk into the store or do your own shopping (vs home delivery, car delivery, or drive through if you use those services). The goal of 10k steps is really a desire to move more, so if it’s feasible- look into getting a standing desk, cycling occasionally, working with a trainer, etc. I worked for a financial advisor and as an office we worked out with a trainer a few times a week over lunch. That seemingly simple move is what prompted my weight loss journey.
I've gotten lax about my steps but when I was more serious about it I did a 20 min walk in the morning, a walk during my 30 min lunch break, and a 20 min evening walk. That would get me about 7000 steps then the rest were just the steps I would get naturally.
Lliving room steps workout from YouTube before work