Seriously? How many steps do you suggest I walk per day?

For fitness, weight control and heart health it is recommended one walk a whopping  10,000 steps most days of the week. Yikes was my first response.

Let’s break that down to decide if that is big deal or not.  Can you do 10,000 steps a day?

Perhaps this will help.
There are on average 2,000 steps in a mile. 10,000 steps equates to 5 miles.
What’s your pace, your MPH*(miles per hour)? The time to walk 10,000 steps/5miles will depend on your pace.

On average most will walk a brisk pace.  +/- 3.5 MPH = 17 minutes/mile / 85 minutes

Take it up a notch or two.
4 MPH = 15 minutes/mile / 75 minutes
5 MPH (a jog for most of us) = 12 minutes/mile /60 minutes

Some websites equate 10,000 steps to a 30 minute walk which is impossible since most of us are not able to sustain 10MPH that is would take to complete 5 miles in 30 minutes.

Most of us don’t have 30-75 minutes to devote to exercise on a regular basis or are able to start at  5MPH?  I am here to tell you that is okay… just do what you can. Typically the ‘sedentary’ person is already averaging 2000-3000 steps a day their daily living.

Where to Start
*define your purpose and goal for walking.  Set your goal today. Write it down and post it where you can see it each day.
* invest and wear a good pedometer on a daily basis. (please invest in a good one not a cheap one that accrues 5 steps when you sneeze)
* Track your daily living average steps and log exercise over and above that to avoid double counting exercise calories.  

The importance of tracking your steps
It is important to track your steps and not just assume you accumulate lot of steps because you are busy with work or taking care of the kids. It is not necessary you aim to walk the 10,000 steps tomorrow.  Work up to it in 500 step increments over time and boosting your MPH.

I emphasize that wearing a pedometer helps you determine your true number of steps. Once I began wearing a pedometer I began by knowing my average daily living steps and bumped it up from there.  Most days I now hit on average 8,000 steps in thanks to my morning walk listening to some Latin music blaring in my ears on my iPod.

Incentives to Move More
For those of us who are already tracking calories you are aware of the benefits of tracking your calories in and calories out.  There are even greater benefits when you add tracking your steps.
Wearing a pedometer helps to motivate me to move more as I watch my steps add up during the day. Your steps will too when you include the recommended move more tips into our day.   Example:  get up and move during TV commercials, stand and walk in place at regular intervals at work especially while talking on the phone, get off the elevator one floor below and walk up the last flight of steps and visa versa, park further away, etc.  Let us know your special tips for adding a few more steps each day.

Also…
Consider reading “The Step Diet” by James Hill, John Peters, and Bonnie Jortberg. This explains how tracking steps helps you control weight by tracking steps, starting with the ending of weight gain by walking an extra 2000 steps (1 mile) from one’s current baseline.