It’s not often I win the weekly challenge amongst friends but when I do, I let everyone know.
Vero mentioned how Holly and Amanda were wondering how I get so many steps in during a week. Now generally in the weekly Fitbit challenges we are up against Alan and he is kind of awesome getting his steps in. I’m going to assume this week he broke two ankles and that’s why I ended up taking the trophy.
But getting back to the original question…how DO I get my steps in?
First off, this is a companion piece to one of my original entries where I talk about fitness in my life in general and how I managed to get fit. I send this link to people who are excited to get into the Fitbit world.
Now, onto my daily regimen to get steps in. I suppose I started rewiring my brain to avoid efficiency in terms of getting to Point A and B and I have swayed towards how to get more steps between Point A and B.
When I’m at a parking lot, I generally park far away from the store if possible. Not only are there generally less cars there, but I get more steps in.
The same goes for walking down for a bite to eat at lunch. Why take the most direct route possible when I can tack on an extra 15 minutes?
On a normal day, Vero drops me off at work and I avoid the escalators. When I get into the elevator, I don’t bother hitting a button to choose a floor. I just get off wherever the first stop is (which is generally the 2nd floor) and I take the stairs up to the fifth floor. Granted, if the elevator is empty, I’m not a dumbass, I just pick the fifth floor. All throughout the day, if I’m not with someone, this is my modus operandi to get some exercise in.
During my breaks, I get out of the office and walk around the complex where I work. Oddly enough, Fitbit shows me that this is where the majority of my cardio workout comes from. I find this quite odd considering I also take a walk outside at lunch and rarely enter the cardio zone.
While I miss hanging out with friends and playing cards/games at lunch, I feel that getting a walk in at lunch gets me in a good state to handle the rest of the work day. It could be -40 outside and Etienne and I hike around the area. We have a few different routes that we like to take. We generally aim for 30-40 minutes so we can grab a bite to eat when we return. I’ve always told myself that I can treat myself to a lunch if I put the effort into deserving it.
If Vero had dropped me off in the morning, I always walk across the bridge to Ottawa to meet her when she picks me up. It’s generally around this time that my Fitbit tells me I’ve hit 10,000 steps which is around 4PM.
Depending on the day, the majority of my steps stop there but I have been making an effort to hop on the elliptical at least three times a week while I watch a show so I may get some more steps in there. When I am always referring to steps, my main goal is to work my heart each day for 30 minutes. Sometimes the elliptical is the only way I can get my heart working that hard.
The weekends are entirely a different story. If I’m up with Sierra in the morning, I will hop on the elliptical while we watch some TV together. We also try and get Sierra outside to tire her (and ourselves!) out in the mornings so it’s not impossible to rack up 10,000 steps a day on a weekend. But it’s definitely harder than while at work.
Speaking about work, I work from home some days. It was quickly apparent that I could go a day and accumulate 2,000 steps while working from home. I never realized how bad it is for our health to work from home! I immediately changed a few things…I always drop Sierra off at daycare by foot. I walk to the post office at lunch. If I have a teleconference I hop on the elliptical and stop whenever I need to speak. Generally I achieve at least 10,000 steps in a day this way which is pretty good considering I’m working from home.
That’s that! Hopefully this has inspired others to get out there and walk a little bit more. Remember, the goal is to have a strong heart. Losing weight is just a bonus.