Author of Be Ready for Anything and Build a Better Pantry on a Budget online course
Today we’re going to keep up with yesterday’s challenge by drinking a glass of water before we drink any other beverage. It’s a super-easy habit that we’re going to build on.
The goal with this challenge, as I mentioned, is to create better habits that support our goals. It’s not about getting rid of every bad habit in one day. It’s about adding good habits in a way that is simple and time-efficient.
How much do you move in a day?
A lot of us overestimate how active we really are. Particularly if we have sedentary jobs we probably aren’t moving our bodies the recommended hour per day.
If you’re just starting out, an hour probably sounds pretty overwhelming. Don’t let this scare you – if you are sedentary, this is a goal, not a starting point.
Today’s challenge? What I want you to do today is track your regular movement. (You don’t need to go out and buy an expensive pedometer for this. Remember those phone apps I recommended on Day One?)
You need to see what your starting point is before you can make plans to improve this. Be sure to document your steps in an average day. Write this down with your other fitness starting points.
My own starting point
As a person who sits on her butt typing on a keyboard most of the day, adding movement has been a real challenge for me. At the age of 50, the weekend warrior stuff just leaves me aching and in pain for an entire week, so it’s important to make movement a daily thing.
This has become far easier for me now that I am gallivanting through Europe without a car. I carry home my groceries so I end up going to the store almost every day.
That sounds wonderfully athletic, like I’m super-fit. But if you had asked me to do this 6 months ago, it would have been impossible. Before I left on this journey, my joints hurt all the time. My back hurt if I carried things. I wasn’t in shape because I was in constant pain. In fact, I had some serious misgivings about heading off to explore the world in the shape I was in, but I decided to go for it and modify my activities based on what I could handle.
I started out huffing and puffing up and down the hills of Athens, Greece. But the option was to move or starve – I had to get food. So I began my “hunting and gathering” trips, as I like to call them, starting with a bakery and a juice shop around the corner from my apartment there. The return trip had a small hill that left me winded.
However, within two weeks, that small hill was less of a problem. I began going further afield. I walked all over Athens and just took a cab back when I went too far to get home under my own steam. I didn’t kill myself. I just went a little, tiny bit further each day. I took an occasional day off for rest but most days I went exploring.
We’ll talk about this more tomorrow.
For now, how many steps do you take in a day?
How much are you moving your body? This is an important starting point metric, so take the time to track it today.
Use a free app for your phone, a Fitbit, or some other tracking method to figure this out. Don’t just guess – you’re probably shockingly inaccurate. I know I certainly was.
You can share your steps here for accountability or keep it private in your notebook.
And wherever you are? Don’t be discouraged. Remember, this is your starting point. It’s only your ending point if you drop out of the challenge.
I missed that we were doing a health challenge! I’ll have to catch up. Last year I bought a Fitbit Charge 2, and it’s been encouraging me to get more steps. It also tracks my sleep, and I’ve been getting A LOT less sleep than I thought. Over the last 3 months, I’ve averaged about 6,000 steps a day. Not 10,000 but it’s much better than when I first started! I’ve had to make myself get more steps but it’s always worth it. Moving any amount is better than not.
At 73 this month i coming back from a torn hamstring and detached ligament on the back side of my knee. My steps are slow and painful but each week there is healing and improvement. I can finally walk on uneven ground outside with out crutches or a cane but I still have to place my foot carefully. If I’m careless about one step I risk the knee giving way and dropping me unceremoniously on the ground. 2 months ago it too my husband with Alzheimer’s and me doing all I could to lift the pellet hopper out of our pellet burning rocket stove. Today I’ve done it enough times with help to now do it alone. So I know I’m having back strength. For the past year if gotten help to put the 40 lb cat food bag in the shopping cart and loading it in the truck. Last week I was finally able to wrestle it into the cart and into the truck. Boy did that feel good. I still usually get help getting it to the porch and up the steps to the front door. But I’ll keep at it till i can do that too. I need to be able to do things for myself. I don’t always have help.
>giggle< Yep, I guessed wrong on my activity level one time…
Some years ago, the school where I taught did the Ten Thousand Steps program for staff. We were all given pedometers to wear for the (I think) 6 weeks. First day, I did 12,000. As spring progressed and life on the farm geared up, I was easily doing 16,000. Then around week 4, I crashed… Apparently was only doing about 800… Turns out I had worn out the pedometer!
I know I probably don't do quite as much now, simply because I had a torn meniscus which didn't get treatment for quite a while because the idiot doctor said it was "just old age." So, I probably plan my steps a bit more efficiently now. Still… Planning on breaking my 2-year-old colt this spring… Wish me luck!
I have a rather physical job, on my feet 8 hrs/day, some time spent hefting boxes up to 50 lbs. At my age, I outperform the 20 somethings I work with. But I also know my limitations. And my boss often yells at me for not making the younger ones do the more physical work, LOL. That said, I do spend way too much time on my butt. I know for a fact I am out of shape (even tho I am not overweight). I am much more active in the spring/summer/fall, as I am sure most of us are. But walking in snow/ice/rain in our cold winters is not an appealing option to me (I don’t want to fall and break a hip). I am skeptical of things like fitbit and cell phone apps. Yes, I would like the information, but not the risks associated with said apps. I just need to act on the knowledge that I need to get off my butt more.
For those who are understandably apprehensive about walking in winter conditions–look for a set of “crampons” or traction devices for your boots/shoes. Well worth having anyway, from a preparedness viewpoint! Yaktrax (wire spiraled over a stretchy harness) are easy to stretch on, but my new favorite is MicroSpikes (tough rubber harness, chain-and-spikes bottom). I saw the propane driver wearing them, and figured he’d pick the best. Yaktrax wear out in a year or so, Microspikes I’ve had for well over a year and they are still going strong–I can negotiate glare ice on a hill while carrying a 50-pound sack of feed!