By Annie Conner
Recently, various employees at Conner Insurance volunteered to wear pedometers in an effort to increase our daily exercise. For someone who is fairly active, I thought it would be a piece of cake (no pun intended) to reach the daily recommended 10,000 steps. I even set a small goal for myself to reach 15,000 steps (can you tell that I’m just a tad competitive?).
Well, once we put those pedometers on the games began!! Throughout the day, we’d all be asking eachother how many steps the other person had just to make sure that we were “winning”.
The first week of wearing the pedometer though, I noticed that I’d get home from work and only have about 2,000 – 2,500 steps logged. WOW! I had a lot of walking to do. It made me realize just how much sitting I did throughout the day and how inactive I really was aside from my regular workout routine. Let me tell you, that first week was tough. I think the maximum amount of steps I reached during that first week was 8,000 steps. I kept thinking to myself, “Who on earth actually walks that much during the day?” or “Who even has the time to do this?” I found myself looking for ways to walk places where I wouldn’t normally…for instance, walking to someone’s office rather than calling/emailing them, using the restroom downstairs, walking to the printer multiple times a day rather than once every couple hours, etc. Despite all my efforts, I still couldn’t reach the 10,000 daily steps.
Recently, various employees at Conner Insurance volunteered to wear pedometers in an effort to increase our daily exercise. For someone who is fairly active, I thought it would be a piece of cake (no pun intended) to reach the daily recommended 10,000 steps. I even set a small goal for myself to reach 15,000 steps (can you tell that I’m just a tad competitive?).
Well, once we put those pedometers on the games began!! Throughout the day, we’d all be asking eachother how many steps the other person had just to make sure that we were “winning”.
The first week of wearing the pedometer though, I noticed that I’d get home from work and only have about 2,000 – 2,500 steps logged. WOW! I had a lot of walking to do. It made me realize just how much sitting I did throughout the day and how inactive I really was aside from my regular workout routine. Let me tell you, that first week was tough. I think the maximum amount of steps I reached during that first week was 8,000 steps. I kept thinking to myself, “Who on earth actually walks that much during the day?” or “Who even has the time to do this?” I found myself looking for ways to walk places where I wouldn’t normally…for instance, walking to someone’s office rather than calling/emailing them, using the restroom downstairs, walking to the printer multiple times a day rather than once every couple hours, etc. Despite all my efforts, I still couldn’t reach the 10,000 daily steps.
Then came my family vacation to Disney World. I have to be honest; I planned on EATING during this vacation with no rules or guilt attached. I expected to return home with a few extra pounds to carry around and not be ashamed. Currently, Florida has a shortage of Alaskan King Crab legs because of me. What I wasn’t expecting was the amount of walking that we did throughout the entire vacation. Each day I logged at least 10,000 steps and most of the time I logged around 15,000. The last day of our trip we went to Epcot and I actually walked 18,000 steps. Wow! Surprisingly, some of us actually lost weight due to the amount of exercise we did during that week. But most importantly, I realized that reaching 10,000 steps is do-able and isn’t as unrealistic as I originally thought. You just have to be creative, committed and motivated.
Once I returned home from vacation I really put forth the effort to MAKE SURE I reached 10,000 steps each day. One day that meant a 3-mile walk with my dog. Another day, I did extra cleaning around the house to get me to 10,000. Now, I’m hooked. Walking doesn’t always give you that “I just had a tough workout” feeling, but it does have many more benefits. It’s such an enjoyable exercise that you can do anywhere, doesn’t cost anything except walking shoes and can be done while completing other activities as well. There’s not as much risk to walking as there is in other physical activities and the whole family can be included. Now once I get home from work, I grab my dog, Zeke, my iPod and I get moving. The weather has been amazing lately and it is so nice to be outside breathing in the fresh air. My energy has increased and I sleep better at night as well.
Once I returned home from vacation I really put forth the effort to MAKE SURE I reached 10,000 steps each day. One day that meant a 3-mile walk with my dog. Another day, I did extra cleaning around the house to get me to 10,000. Now, I’m hooked. Walking doesn’t always give you that “I just had a tough workout” feeling, but it does have many more benefits. It’s such an enjoyable exercise that you can do anywhere, doesn’t cost anything except walking shoes and can be done while completing other activities as well. There’s not as much risk to walking as there is in other physical activities and the whole family can be included. Now once I get home from work, I grab my dog, Zeke, my iPod and I get moving. The weather has been amazing lately and it is so nice to be outside breathing in the fresh air. My energy has increased and I sleep better at night as well.
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