Make 10,000 Steps a Part of Your Daily Life

One of the reasons that the 10,000 Step Program is so successful is that most people don’t naturally walk 10,000 steps in a day. In a world where we’re increasingly pressed for time and reliant on cars to run errands, the only people who come near 10,000 steps in a day are fitness gurus or people with walking professions, such as waitresses or postmen. Some people walk as few as 500 steps a day, while many people fall into the 1,000-3,000 step per day range. If you want to make the 10,000 step program a part of your daily life, consider these tips to help you do it in a successful, sustainable way:
Start by getting a pedometer to measure your steps. You might think you walk a lot more than you actually do, or you might not realize that your day naturally includes more steps than you realize, so you need a pedometer to measure your steps. Use the pedometer to record your steps at the end of every day, and keep a record for a week. Take your average daily steps, and start with that as a beginning point for the 10,000 step program.
Work up gradually to 10,000 steps. If you only walk 3,000 steps per day, it’s unreasonable to think that you’ll triple your daily exercise out of the blue one day and keep it up. In order to successfully integrate the 10,000 step program into your life, you need to increase the number of steps gradually. Don’t demand too much from yourself. Start by increasing your steps by 500-1,000 in a week. Take an extra 250 steps a day. Add another 250 steps halfway through the week. Before you know it, you’ll work up gradually to 10,000 steps, and you’ll be more likely to sustain the program.
Stop taking shortcuts to increase your steps organically. We save a lot of steps by taking shortcuts; parking close to a building, taking the elevator instead of the stairs, and generally avoiding extra work. Stop taking these shortcuts, and you’ll naturally add more steps into your day. Park further away from buildings. Take the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Walk over to see a co-worker instead of calling on the phone. By making these little changes every day, you’ll naturally integrate more steps into your daily routine.
Set aside some time for a walk. Because most of us don’t naturally get anywhere near 10,000 steps a day, even making changes in daily routine won’t get us up to 10,000 steps. Therefore, it’s important to set aside time for a walk every day. Start by walking your dog to a local park. Walk to visit a friend or neighbor. Walk to run errands, if possible. If it’s too cold or wet to walk outside, go to a mall and walk. You don’t have to go to a gym for exercise; find a way to work it into your daily life, and walk around areas you enjoy to make it feel less like ‘work.’