Thanks to my Fitbit, I’ve discovered just how incredibly sedentary my life is. You wouldn’t think that from someone who runs marathons (well, marathon) and triathlons. But with the exception of my daily workout, much of my day is spent sitting on my rump.
Perils of a desk job, I suppose.
I’m trying to be better about it though. I always make a point to take the stairs in the office. I try to make my lunch break a walking break and go wander the city for thirty minutes or so. That’s much easier to do on the cooler days – I can’t exactly go back to the office sweaty and stinky. Well, I can, but I really shouldn’t.
Even with that, I’m still averaging only about 5000 steps a day without my workout. And since I’ve been doing my best to rest my leg (so doing a lot of core work, but little else), that means my steps are pretty low.
While rest is obviously good, as I continue to heal, I also want to continue to up my daily activity levels aside from my daily workouts. I need to walk more during the day. I’ve tried setting an alarm to force myself to get up from my desk, but I found myself snoozing the alarm because I was in the middle of a project or on a phone conference. I think what I need to do is start small – make sure I take a mid-morning and mid-afternoon break and go up the stairs or something. Just get up and move. From what I read, this should help my concentration as well.
(As an aside, I’ve been using the Fitbit calorie counting to help me attempt to lose weight. Still up in the air on whether or not it’s working, but the rest of the year will be a good test.)
I received a FitBit Flex in July and have recently come to the same conclusion. Unless I consciously include activity in my life, I am very sedentary. Like you, I sit in an office all day. I do have a sit/stand desk at work. When I start to get the afternoon blahs, I raise the desk up and work standing. To get employees moving at my company, they recently instituted a 10,000 steps per day campaign. The winner with the most steps receives a trip to Hawaii. Of course, I am using the stairs much more as I would love to see Hawaii this year.
I agree with both of you. Fitbit has been a real eye opener. I try to be aware of not sitting so much. Get up to talk to people rather than calling or emailing and it’s still not enough. I’m going to have to make a conscious effort to go for a walk everyday. It’ll get me out of the office into the fresh air so upside on all accounts.
Diana Kurcfeld recently posted…Seriously people, slow down
I’m a fellow FitBit user, too! And working in Corp America, I’m in the same situation of desk chained. Without any exercise or planned activity that involves walking post-work, I hover around 5,000 steps as well. Things, like what you mention in your efforts, that have helped me have been building in a morning stroll before work by getting off the bus/train early, walking to the furthest bus stop I can before needing to get on for the Express to my apartment, and taking a post-dinner walk around the neighborhood. Recently I started doing a required evening walk if I wasn’t working out that day, which has helped with the steps.
Hope your knee is on the mend and feeling better. Injuries are so tough, physically and mentally. Sending you lots of get better soon vibes.
xx,
e
eileen ragan | leaner by the lake recently posted…mindful health: the impossibles.
I’ve been trying to slowly up my daily movement. Trying to bump up that average. I was hitting around 4000 steps before I got home. Then 5000. Now I’m trying to regularly hit 6000. Slow and steady seems to be the way to go for me.