5,000 steps a day insufficient?
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Anonymous
| My daily steps hover around 5,000. I walk DD to school, about .7, then run home in a slightly longer route of 1.2 miles. I might do some short Peloton routines on top of this, but that’s really my daily dose. On the one day that I go to the office (by foot), I might reach 7-9K. I just read that I’m at a low activity level with this step #. I thought I was doing pretty good to walk/run a couple miles each day but perhaps this is really insufficient? It’s always been a challenge for me to reach 10k, even pre pandemic when I walked RT about four miles to the office. |
Anonymous
| The 10,000 steps thing is a myth. It was made up as part of an ad campaign for a 1960s Japanese pedometer and had no basis in science. Look it up. Actual studies show that an optimal number is much, much lower. You’re doing great! |
Anonymous
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That does seem low to me, but at the same time, all steps are not the same. 5,000 steps of stairs is not the same as 5,000 steps running, which is not the same as 5k steps walked.
If you're in good health, then you do you. Personally, I generate 3-4k just around the house (a pretty small house). Overall, I get 15-20k steps daily. |
Anonymous
| Are you in good shape? If so, who cares. |
Anonymous
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It's not just the number of steps you take, but rather your fitness goals. If your goal is weight loss or cardiovascular, then it's a sustained period of elevated heart rate. For me, 30 minutes of fast walking on an incline will rack up 4,200+, with the incline helping keep my heart rate in the fat burning zone.
A leisurely stroll of a couple miles through a level park isn't going to do that much for your waistline.... |
Anonymous
| I read an article about the 10,000 step myth and the article said that based on research, 7,500 was a good number to aim for daily. |
Anonymous
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I think it's ridiculous.
I walk every day (ok, 6 days per week) for 40 minutes to an hour, which gets me about 4,000 - 6,000 steps. Then a low activity day might be working at home the rest of the day with no errands (step count increases by 1,000 more, maybe) , and a higher activity day might be a few errands and another shorter walk (9-10,000). I feel like a 4-5K walk combined with healthy eating and a general inclination to not be sedentary all the time is healthy. I'd love to add weight training, but for now, it's is comfortable to me. |
Anonymous
| I was told that for optimum cardio purposes, the target is between 4000-8000. |
Anonymous
I was just coming on to say this. |
Anonymous
| OP what is your overall goal? Is it heart health? Weight loss? |
Anonymous
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I’ve heard two hours of exercise a day is ideal. Obviously if you only have time for one hour, there’s better than nothing.
Over the course of the week your routine should include high intensity training (high heart rate), zone training (moderately high heart rate), weight lifting, and stretching. |
Anonymous
| I think the run home probably does more good for you than extra steps would. I think your should worry less about the step count than your overall level of activity. Does your fitness tracker tell you how many calories you burned in a given day (that is, do you have a heart rate monitor)? I wouldn't assume it's accurate, but that could give you an idea of how active you were regardless of step count. |
Anonymous
| 5,000 steps is basic every day activity, 10,000 to maintain weight and 15,000+ to lose weight. |
Anonymous
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You walk about 2 miles a day but only have 5K on a normal day. It sounds like you hardly move after you get home. This is too low and I'm not referring to a weight management perspective.
Long sedentary periods are linked to colorectal cancer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5459729/ |
Anonymous
If you control your eating, then walking is much better than hard cardio which increases your appetite. |