10,000 Steps

I think I may have become addicted to walking during the last three weeks. I've always liked walking, but the more weight I gained the less I walked because, lets face it...hauling this much weight around is hard work.

When I was a young girl my dad use to say you should never stand when you can sit and you should never sit when you could lay down. At the time I thought he was serious, but in hindsight I know he was not because my dad walked...a LOT.  We lived in a very rural town in the middle of 65 acres, so when bad weather hit and the road leading to the highway had too much snow to drive through he would walk several miles to town and back to pick up whatever supplies we needed.  He never complained, even when it was freezing cold...he just did what he had to do to take care of his family.

When researching weight loss and exercise for obese women the #1 thing listed on each site was walking.  Walking fast, walking slow, uphill or down...it didn't matter as long as I got off my butt and WALKED!

So I've been walking, every single day without fail. As suggested I started slow, 1 mile per day (2000 steps) and I've upped it each week. Most days I did a little more than I was suppose to, one day - quite by accident - I did a LOT more and ended up walking over 6 miles...but I have met my goal every day.  I've noticed that I'm actually doing things to walk extra steps, like parking in the farthest parking space from the door rather than the closest, walking down flights of stairs rather than taking the elevator (admittedly I'm not walking up the stairs, but I will eventually), having races with my granddaughter instead of watching television.

This week's goal is 2 1/2 miles (5000 steps) each day.  I don't have to walk it all at one time, I keep a highly rated pedometer in my pocket at all times and it keeps track of my steps for me.  In the evening I simply see how much further I need to walk and hit the road.  I tend to be pretty competitive so for me NOT completing all my daily steps is not an option. 

I realised this week's goal would not be easily met so yesterday I hopped in my car and plotted a route that was exactly 1 mile from my driveway.  I didn't make it easy either, more than half of it is uphill, which still leaves me gasping for air, but I know if I keep it up eventually it WILL get easier.

My goal is to walk a minimum of 5 miles a day (10,000) steps. It will take me another 6 weeks to get there, but you can bet that I will.  I won't just be walking either, this week I'm raising the bar a notch by walking at a brisk pace for 3 minutes, then running for 1 minute, walk/run, walk/run...eventually running more than I'm walking.  Trust me when I say that's not going to happen anytime soon...but it WILL happen!

But for now I'm content to walk...and walk...and walk.