During a conversation with my nutritionist, I came to realize that I needed to track more than just my nutrition. I was telling her how much I work out and felt I wasn’t making enough gains. I went over my workout schedule for the week and explained how hard I was working each day. She looked at me and asked, “What about the rest of the day? How active are you?” I remember thinking, why does that matter if I work out each day for at least sixty minutes I should be good to go. That simple conversation was a turning point for me. I realized that despite running for an hour I didn’t get to sit and be a couch potato the rest of the day. Clearly I had the wrong mindset. I was seeing exercise as something I needed to do, rather than a lifestyle change.
I left the nutritionist’s office that day with a simple plan. I was going to see just how active I really was by tracking my steps in a day. She said the goal was 10,000 steps per day. I ordered a simple step counter, set the target and tracked. On days I ran, I had no issue hitting the 10,000 step target, however I noticed all my step activity was from the morning run. On days I didn’t run, I was way under that target. I quickly started adding more steps to my day by taking short walks several times a day, parking my car farther away from the store door and yes, even circling my bedroom before bed to reach the target. I just love when the watch signals meeting the goal. Such a simple addition to my day that increased my activity immensely.
Today’s tip is to get a step tracker and log your daily movement. You will think 10,000 is easy and it very well may be. But, like me, you may find you are thinking of exercise as something to check of your to do list. On a day I didn’t run my step count was as low as 4K. That was truly eye opening for me. I guarantee with this simple addition to your fitness routine, you will increase your daily activity. My husband got a Fitbit for his birthday and I am seeing him go through the same process. He’s always checking his steps and now consistently hits 14K a day. My dog is super happy for this fitness tip and should really get his own Fitbit because he gets so many walks now.
Are you tracking your steps? What’s your daily goal? Please leave a comment in the section below, I’d love to hear about your goals.
Fitbit Trackers
Not ready to commit to an expensive tracker, try this inexpensive entry level Fitbit:
Reclaiming My Health 