10,000 STEPS

I have been a 'fitbitter' for just over one week. I know that I am joining a community of hundreds of thousands of people who are each day logging and counting their steps. Before I made my purchase, even I was aware that the fitbit is a device that encourages its users to make 10,000 steps per day.  I was curious where this number came from....

I found this article on the fitbit blog dated June 22, 2010

The Magic of 10,000 steps

When you join Fitbit, the default goal we set for each member is the magical number of 10,000 steps a day (you can also choose to customize your goal).  And while this may not be the first time you’ve heard that goal, it might be more meaningful, and motivating, to understand its origins. 

The Japanese first started using the 10,000 steps a day number, as part of a marketing campaign! (to help sell pedometers).  Since that initial campaign however, medical authorities around the world have agreed that 10,000 is a healthy number to aim for. The American Heart Association uses the 10,000 steps metric as a guideline to follow for improving health and decreasing risk of heart disease, the number one killer of men and women in America. 

10,000 steps a day is a rough equivalent to the Surgeon General’s recommendation to accumulate 30 minutes of activity most days of the week. It should be enough to reduce your risk for disease and help you lead a longer, healthier life. The benefits are many:  lower BMI, reduced waist size, increased energy, and less risk for Type II diabetes and heart disease.  In fact, a recent study of the 10,000 steps a day method reported conclusive health benefits. 

10,000 steps daily is approximately 5 miles.  Unless you have a very active lifestyle or profession, you probably don’t reach 10,000 steps on a given day without putting some effort into your activity.  This could be a lifestyle change such as walking to work, or the addition of an exercise routine to your day. 

Another reason to do it?  For most people, it’s convenient, free and simple to do with just a little change to your daily routine.  Working towards a 10,000 step a day goal?  Good for you!  Get motivated with one of our Fitbit groups, like 5k-6k steps a day.  Already mastered 10,000? Maybe Active Maintainers is for you.

After reading this I was wondering was ACTIVE MAINTAINERS was all about.  It is an online group of 'overachieving' people with fitbit.  Naturally, I joined.... This is what the leaderboard looked like this morning, September 12th.

Steps in September

• Mike K. - 582,197 steps#1
• Jennifer K. - 526,615 steps#2
• Debbie A. - 492,026 steps#3
• Tracy E. - 211,113 steps#122
• Chris E. - 210,583 steps#123
• You - 210,492 steps#124
• Alma R. - 210,107 steps#125Tracey V. - 209,941 steps
• #126

This group has nearly 200,000 members.... so my standing of #124 is fairly respectable.  I do not think that this will ever be a group where I will be number 1.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

226.6 lbs

I weigh 226.6 lbs.

I gained 0.8 lbs this week

I have lost 82.4 lbs in 262 days. Today begins Day 263.

I will always be at the beginning of a journey that never ends.

I weigh 226.8 (262 days ago I weighed 309 lbs)

I have lost 26.6% of my weight since Dec 24.

I have a BMI, body mass index of 30.31 

I had a 42.0 BMI on Dec 24 just 234 days ago (Class III obesity)

I have 4 words of RATIONALIZATION for myself today: IT MUST BE MUSCLE

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  

 FRIDAY MENU

breakfast   oatmeal, bacon, poached eggs                                         590 calories

lunch         almonds, bacon, apples, dark choice cashew bars         1270 calories
dinner        Mariano's huge spinach salad                                          750 calories
SNACK    mango, cacao goji, Quaker Rice Cakes                         1030 calories

total calories consumed 3641 calories

calories burned

Northfield YMCA PRECOR 100i elliptical machine 
(maximum session length limited to 60 minutes)
session 1 elliptical 60 min, 5 min cooldown, level 20, 1095 cal
session 2 elliptical 60 min, 5 min cooldown, level 20, 1108 cal

TOTAL CALORIES BURNED 2203 calories

Friday net calories 1438 calories
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~