10k steps daily average for 10 years!
Today is my 10 year #fitbit anniversary. Feel free to scroll on by this post if this isn’t your thing, but I definitely wanted to document this day for myself. I’m so proud of myself!
I’ve been looking forward to it for months since I realized that August 2023 would be my 10 year fitbit anniversary. I have been doing the math and crunching my stats to make sure that I reached my goal of 10k steps average over the 10 years.
When I was growing up I’d stay with my grandma and we always went for walks after dinner, something I think she did whether I was with her or not. I always loved that and hoped that I would have that same tradition when I grew up. I remember wanting an accurate pedometer in the 90s and even bought a small handful of the click-click-click ones but they were always wildly off. It wasn’t until Fitbit came around that I found one that was accurate and made me stick with it. I’m non-competitive but when it came to the Fitbit it felt like a daily game/challenge I was in on with myself. I started with the One model and wore it clipped to the center of my bra. I used the app to keep track and was so bummed when they discontinued that model. I didn’t really see myself wanting to wear a wristband tracker (which had really taken off in these last 10 years and definitely the direction Fitbit has chosen to move in).
In late 2019 I hit a slump, and then when the pandemic hit I just let it ride. For 2 years I wore it daily but didn’t really push myself to hit the 10k daily steps. In the late summer of 2021 I started tracking again regularly and aiming for a 100 day streaks. Then ON MY BIRTHDAY my last One Fitbit died and NO WAY was I going to break my streak so I went to the store on my lunch break and bought myself an Inspire. It is made to be worn as a bracelet but I knew they offered a clip you can buy to convert it. I also started aiming for 12k steps a day and found it fairly easy. I also got more interested to actually see my fitness levels. The One had tracked fitness minutes by how many steps you got within a certain period, the Inspire only uses heart rate. Slowly I went from wearing it on my wrist to track workouts to always wearing it on my wrist. Then my sister bought elastic straps that fit her Inspire Fitbit and when she gifted one to me, I realized that I could just wear it on my ankle and still track my bpm.
All of this is to say that even with 2 years of meh tracking towards a 10K step daily goal, I have still met my 10K step average over 10 years and I am immensely proud of myself.
A few years into doing 10k steps a day I realized that even though I wasn’t regularly going for walks every evening after dinner like I had imagined, I did have my very own walking traditions. Until I got the Inspire I wasn’t too concerned with steps for serious cardio so often my walks would be very casual strolls with frequent breaks to take photos. I still love to go for slow strolls where I explore and look for interesting things, but I’m also working out more and that is nice too! I’ve attempted/started the C25K so many times but never finished. I hope to be able to do one someday. I may not be fast but I’ll be happy to just be able to do it.
Recently I’ve seen a couple posts where people have talked about going for casual noticing type walks. Wanna check ‘em out:
and I would be remiss to not share my very own Robayre’s Secret Garden, inspired by my own walks
I loved going for those walks with Grandma. ❤️
10 years! Wow! That reminds me, I gotta put my Fitbit on. I’ve been charging it this morning.
I’m glad to see that it encourages you to continue walking 10k (or 12k) steps a day. Lately, I’ve been finding my Fitbit gives me encouragement to get close to 8 hours of sleep a night. Thus, to keep a regular bedtime to achieve that.