Walk Away for Your Health

I live a sedentary lifestyle. Being a software engineer, almost all of my working hours are spent in front of a computer. Then, when I get home, I spend the rest of my evening in front of the computer and the TV. I go out quite often, but it is usually for dining out with friends, and does not involve any physical activity.

Granted I go to the gym 4-5 times a week for 30 minutes, the rest of my day is spent idly. In an effort to lead an overall more active life, I want to incorporate more physical activity into my daily routine. For now, I have chosen to walk more. As I lose weight and get stronger, I will add in jogging, biking, sports etc. But for now, walking is a low key activity that shouldn’t hurt my knees or back if I gradually increase the intensity and the time I walk every day.

I have been told (by many websites, books and even TV talk shows) that 10,000 steps a day is the way to go. I have an Omron pedometer (by the way, Omron makes the best pedometers – I have tried a few cheaper brands, but they always count the number of steps wrong) and I know that I usually take somewhere between 1200 and 2500 steps on a normal day. So my goal is to slowly bring this number up. I believe in setting intermediate goals first – so, I am planning to get to 5000 steps a day in the next 5 weeks as follows:

Walking goals for the next 5 weeks: 

If I reach this goal, I will set up another table for getting to 10000 steps.

Here are the things I plan to do to make my step goals a reality:

• Park further away and walk the distance between the car and the entrance.
• At work, get up from my desk every hour and go around the corridor once. It is recommended that sedentary workers take a break every 30 minutes or so to stretch, which I never seem to do. So this will be good for both my activity level and my posture.
• During lunch hour, take a quick walk around the corridor in the office, or if the weather is good, go into the park in front of the office and take a 5-10 minute walk.
• At work, take the stairs at least once a day.
• Lastly, at the end of the work day, look at the pedometer and then walk until the day’s goal is met. For this, I have positioned my treadmill right next to the couch in front of the TV. In the evening, I will just hop on the treadmill while watching TV and walk at a slow pace (perhaps as slow as 1mph) to get to my aspired number of steps. I know many of you don’t have the space for a treadmill in your living room, or don’t want to spend money in getting one. If you are committed to leading a healthy life, you can just take a short walk in the evening to make your goal.

I will keep you updated about my progress. If you are trying to increase your steps, let me know by leaving a comment.