Fitness Friday/Maternity Mommies: Increasing Your Steps

Last week I talked about Nintendo’s Personal Trainer: Walking for DS and we explored how many steps was “enough” in the course of a day. Much to my dismay I discovered that anything less than 5000 steps per day was considered a “sedentary lifestyle”.

So, how do we increase our daily steps? This week I did some exploring… this is what I learned:

20 min of walking or aerobic stepping will net you roughly 2000 steps.

2000 steps is the equivalent of roughly 1 mile.

If swimming is your thing, you can add 150 steps per day for each minute you swim.

But what if you aren’t going to add exercise to your routine? What if you are starting slowly and just want to find ways to add movement to your day to day activities? Here are some tips:

Add 3-500 steps to your day by parking in the spot furthest from the entrance at the grocery store. Double that by walking your cart all the way back into the store when you are finished shopping and loading your car.

When shopping for groceries, don’t skip the aisles that aren’t on your list. Quickly walk down them anyway. At my store of choice, Dillon’s, this adds 40 steps per aisle.

When you talk on the phone, walk around instead of sitting down.

If you are in an office…use the restroom or water cooler furthest from your desk.

What are your tips for adding extra steps to your day? What simple ways can you think of to get more movement into your life?

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