10,000 steps......

Apparently, that's what I should be aiming to achieve on a daily basis (or at least, averaged out over the week). I have my pedometer and according to that, I average out at about 7,000 a day. I would say that most weekdays I walk about 3,000 steps during the day while at work, then do another 3-5,000 in the evening when I get home. At the weekend I do a little more, aiming for at least 8-9,000 on Saturday and Sunday. Weekends can be quite a lot more than that if we manage to get out for a 'proper' walk in the hills somewhere.

Most of my mid-week walking is done around the local parks and streets (the latter if it's dark). At the weekend we try get a little further afield, but at least as far as Carr Mill Dam, our local haunt - it's a large area of farmland, a big reservoir and lots of woodland off the East Lancs Road near St Helens.

However, for all this sounds good, I am really struggling to reach that magical figure of 10,000 a day. At the HW support group last weekend, a number of ideas were put forward about how we can incorporate extra walking into our daily routines without making a big deal about it. Here are some of the ideas suggested:

1. Walk during lunch break. For example, if I walk to the local shop and buy a bottle of water, it amounts to an extra 1000 steps in a day.
2. Use the stairs rather than the lift. I have been doing this, despite working on the fourth floor, and I have set myself a starting target of taking the stairs at least once per day.
3. Plan a walking meeting. This is a nice idea in principle but requires the cooperation of the other party(ies). I also have a hearing impairment and find it difficult enough following conversation when walking along with someone - so this is probably not a realistic option for me.
4. Park further away. Although I still park in the work car park, I park as far away from the building as I can. Walking further to my office each day adds about 800 steps.
5. Use the toilet furthest away from the office! I'm actually moving to a different office in a few days (in the same building) and this will locate me closer to a new toilet. However, I have decided that I am going to continue to use the toilet I always have - this will add an extra 200 steps every time I 'go'!
6. Go for an evening walk. I already do this several times a week but it's not always easy. Obviously sometimes the weather is not conducive; sometimes I just don't feel like it after a hard days work; and sometimes I get home late and it is just not realistic to then go for a walk. I guess evening walks will become more attractive as the summer nears.
7. Walk during the TV ads. If I walked (or stepped on my mini-stepper) for three minutes during each ad break in a one hour TV programme, I could potentially add an extra 3000 steps to my daily count.

Here are a couple of facts you might also find useful, I did:

• Walking on the flat burns about 0.06 calories per step (60 per 1000).
• Walking up stairs (or a steep hill) burns about 0.3 calories per step.

I am definitely going to try some of the ideas that I don't already do and see if I can get my daily average up to 10,000 steps over the next two or three weeks.