I go to the gym almost every morning. It’s a habit I got into during the pandemic. I was going before that, but not every day. When the world shut down, though, my gym immediately started offering classes on Zoom at 7:00 every morning. Every day, I would get up, go downstairs to my basement, hop onto Zoom, and do a workout class with my coaches in their own homes and all the people in their little square boxes. I even made a Brady Bunch-style Zoom song for my gym because it really did keep me going during a hard time.
Now, I’m just in the habit of going every day. Because of that habit — and because going gluten-free helped me kick my sugar habit — I honestly don’t think too much about what I eat on a daily basis. I generally have pretty good eating habits, but even when I don’t, I’ve always known that with a couple of days of dedication and motivation to stop eating junk, I could maintain my weight and general level of health that I wanted.
So even though my friends warned me, it’s been a little surprising to me as a middle-aged woman that it’s getting harder and harder to do that.
Recently, ChatGPT and I had a conversation about it, and it told me I probably wasn’t walking enough. And honestly, it’s right. I’m too sedentary. I spend most of my day sitting behind a computer screen. I work out daily, but outside of the gym, I’m just not moving enough. I’m stuck behind a computer for most of the day and too exhausted at night to do anything active.
So a little over a week ago, I set a goal for myself: an additional 10,000 steps a day.
I had a couple of rules. First, the steps had to be outside of the gym. I couldn’t count the exercise I was already doing. This had to be in addition to the gym. Second, I could only count steps when my phone was actually on me. If I wandered around the house without it, those steps didn’t count. I needed to physically see the number adding up on my phone, to intentionally move for a prolonged period of time.
And third, while my goal was to hit 10,000 extra steps every day, I also knew I didn’t need to become ridiculous about it. I didn’t need to pace next to my bed at night just to hit a number. The point was really to get myself out of my chair and be more active throughout the day.
So when I’m working from home, I force myself to take breaks and walk laps around the house. I figured out that one full loop is about 100 steps. Ten laps equals 1,000 steps, which makes for a pretty good break from sitting at my computer for hours.
I’ve also tried to fit in a 3,000–4,000 step walk around the neighborhood after I come home from the gym and before I start work for the day
These are just some of the ways I’ve been changing my routine, and for the last week or so, I’ve managed to get those additional 10,000 steps almost every day.
So now I’ve been filling some of my time with steps. Ironically, many of my steps bring movement back to my home, just as the pandemic did. The purpose comes with getting up and moving intentionally, a shift in routine that will move me forward.
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