How do people average 50000 steps per day?

[Emmeli]

Who has the time to average 50,000 steps a day!? How can this be possible?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Appleseedus]

Honestly though, it's not criticism - I'm just in awe of such a vast number in a day. My highest step count thus far has been 35,000 which felt like a huge accomplishment but a fellow competitor in my work week group clocked 50,000 & I couldn't fathom being able to fit that into an average day. My average day is a 45 minute light jog at 6am, I work in an alternative school where everyone knows I step & therefore ignores my incessant pacing - the students actually go on 20 minute jogs with me every 45 minutes, and then I take an hour or so to power walk after work, hit the gym and do 30 minutes interval cardio... then at night I'm still moving around my house to do errands but, again my highest step could is 35,000.... 50,000 steps roughly translates to 38km my legs would pop off like a malfunctioning barbie 

[RaiderMikeinNoV]

Old runner I’m with you! 50,000 steps per is almost a marathon a day. Now unless your name is Frank Shorter or somebody you’re not walking no 25 miles per day; that’s some BS!

[Appleseedus]

Ok, so because I was so curious about the possibility of getting 50,000 - I did in fact force myself to get 50,000 on an average Friday. I had to get up at 6am and go for roughly a 4k jog, from 8-3:30 I continuously paced/jogged on the spot all day at work (which pretty sure drove my coworkers absolutely nuts) I actually used my breaks to run on the school's treadmill. I left work and went for a half an hour jog around the neighbourhood. Then I spent the whole rest of the evening moving - just quickly walking circles and pacing around every where I went. I didn't reach 50,000 until around 11:45 which was the first time I finally sat down, and I've got to be honest - my feet felt bruised, my legs were throbbing. It seems wild to me that people could possibily achieve 50,000 regularly unless they were running for hours each day. 

[Corney]

Appleseedus: When will subscribers to this post use their brain and common
sense? It clearly states AVERAGE 50K steps per day, not just one day! To
average 50K steps per day means at least 250K steps during a 5 day week or
350K steps per week. I'm sure people can log 50K steps in one day, but not
day after day. For over 25 years I ran 6-7 miles everyday early in the
morning before work, but I worked 8 hours a day as a physical therapist,
then came home to my family which required my meeting family
responsibilities. Please, people use your brain and common sense, it
just can't be done day after day, week after week!

[checking]

@Appleseedus Good work! You've done it once so you know it can be done. Now do it a few hundred times on a regular basis and you'll find that it becomes a lot easier as you become more proficient. Avoid the running, 50k can easily be done in 8-9 hours of steady walking - break that up into 3-5 dedicated sessions of several hours so that you can get other things done and replenish glycogen reserves in the between times.

[Patrick]

Side note, Trivia.

I noticed one woman who earned a Centennial trophy and posted it on Fitbit's community page. Apparently, there is a loosely affiliated international group that holds qualifiers each year where people attempt to walk/run 100 miles in a day.  Here in the U.S. they have two such events each year.

Imagine what they have to do just to get into shape to walk 100 miles in a 24 hour time frame.....

🙄

Also, an event held in Brooklyn each year where they have 50 or so days to travel 3100 miles (roughly 60 miles a day for almost 2 months).

I have a hard time doing 5 miles/day...

https://3100.srichinmoyraces.org/

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Maltie]

Question: As a retired person my goal is to mai rain flexibility, health and not gain weight. I have been working on walking, stationery cycling achieving 105-119 miles weekly. But I am wondering if it would be better to level off at 10-12 miles daily for more balance in time or should I keep doing the same? 

[BruceM]

I'm 76 and like you use my Fitbit One to stay healthy. I've been walking an average of 10 miles/day - about 21,000 steps - but I also go to the Y (it's a half mile away and I walk) for some resistance and cardio on an elliptical. This combination seems to work well. I'm fortunate that I'm a morning person so I have more than 5000 steps when I have breakfast at 8AM.

About ten years ago I stopped eating junk food - except potato chips, but only at holiday gatherings, and stopped chain restaurants. I'm also fortunate that I love to cook so I make most meals. When we go out we generally sit at the bar and dinner consists of an appetizer and glass of wine.

We also volunteer in several places (including a botanical garden where I get lots of exercise) and have hobbies instead of TV at night

The combination works well. I'm 35 pounds lighter than I was in 2001 and my weight has been stable for more than 8 years. Life is better when it's more than steps.

Gradually change your lifestyle to reduce steps and ramp up other exercises. That's what's worked for me.

[jleahjj]

I am new to getting really fit. In the past few years I started out heavy and I tried to eat less and get more exercise. I do not work outside my home.   I slowly lost weight and toned up. I went down many sizes. I found out I am an athlete. I never knew I was! I feel so light and happy I have a hard time not running every where. .I know I'm lucky, most people don't have the  time. But I do. I ran through a few Seasons of The Crown recently. (Not all at once)  I don't get 50,00 every day. But I often get 40,000 in day. I lot of times when I think I am running hard, my fitbit will tell me I was only fat burning. I think it's amazing to have goals.Wish I did this my whole life!

59 years old 180 

62 years old 130

Regards, JJ

[R-bhargav]

Its not a big deal , I walk daily , I can hit that range only for 2 reasons 1) when I'm get depressed 😁2)when I have a work . its **ahem** easy when u have a good playlist songs too. I use to walk with my dog . And place where I use to walk is full of shopping malls, crowd's , lights , friends so I never get tired . 70k is my highest . So people u see may be these category or their working environment is busy , Like construction, Traveling , Hiking .....

[londonrunner88]

So you're saying your highest is 70k one day. That's not real. Your fit bit must be broken. 70k steps is roughly. 32.28 Miles. That's about a total of 11 hours in day. And that's if you don't take a single break or a chance to sit down.  So you're walking around shopping malls, walking your dog and having a good playlist allowed you to have one day when you hit 70k. C'mon people. I'm not knocking you. But Iron Men champions don't even rack that up.  

[burns_erin]

@londonrunner88 That really isn't that crazy though depending on how long your day is and what kind of dedication you want to put in it. I used to do this Leap4Life thing where people individually and in groups competed for most steps and most active minutes. My highest day was 60,000 and it wasn't honestly that hard. Just walking while reading a couple of books and 521 active minutes. I think I tended to do like 45 minutes of walking per hour. Sometimes I took 15 minute breaks between hours and sometimes I did 30 minutes and walked 90 minutes across 2 hours.

No cheating or anything. I just decided I was going to do it.

The questions really isn't "can" people do this, because obviously it is possible, it is why they are doing it really.

[R-bhargav]

yup , it took 11and half hour , I mean when u consider 24 hours . Actually worked very hard that day , Busy with my shopping for hiking . so when I came home I see 70k and I use to run every day for 1 hour . so all on average it showed 70k , but sure 70k is not a big deal . I walks around 30~40K for sure . little bit hard work can push count to 70k

[londonrunner88]

Agreed. To some points. 

But the real question was. How are people doing it on average per day.  

I'm still not buying it.  

Especially people talking about 70k days like it's easy.  Those of us who actually train for Marathons, Iron Mans and things of the like. We know that some of this discussion is wildly fictitious at best.  

[AmySterling]

I think she may be wearing the device on her dominant arm and have it set for non-dominant hand or something similar. I agree - when worn normally and counting steps that really are steps, it would be constant movement for the majority of waking hours. A marathon is not 70,000 steps as you correctly pointed out. I'm someone who puts a fair amount of miles on when I'm very active and never anywhere near this number (50K, 70K) steps. For me, a 5K run is about 7,000 steps. So 10 5Ks in a day? I would be certainly stiff and sore the next day and I am reasonably fit and active for my age. My step average for the past week is 14.9 K steps per day and I was quite active on vacation in Florida.

No offense to others but we have different experiences which is why we are commenting and reading this post. I asked my mail carrier and another gentleman I know who is active in a large local furniture store (he walks constantly during his 8-hour working day) and these guys are at 20-25K steps a day. Both fit. 

[burns_erin]

OK, so here is the thing. I am not saying the people who do this ARE OCD or have exercise bulimia. I am not qualified to assess for those things. But it is easier to see if you think of it in that light. I have a 40-60 hour a week fairly sedentary job and I went through a phase of averaging 40000 a day. I spent weeks like that. Because I was behaving in ways that for me were not healthy, but I was doing that L4L competition stuff and also a lot of Step Bets. So I decided to do it. Without a job I have no doubt I could have averaged 50,000 a day. So I would walk: 30-60 minutes before work, 20 minutes break around 10 am, 1 hour lunch, 20 minutes break in the afternoon, and then 4 hours straight walking when I got home. That was 37,000 steps in a day. Not necessarily easily, but planned for and scheduled out and not even counting incidental steps. And it could take less minutes if I ran instead of walked. Walking I can do 100 steps per minutes on average, speed walking 130, and a bit faster than that at a run-my run is not impressive.

3,000

2,000

6,000

2,000

24,000

On weekends I would often get 45,000-50,000 and sometimes even 55,000 and once or twice 60,000, because I did not often work those days. So then that averages out to just over 40,000 per day. That "simple". So yes, people train for Iron Mans and Marathons but that is working toward a different goal than walking crazy amounts of steps. I have bunches and bunches of platform shoes, cowboy boots, snow boots, cleats, and hiking boots in my badges. This isn't "hard" like training for a marathon or iron man. This just takes time and the decision to do it, often to the exclusion of other activities. Hell, plenty of us L4L people where just pacing in our houses while reading or watching shows.

Now you want to talk about crazy? There were people in L4L posting 100,000 steps a day or more. That is where I would call shenanigans. That is pretty well 17 straight hours of walking.

[AmySterling]

Hi Erin - I guess we learn something new every day and this is the first time I've heard the term "exercise bulimia." I know the behavior without the name because I know that overexercising can be part of bulimia. 

I can see what you're saying, but I still wonder with some people reporting their amounts of steps and low calorie burns, it just seems "off" or unusual to me. I think we all use our devices to benefit our health overall. I was sick recently with a flare-up of a chronic illness (IBS) and my Fitbit sent me a message that due to being inactive, my resting heart rate had gone up, so I should be more active. Well, I had already learned from others that an illness, whether cold, flu, or in my case something like IBS combined with a cold/flu - could raise the resting heart rate. I wasn't walking much because I was laid up with a fever, cough, and excruciating pain! 

After I recovered and went back to normal, so did everything else. We are all in this to get healthier and fitter ... 🙂

[londonrunner88]

37,000+ plus a day in a 40 - 60 hour work week. 

No. 

Fictitious at best.  

I'm sorry but I'm not buying it.  

Anyone who works out twice a day or trains for marathons or exercises when they can isn't buying it either.  

Even If I believed this post  essentially you walked an hour in morning which is feasible.  

So is two walking breaks.

But you mean to tell me you skipped lunch to walk for an hour walk. 

And let's say if you finished work at 6.  Your telling everyone you walked as soon as you left work for 4 hours and got home at 10:00pm on average.  Ha ha, c'mon.

That leaves you no time to do anything. 

No one lives like this.

No one.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[burns_erin]

As I said @londonrunner88 . Unhealthy behavior, for me anyway. Breakfast was coffee with chia seeds or cold brew with protein powder. For lunch I either had a protein bar or drank a cup of soup I would make that I meal prepped and was in 2 cup mason jars, that I drank with a straw. I would make enough to last a month and freeze in batches. Easy to consume while walking. And yes, sometimes 4 hours pretty much straight in the evenings of walking, though that was only on particularly sedentary work days-incidental to work movement changed that up some. Dinner was meal prepped shredded chicken for chicken tacos or similar things so nightly meal cooking wasn't something the influenced time. Evening snack was usually a veggie smoothie with pre-packaged frozen vegetables. I live literally a mile from where I work so it isn't like commuting was eating a chunk of my time either mornings or evenings. And I have delayed sleep phase syndrome so evenings actually are my most active time anyway, and at the time I wasn't managing to get to sleep until somewhere around midnight-2 am. With a lot of hard effort on that front I now pretty regularly manage 11:00-midnight, but that wasn't where I was at that time.

You don't have to believe me but I lined out what I was doing and how I scheduled it. And it very much was scheduled. And obviously I am not doing that now. But that is the thing you aren't getting. This kind of step pattern is not "intense" or effort-full in the way that training for an event is. It is literally mindless. How much time do you spend sitting and watching TV or browsing the internet? It is incredibly common for people to SIT that long in the evenings. On average people sit for more than 8 hours per waking day. I sat basically rarely, but this kind of walking and step pattern is just as mindless as sitting to watch TV or browse the internet. In fact you can easily do this kind of walking while watching TV or reading or browsing the internet. Intersperse the day with a few other times people would normally sit like phone conversations and such and the steps just tick-tick-tick over like a freaking metronome. And you say no one lives like that, but yeah, some people do. even if not forever then for stretches of time-because sometimes people are regimented and obsessive individuals. As I said before, if you you think of it is obsessive behavior it is easier to see, because for some people (myself for a time at the very least) that is exactly what it might be.

@AmySterlingone would hope that people are doing it for health, but unfortunately that isn't always the case. At the time I was hitting those numbers I was trying to win. I was trying to win points on L4L and I was trying to win Step Bets. I started with healthful intentions, I just let some of my less than healthy traits get the better of me for a time. 

[londonrunner88]

If you say so.  

I'm just trying to lose weight and hate doing work week hustles with people who walk "4 hours straight" after an 8 hour work day, one of which you rarely sit down.  

The more I type it out loud the more ridiculous and unbelievable it seems.