How do you break out of your sedentary lifestyle?

[lacieloo]

I'm super sedentary; I move very little, your average couch potato, and if I'm just going about my daily routine I'll get only 1,000-2,500 steps per day. What I want to know is, how do those with sedentary lifestyles find the motivation to increase their activity level? Are there any tips or tricks that could be offered to me?

[SantiR]

Really?! Wow! That would be so cool! Walking on the snowy fields, through mountains, misty valleys and around lakes; with outstanding views. I will totally check that app out, hopefully they will be doing more virtual worlds. That could actually change the way in which we walk, motivation to the top!

Thanks for sharing that with us! @JohnBomhoff

[Natsuko]

Is there an app that I program where I live and "walk" to, using my daily
miles? I would love to "walk" to Miho Mura, Japan where I used to live. I
know it wouldn't really get me there but it would encourage me. Right now I
am at 12-15K a day and want to do more. I liked Viking's idea! How fun to
skip from era to era, I would like to be in Tokugawa's Japan.



When I joined FITBIT I somehow listed myself as Linda R. and Natsuko, how
can I get rid of Natsuko and just use Linda R. I am challenged by this.



Linda R. a.k.a. Natsuko

[SunsetRunner]

@Natsuko your post reminds me something I've been watching very closely a year ago - omnidirectional treadmill for VR ( I work with VR 😞

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxfsLF4TAq4

I was wondering myself if this could actually work so it could add a little bit more depth to indoor walking/jogging 🙂 All such solutions are rather prototypes and if commercially available - they are expensive "toys" made for video gamers. But who knows, maybe one day this is going to be a treadmill experience in every gym or better, in every house haha 😉 

[fuhsame]

It isn't easy at first.  You have to get creative sometimes.

Set a schedule and stick to it...I go walking before work about twice a week, anywhere from a .50 miles to 2 miles.  Also, if you can find a buddy that is even more motivation.  I walk 5 miles with a friend most Saturdays.  We both agree we would sleep late if the other person had already to committed to it. I also try to make it to the gym twice a week, but that isn't easy and is often a fail for me.

The printer for my department is right behind my desk.  I started using a printer on the opposite side of the office.  It forces me to get up from my desk and gives my butt a break. LOL

I have always parked far away from the store/office that I go to, so that wasn't a change in my life.  I started taking the stairs anytime I can.  

If the weather isn't the greatest outside, I have started power walking around the inside of a large store during lunch, you get looked at like you are a crazy person, but eventually the staff catch on and cheer you on!  LOL

And yes...I walk around my house like a crazy person sometimes too! My husband thinks I am nuts. LOL

Hope this helps someone.

[SunsetRunner]

@SantiR there's a music genre called the "viking metal" which uses viking themes and I listen to it during some of my workouts. Mostly it's the Amon Amarth band. Gives me a great boost of adrenaline. I know that this post would fit better the other music related topic, but hey, you mentioned vikings 🙂 Today I synchronized my fast interval with Amon Amarth "Coming of the Tide" song and it was a great run!

[SunsetRunner]

until then, we all watch tv, walk/jog/run on the spot whilst watching, add some wrist/ankle weight to make it tougher

[Natsuko]

I was wishing for an app on Fitbit that could allow me to set a travel goal
and walk there. I realized that was rather slothful so I made up my own
worksheet on Excel. I set goals to walk from my home to each of my
children's homes and to my former home in Japan. It was rather pleasant see
in just two months I have walked halfway to my daughter's. It was quite
disappointing to realize I had walked 1.9% of the way to Miho Mura. I shall
have to buy a new Fitbit or two before I real that goal. It is a bit more
interesting to pretend I am walking someplace rather than up and down the
same road with my dog, and around my home and garden. I also realized how
much for fit I am than some of my friends and how more fit I am than last
year. We went to the Peach Days festival yesterday and they sauntered,
stopped, talked and moved a bit and did the same thing. I wanted to dump
them and join the group of 70 somethings that were moving and talking at the
same time and not stopping to look at every bar of soap at ever handmade
soap booth. I kept silent because I didn't want to annoy my friends but I
realized how much more active I am than last year's Peach Days festival.
Oh well, half the charm of living in a small western town is the slower
pace!



I followed some advice here and changed what I listen to on my dog walk. I
dumped Maria Callas and switched to country and western music! I did finish
our walk a few minutes sooner and pulled a few more tumbleweeds in my
morning weeding stint. I am not a size 6 yet but I am a less flabby than I
was and hoping that my next few pairs of jeans will be much closer to goal.
My resting heart rate is down to 70 which is progress. I love Fitbit!

Linda

[Audemars]

I hate to sound cliché but the Nike ad phrase comes to mind initially 'Just Do It'. With that said, I do believe in the subject of fitness that attitude often FOLLOWS behavior. 

I also hate 'horror tales' but here goes. 

Case Study 1 - 60 year old male 100+ lbs overweight with Type 2, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, spondylosis, both knees replaced. Unable to walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded and unable to play with his grand kids which depresses him. Wants to have 2 surgeries, one for his lower back (since he's on morphine for pain) and a bariatric procedure to help with weight loss. But NO doctor will touch him because they perceive it's too risky and thus he's relegated to either losing weight and getting into shape or continuing his decline. He's a district manager and works the time but has taken no time to get fit in decades. Personally, part of my motivation is to NOT end up that way. 

Case Study 2 - 67 year old male not overweight but has not been physically active for many years. While taking out his garbage - maybe a 50 foot walk down his driveway to the street, he falls and breaks his hip and has to lay there until a couple of ladies come by 15 minutes later. Undergoes surgery to repair his hip but afterwards is further weakened and has to use a walker to get around. He hates the idea of using a walker because it's a symbol of growing old and uses it sporadically. A few weeks back, in his bedroom and not using his walker, he falls and breaks the C1 and C2 vertebrae in his neck and is now unable to use his right side at all and now confined either to a bed or wheelchair indefinitely. Because he's grown so weak, he's unable to tolerate the physical therapy after surgery so they discharge him since his insurance will only pay for a specified timeframe unless he's making progress and now is basically laying in a bed at a nursing home waiting to die at this point. After age 65, our chances of dying as a direct result or indirect result of a fall increase substantially IF we're not in good condition. If 65 seems like it's a long way off, it ain't to this 52 year old. 

[59strive]

Wow that is scary very because its what happens when we don't take care of the body that is designed to be active. This has definitely given me a scare and makes me look at fitness as an investment in myself and future. Thanks for the input as scary as it  is.

[SantiR]

@SunsetRunner Heeey! I'm a total fan of viking metal, it's my favorite music genre! And I love Amon Amarth, they are so good, specially when doing some exercise! What a great song to run! I love "Guardians of Asgard", so powerful. Anything that has to do with vikings, I'm in! 

Hey, you should listen to Svartsot, they are from Denmark, sounds like Amon Amarth, but more folkish. 

Thanks for sharing what motivates you to end the sedentary lifestyle! 🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃🏃

[kesgardner]

The best thing you can do is to start walking! Every step counts. Work your total daily step count up to at least 10,000 steps and 5 miles per day. Take short walks during commercials when watching TV. Take short walks on work breaks. Park a little further away from the mall or the grocery store. When shopping, take a little extra time walk up and down all the aisles even if you don’t plan to buy anything on that aisle. When in the mall, take extra time and wall the entire mall (and/or inside stores). And aim for at least one planned walk of at least 30 minutes per day. It’s all about forming new habits and this one is very easy to form. Your circulation will improve, your heart rate will drop, and you’ll feel better and better the more you do. And you will be motivated to do other things that will also improve your health and fitness, such as getting more sleep and eating better. 

[sharondennis]

Find something active that you love to do. For me it is Zumba. I look forward to each and every class. I am sorry to say that my new fit charge 2 doesn't list dance as an activity so I use the run one. I usually "run" 2.3 miles and burn abt 400 calories. That in turn is abt 6000 steps in an hour. It does depend on the Zumba teacher. Keep trying different classes until you find the style and music that you like. I like a Zumba class with a hip hop vive.

[SunsetRunner]

Pure unadulterated fear worked for me when I realized that Alzheimers is a metabolic disease and that diabetes type 2 is the first stage of Alzheimers (according to research published in NewScientist in 2012), and that the most effective way to prevent and combat it is high intensity strength training, which also is the most effective way to generate new brain cells in the part of your brain responsible for memory and learning. (Just be prepared that as your memory improves, you also start remembering the things you'd rather forget permanently...) 

[Audemars]

Thanks for sharing this. I typically don't like fear as a motivator but in
this case it does apply. I also happen to believe it takes as much energy
to be 'lazy' and inactive as it does to be active and fit.

[SunsetRunner]

HIIT is more time efficient for burning fat, and especially good at hitting visceral fat, than steady state low impact aerobics. HIIT also has the added bonus of increasing your VO2 max and heart function significantly better. The only way to get "toned"  (just another word for building muscle) is by resistance training in any of its many forms. 

[SunsetRunner]

Being fit, flexible, and strong absolutely protects you! In the last two years I have slipped twice, once on an icy pavement and another time on a steep wet cobblestone road, falling flat on back, only to get up straight away, brushing off the dirt, and continuing on my way as if nothing had happened. Nothing broken, no soreness whatsoever, not even a bruise, except for once a very odd one on one of my fingertips, of all places...

[BettaPonic]

For me the key is mental illness. I can't not walk. I have to get at least 42,500 steps per day. I just got 100,000 the other day.

[RedBoyforCE]

Thanks for the input! Some of them really caught my eye.

Do you guys have a tip about what I could do in the local park in my city? I mean biking and running is not really my stuff to do.

Can you suggest something, what I could have fun with in the city park after work hours, what I also can do by myself and don't look silly?

What I mean is, I bought a tennis ball and just bounced it while I was walking, and it was fun at first. Livened up the time in park. But now I find it a bit boring.

[Natsuko]

Thanks! I am more fit in some ways. I was walking my dog and the road was covered with a lot of gravel. Dante took off after a jack rabbit and pulled me off my feet. I cut the back of my head but got up, brushed myself off and trotted home for first aid. Then a month later I reached into my back seat for a hat and tore a rotator cuff. Lots of physical therapy ahead. On the upside my resting heart rate was excellent.

I also set up a spread sheet on Excel and I am walking from my small town in Utah to my old home in Japan. It will take forever but it is a fun game to play in my head

- Linda Reinherz

[SantiR]

@RedBoyforCE Have you seen this Geocaching activity? As far as I know, there is an app called Geocaching in which you find users that hide stuff in containers at public areas on cities; for other users to search and find them.

"Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers."

Its like this treasure hunt or something alike, you could give it a try. Personally, I like to explore places. It is fun for me!