Stomping STEPtember 2020 — Step Challenge and Photo Scavenger Hunt

[Baltoscott]

Fall arrives this month — the start of falling leaves cooler temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere (soon I hope - very hot now!), and new green warmth in the Southern.  It is a great time to get outside, stomp around, and get your steps

How It Works

The primary purpose of these monthly challenges is to encourage you to set and hit your daily step goals for the month; though many of us track other things as well, like body weight exercises, sleep, trips to the gym, logging food, etc. This is not a competition to see who can do the most of whatever, instead it is a challenge to measure your consistency. So whether you do 1k, 5k, 10k or even 40k steps a day, this is measuring how many days out of the monthly total you can hit your goal.

Some might have a constant goal of 10k steps every single day and others might have a variable goal throughout the week, (and some might even plan days off!) for example.
Monday -> Friday = 10k steps a day
Sat & Sun = “6k steps a day,” or “not tracking”

Regardless of how you structure your daily goals, the only thing that matters for the monthly challenge is whether or not you reach what you set out to do.

Suggested Posting Format    
1) Post either your constant or variable step goal.
2) Keep track of the # of daily goals achieved out of the monthly minimum and or monthly total

Picture Scavenger Hunt — 3 pictures

The theme this month is STEPS (It is Stomping STEPtember, after all).

Pimlico RacetrackSome steps you can hang from ...

Posting

Although you certainly don’t have to post daily, you’ll likely stay closer to what you set out to do by updating the thread several times/week

Injury Notice
If you injure yourself during the month and need to scale back due to the injury, then all you have to do is adjust your goal for that period. If you normally do 10k steps a day but pull a hamstring and decide to do minimal walking (2k steps a day), then all you have to do is change your goal.

[NellyG]

24 September

10,000 steps a day for 20 days                      19/20

20 days over 12,000                                         15/20                

12 days over 15,000 steps                               12/12

3 day over 20,000 steps                                     4/3           

10 lunges a day for 20 days                            17/20

20 exercise sessions (swim, bike, vigorous walk, dance)    20/20

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                       many/3

[SteppingBooks]

Stomping STEPtember 23:

12K Steps/Day:  08/20

500 Cal/Day:  21/25

20 Squats/Day: 12/20

IF (16:8) 25/Month: 18/25

Yoga 1x/week: 1/4

Weights/Toning 2x/week: 2/8

Drop 3 pounds: -/3

Obtain Water Goal: --/20

Photo Scavenger Hunt: -/3

@AmandaGeorge  I tend to drink coffee iced, so that part doesn't bother me, and it doesn't bother me in winter.  Just water seems to.  We have powdered and liquids flavorings, but I have to watch what they use to sweeten.  I found out in a horrible way that aspartame is not something my body can digest or will tolerate.  I may set a reminder on my phone for awhile.  Least until I get back in the habit. 🙂

[AmandaGeorge]

Day 24 of STEPtember:

10k steps once a week 4/4

7k steps every day 21/30

150 sit-ups every day 24/30

100 leg raises every day 24/30

10 squats a day 23/30

10 seconds of front planks a day 24/30

10 seconds of left side planks a day 24/30

10 seconds of right side planks a day 24/30

[AmandaGeorge]

@SteppingBooks - Is it the (lack of) flavour of cold water maybe?  How's about trying the fruit squash and ever so slowly decrease the temperature that you drink it?  It sounds like you have to carefully read food labels too?  I have to do that for dairy!  I'm guessing you're in America, right?  Do you have health food shops over there that might have a better selection of drinks that don't have aspartame in?  They were my go-to for things I could have that didn't have dairy in before soya and almond milk started to gain in popularity over here in the UK!

[NellyG]

25 September

10,000 steps a day for 20 days                      20/20

20 days over 12,000                                         16/20                

12 days over 15,000 steps                               12/12

3 day over 20,000 steps                                     4/3           

10 lunges a day for 20 days                            18/20

20 exercise sessions (swim, bike, vigorous walk, dance)    21/20

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                       many/3

[SteppingBooks]

Stomping STEPtember 24:

12K Steps/Day:  09/20

500 Cal/Day:  22/25

20 Squats/Day: 13/20

IF (16:8) 25/Month: 19/25

Yoga 1x/week: 1/4

Weights/Toning 2x/week: 3/8

Drop 3 pounds: -/3

Obtain Water Goal: --/20

Photo Scavenger Hunt: -/3

@AmandaGeorge  I am in America.  I have to watch food labels a little for myself, but more so for my mom so I don't accidentally bring home something that she'll react to (lactose intolerant, and other various allergies).  I should probably stop in one of the local health food stores.  I'm in a smaller town, but we oddly have three health food stores.  They tend to be more expensive, but I found a gum in one with no aspartame.  It's surprising how affected my body is by even just a little bit of aspartame in gums and mints.  I tried almond milk, but I couldn't get past the odd taste.  It might be because it was unsweetened.

[AmandaGeorge]

@SteppingBooks - ah yeah, the soya and almond milk *does* take a lot of getting used to but I (and it sounds like your mum) don't have a choice unfortunately as I'm allergic to dairy and was blue-lighted into hospital, unconscious, on Christmas night 2002 because I couldn't stop being sick (for the previous 3.5 years - not a typo) and nobody could find out why despite going through pretty much every test under the sun, except for a food allery and vitamin deficiency testing.  After spending a week in ICU, 2 weeks in HDU and 2.5 months on a Neurology ward I finally had the diagnosess (2 rare ones and the dairy allergy) I'd been trying to get since the Indian Summer of 1999 and was literally 3 times the weight that I was when I was taken in... I went in with a UK size 6 (US size 2) skirt being held up by my hip bones and came out in mid-March 2003 (with numourous diagnoses and pills to take) weighing 75kg and officially obese for the first time in my life lol

Basically you and your mum aren't alone and not being able to have lactose is expensive, but your health is worth so much more.  Definitely invest in a small bottle of sweetened soya milk and another bottle of sweetened almond milk (or coconut milk) - it'll taste gross until your body has got used to it, but I honestly don't mind drinking it any more - it took the best part of a year for me to be able to say that, but the choice between getting used to soya milk or throwing up for hours after even a teaspoon of dairy touching my lips (I don't even need to swallow it... I can smell my allergen without a second thought now in total seriousness).   

Take things very very slowly and start by adding literally a teaspoon of sweetened soya/almond/coconut milk into each hot drink and very very gradually increasing it by maybe another teaspoon a month.  Don't rush out and buy a litre of milk a week or whatever, just get the smallest container of it you can find and aim for getting your next one a month later to begin with and disguise it with stronger flavours initially too... strong coffee is ideal to start with.

You and your mum aren't alone, @SteppingBooks - I know it feels like you are right now, but I've got many years of experience under my belt now and the only silly questions are those left unasked.

[Baltoscott]

Day 25

15K steps/day		25/30
10 pushup + shoulder extension /day		25/30
16 weight-lifting days		14/16
post 3 scavenger pics		3/3
Sleep 6 hours, 10 minutes +19 days or more during the month		17/19
1 pull-up		25/30
Unicycle: 15 mins/day for 25 days		25/25
Lose 2 lbs. Start 163.9 lbs	9/20	163.8

Wow.  Just 5 days left in STEPtember!  

[NellyG]

@SteppingBooks I am also lactose intollerant and cant handle soy - it upsets my diverticulitis. I have recently swapped to Almond milk. I too found the taste of unsweetened a bit hard to take and tried a carton of 'original' which is sweetened (though still quite low in calories) and I really like it. So Id suggest you try a sweetened one. From experience it takes a while to get used to the milk of your choice but if you find one that is tolerable, soon you will actually like it as you get used to the taste. 'Real' milk now tastes weird to me!

26 September 

10,000 steps a day for 20 days                      21/20

20 days over 12,000                                         17/20                

12 days over 15,000 steps                               13/12

3 day over 20,000 steps                                     4/3           

10 lunges a day for 20 days                            18/20

20 exercise sessions (swim, bike, vigorous walk, dance)    21/20

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                       many/3

[Jotex]

@NellyG and @SteppingBooks I share the intolerance for lactose. I find lactose-free milk in my coffee, or cooking, is fine. If I am invited to a friend’s home, and they serve something with lactose, I take small quantities and a pill that helps me digest it within 2 hours. The other options you mentioned can sometimes be used in cooking or baking, but never in my coffee. 🤢 I wish us luck finding what works for us. 

[AmandaGeorge]

Day 25 of STEPtember:

10k steps once a week 4/4

7k steps every day 21/30

150 sit-ups every day 24/30

100 leg raises every day 24/30

10 squats a day 24/30

10 seconds of front planks a day 24/30

10 seconds of left side planks a day 24/30

10 seconds of right side planks a day 24/30

I was absolutely cream crackered yesterday so didn't manage the steps or exercises, only the squats first thing in the morning and I'm gonna go and do today's now, before I forget

[Jotex]

@AmandaGeorge Wrote: “I was absolutely cream crackered yesterday...”

I have never heard that expression before. Love it! ❤️

[AmandaGeorge]

It's Cockney rhyming slang, @Jotex - and comes in useful when I shouldn't say the other word it rhymes with  🙂

[Baltoscott]

Day 25

15K steps/day		26/30
10 pushup + shoulder extension /day		26/30
16 weight-lifting days		14/16
post 3 scavenger pics		3/3
Sleep 6 hours, 10 minutes +19 days or more during the month		18/19
1 pull-up		26/30
Unicycle: 15 mins/day for 25 days		26/25
Lose 2 lbs. Start 163.9 lbs	9/20	163.8

Something I didn't expect.  I'm getting good enough on the unicycle now that I actually use it to go places. Not as fast as my bike, but I bit faster than walking ... about 5 miles an hour or so. So today I wound up doing about 8.5 miles on it in three trips for a little under two hours. And now my knees are sore. It was kind of hilly and while I do a lot more hills on my bike without any pain, I now realize that on the unicycle going downhill puts just as much on the joints as going uphill because there is no coasting on a unicycle.  I think I'll have to take a break from it tomorrow, or at least stay on flat areas 🙂

[AmandaGeorge]

Day 26 of STEPtember:

10k steps once a week 4/4

7k steps every day 22/30

150 sit-ups every day 25/30

100 leg raises every day 25/30

10 squats a day 25/30

10 seconds of front planks a day 25/30

10 seconds of left side planks a day 25/30

10 seconds of right side planks a day 25/30

[NellyG]

27 September 

10,000 steps a day for 20 days                      22/20

20 days over 12,000                                         18/20                

12 days over 15,000 steps                               13/12

3 day over 20,000 steps                                     4/3           

10 lunges a day for 20 days                            19/20

20 exercise sessions (swim, bike, vigorous walk, dance)    21/20

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                       many/3

[benvegi]

Count me in, will use the same goals as August.   That's what I said, then went AWOL for the month!  Had the Ablation on 7/14 and stayed in rhythm until 9/14. Doctor did another Cardioversion on 9/25 and got it back in rhythm. Between hospital and Dr. visits we've been busy. Char is about 99% recovered from her broken & then shoulder replacement! 

Rather than give a day by day account will just give my monthly averages.

Step average = 10,268 per day for Sept,

Active hours per day = 11.4 per day

I'll try to be more active in the group in October

10,000 steps per day, 20 floors, 14 of 14 hours active per day.  

[benvegi]

Is October up yet?

[Baltoscott]

Day 27

15K steps/day		27/30
10 pushup + shoulder extension /day		27/30
16 weight-lifting days		15/16
post 3 scavenger pics		3/3
Sleep 6 hours, 10 minutes +19 days or more during the month		19/19
1 pull-up		27/30
Unicycle: 15 mins/day for 25 days		27/25
Lose 2 lbs. Start 163.9 lbs	9/27	164.7

Looks like I’m up nearly a pound for the month.  Birthday week!  Most of my other goals have gone well this month, though so I’m pretty happy about things.  @benvegi  — Good to see you posting.  I’ll get October up tomorrow.

[NellyG]

28 September 

10,000 steps a day for 20 days                      23/20

20 days over 12,000                                         19/20                

12 days over 15,000 steps                               13/12

3 day over 20,000 steps                                     4/3           

10 lunges a day for 20 days                            20/20

20 exercise sessions (swim, bike, vigorous walk, dance)    22/20

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                       many/3