Stomping STEPtember 2023 — Step Challenge and Photo Scavenger Hunt

[Baltoscott]

Here comes autumn  — back to school for the kids, a shift from hot to cooler temperature, and falling leaves and changing colors outside. And just the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, cooler to warmer weather.  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, of course! It is STEPtember after all. Also, any pic that includes a moon. The one below is from a while ago -- September 27, 2015 blood moon. 

Berlin MarylandSept. 27, 2015 Blood Moon

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.

[Vidd]

Welcome, @LicaTsukino, and good luck with your September goals! 🙂

[SteppingBooks]

Stomping STEPtember 5

13.6k Steps/Day Weekdays: --/21

10K Steps/Day Weekends: -/9

2000 Calorie Limit/Day: 5/30

IF Daily (12 hr weekday/16:8 weekend): 4/30

Weights 2x/week: -/8

Stretch 4x/week: -/15

Squats 30/day: -/10

80oz Water daily: 1/31

Lose 3 pounds: --/3

Photo Scavenger Hunt: -/3

Total Steps: 46,213/375,000

We are back to a heatwave with a heat advisory to go with it.  ☹️ I am absolutely ready for the fall temperatures to hit.  

[Vidd]

@SteppingBooks, We're having unseasonably high temperatures as well, though probably nothing like yours.  We'll get close to 30C, but after the cool summer we've had it makes a nice change for a week or so.

[fire4202]

hello im new to fitbit as well 3 weeks into using my charge 5 looking for groups as well. how do we join ?

[Vidd]

Hi, @fire4202, if you are looking to join this particular challenge, that's easy.  Decide on your goals and post them on this thread!

[NellyG]

7 September

10,000 steps a day for 15 days                      5/15

8 days over 12,000                                           5/8                

5 days over 15,000 steps                                 2/5           

20 exercise sessions (swim, bike, walk, gym, dance)   10/20

150km on my bike                                              -/100

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                      1/3

The moon this morning

 

[Baltoscott]

Stomping STEPtember Day 7

17K steps/day for 25 days		6/25
1 pushup for 25 days		7/25
12 weight-lifting days		2/12
post 3 scavenger pics		3/3
Sleep 6:10 hours + 20 days or more during the month		4/20
1 pull-up for 25 days		7/25
Unicycle: 15 mins/day for 25 days		7/25
13 Dry (no alcohol) days		4/13
Beat STEPtember 2022 bike mileage (367.8 miles)		163
20 days of 50 floors		7/20

Steps at the US Senate Hart Building

[SteppingBooks]

Stomping STEPtember 6 & 7

13.6k Steps/Day Weekdays: --/21

10K Steps/Day Weekends: -/9

2000 Calorie Limit/Day: 7/30

IF Daily (12 hr weekday/16:8 weekend): 6/30

Weights 2x/week: 1/8

Stretch 4x/week: -/15

Squats 30/day: -/10

80oz Water daily: 1/31

Lose 3 pounds: --/3

Photo Scavenger Hunt: -/3

Total Steps: 56,806/375,000

@Vidd  I had heard some places, oddly enough, had a cooler summer.  I've never been one that enjoys the heat.  I much prefer the cooler, balmy weather.  

[Baltoscott]

Hi @LicaTsukino. Well done. You’ve already hit that 15K mark once. Looks like that 20K day is in reach.  Paying attention to Fitbit hourly activity prompts can really help push up you daily totals (and it’s good to get up and move around at least a few minutes every hour).

@Vidd - for moon pics that show any detail you need a telephoto lens, and maybe a tripod unless your camera and/or lenses have some sort of stabilization to steady the shot. In the two shots I posted earlier the orange one was shot with a 70-200mm zoom at 200mm. The whiter one was shot with a 100mm-500mm zoom at 500mm. You can see a little more detail on that one.

If you’ve got a telephoto lens, the next thing to remember, at least for the night shots that I did, is that the moon is REALLY bright compared to everything else your eyes can see in the scene. To keep it from looking blown out, you need to underexpose (which will make everything else in the scene black). Probably 3 or more stops. If you’ve got a mirrorless camera, you can probably lower exposure while you are taking the picture to the point where the moon image in the viewfinder starts to show some detail. If you have a DSLR, you have to check after you take the picture to see whether the moon is blown.

All that said, I think the most interesting pics show the moon in landscape like yours does. Making that kind of pic is harder than what I did because you either have to take the pic at a time of day (morning or evening) when the moon is above the horizon, but the sun still illuminates the landscape enough so that the moon isn’t 100x brighter than everything else in the camera frame. Trying to get the moon to look big in that type of picture still requires a telephoto lens, but also requires capturing the moon near the horizon with something tall — and far from you — in the frame. The guy in this YouTube video has some great tips.

[NellyG]

8 September

10,000 steps a day for 15 days                      6/15

8 days over 12,000                                           6/8                

5 days over 15,000 steps                                 3/5           

20 exercise sessions (swim, bike, walk, gym, dance)   13/20

150km on my bike                                              -/100

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                      1/3

[Vidd]

Thanks so much for that highly comprehensive reply, @Baltoscott.

I now must sit down with my camera and figure it out.  I'm going to try to get to see Comet Nishimura next Tuesday - amazing to think of something that only turns up every four centuries!

[NellyG]

9 September

10,000 steps a day for 15 days                      6/15

8 days over 12,000                                           6/8                

5 days over 15,000 steps                                 3/5           

20 exercise sessions (swim, bike, walk, gym, dance)   14/20

150km on my bike                                              33/100

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                      1/3

[Baltoscott]

@Vidd - I didn’t know about Comet Nishimura, but I guess no one did, by that name anyway, until last month. Definitely a once in several lifetimes visit! There are some great pictures on earthsky.org, though I think they are all stacked images taken through telescopes. Looks like you’ll be getting up early on Tuesday. I hope you can pick it out on the horizon.

[Vidd]

@BaltoscottI'll need the weather forecast to improve if I'm going to get up in the dark on Tuesday - at the moment it's giving out cloud and rain, which would kill any chance of seeing Nishimura.  Those are some great pictures on that link - thank you for that.  The green is stunning!

[NellyG]

10 September 

10,000 steps a day for 15 days                      7/15

8 days over 12,000                                           7/8                

5 days over 15,000 steps                                 4/5           

20 exercise sessions (swim, bike, walk, gym, dance)   15/20

150km on my bike                                              33/100

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                      5/3

Some steps I saw on my walk today

 

 

 

 

[jantonini]

@LicaTsukino Welcome to this awesome group.  Although I don't post as often as I should, I so enjoy this fit family!

[Baltoscott]

Stomping STEPtember Day 10

17K steps/day for 25 days		9/25
1 pushup for 25 days		10/25
12 weight-lifting days		2/12
post 3 scavenger pics		3/3
Sleep 6:10 hours + 20 days or more during the month		6/20
1 pull-up for 25 days		9/25
Unicycle: 15 mins/day for 25 days		9/25
13 Dry (no alcohol) days		4/13
Beat STEPtember 2022 bike mileage (367.8 miles)		163
20 days of 50 floors		9/20

194 steps to the bottom of Prettyboy Reservoir Dam

194 Steps - Prettyboy Dam

[jantonini]

@Baltoscott WHOA on the crazy steps on the Pretty Boy Resevoir Dam!

Stomping STEPtember--September 10.....Sadly, My Fitbit quit suddenly on Friday, but thanks to Kohl's immediate store pick up, I got a new one, a Versa 2, that night before 8:00 pm.

10k steps per day (Sundays) -   2/4 days

13k steps per day -   4/14 days

16k steps per day -   2/5 days

18k steps per day -   1/4 days

Over 20k steps per day -   1/3 days  -21,004

Weights -   4/13 days 

Yoga/pilates/stretch -   5/12 days

90 oz Water every day -   9/30 days

2 lb weight loss -    -/2 pounds lost  

Mindfulness Minute/Meditation at least 2 minutes/Positive focused thinking-    1/7

3  photos for scavenger hunt -   1/3 photos

[SteppingBooks]

Stomping STEPtember 8 through 10

13.6k Steps/Day Weekdays: --/21

10K Steps/Day Weekends: -/9

2000 Calorie Limit/Day: 8/30

IF Daily (12 hr weekday/16:8 weekend): 7/30

Weights 2x/week: 1/8

Stretch 4x/week: -/15

Squats 30/day: -/10

80oz Water daily: 1/31

Lose 3 pounds: --/3

Photo Scavenger Hunt: -/3

Total Steps: 69,321/375,000

What a crazy weekend.  Didn't get much in terms of steps, but got to stop by a localish art festival.

[NellyG]

11 September

@Baltoscott Wow - those steps!

10,000 steps a day for 15 days                      7/15

8 days over 12,000                                           7/8                

5 days over 15,000 steps                                 4/5           

20 exercise sessions (swim, bike, walk, gym, dance)   17/20

150km on my bike                                              33/100

3 Scavenger Hunt pics                                      5/3