What is the recommended steps per day

[Craig]

I had this question posed to me in facebook group today and you will see my honest thoughts and answer. 

Question:  How many daily steps is recommended for a healthy lifestyle and lose weight ?

My answer and honest thoughts: My first answer was simple  recommended minimum is 10k per day

Response: No that is way to many steps

My next answer. I am sure the person will blast me for my honesty.::   No not really. We as a human race have let our bodies grow to think this is to much. WHen I grew up in the 60's and 70's we were not in the house watching tv and playing video games. We push mowed lawns, had home gardens walked to the neighbors house and talked. Today's society was not braised that way and we have be come no where near as actives so some ask fr the standards to be changed. But back then we actually knew our neighbors and were sociable. Today's sociable is totally social media on computers. Now as far as you not being there at this time, You cannot expect to just all the sudden walk the minimum recommended you have to work up to it. And remember this is a minimum expected.

[WendyB]

I don't agree that it needs to be 10K a day. Many people can not meet that.

I think just moving helps. But I also think you need to incorporate Weights for strength training. It is not all about steps. It Cardio and building Muscle. You need to build muscle the older you get. So you don't get broken bones easily.

Its not all about how many steps. A lot more comes in to play

[Craig]

But the question was what is the recommended Min. And 10k per day is the universally recognized daily minimum.  Thus the answer. 

[Colinm39 · Accepted solution]

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@Craig wrote:

I had this question posed to me in facebook group today and you will see my honest thoughts and answer. 

Question:  How many daily steps is recommended for a healthy lifestyle and lose weight ?

My answer and honest thoughts: My first answer was simple  recommended minimum is 10k per day

Response: No that is way to many steps

My next answer. I am sure the person will blast me for my honesty.::   No not really. We as a human race have let our bodies grow to think this is to much. WHen I grew up in the 60's and 70's we were not in the house watching tv and playing video games. We push mowed lawns, had home gardens walked to the neighbors house and talked. Today's society was not braised that way and we have be come no where near as actives so some ask fr the standards to be changed. But back then we actually knew our neighbors and were sociable. Today's sociable is totally social media on computers. Now as far as you not being there at this time, You cannot expect to just all the sudden walk the minimum recommended you have to work up to it. And remember this is a minimum expected.

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@Craig Your are correct. Most countries in the World health Orgamisation (WHO), recommend a minimum of 10k steps/day. Some Fitbitters may rebalance with other non-step exercises and achieve their goals by using the standard factors below.

Divide the Fitbit Actual Calorie Burn for the day by your BMR from this calculator, the same as Fitbit's Mifflin-St Jeor equations and the resulting calculated BMR is within 5 of my Fitbit BMR.. This will give you your current day's effort factor.

My weeks average steps (still on crutch after total hip operation)

Average steps = 4,962

Average Calories = 2,196

BMR = 1580

Therefore, 2196 / 1580 = 1.39 which is about right for my current effort.

So one may increase there effort and have less steps and still achieve say a 1.60 factor, so I need to burn 1.60 x 1580 = 2,528. So I need to increase my activity by 15%

Here are two days in September and the factor is slightly high for the effort because of the spikes in Surge HR putting me into the fat burning zone.. Therre was increasedeffort there.

So I'm finishing saying "know what is measuring our effort?".

Calories  Steps  Factor

2,644        7,560    1.67

2,938      10,259    1.85

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Sedentary.  Little to no regular exercise. (factor 1.2)

Mild activity level: Intensive exercise for at least 20 minutes 1 to 3 times per week. This may include such things as bicycling, jogging, basketball, swimming, skating, etc.  If you do not exercise regularly, but you maintain a busy life style that requires you to walk frequently for long periods, you meet the requirements of this level.  (factor 1.375)

Moderate activity level: Intensive exercise for at least 30 to 60 minutes 3 to 4 times per week. Any of the activities listed above will qualify.    (factor 1.55)

Heavy or (Labor-intensive) activity level: Intensive exercise for 60 minutes or greater 5 to 7 days per week (see sample activities above).  Labor-intensive occupations also qualify for this level.  Labor-intensive occupations include construction work (brick laying, carpentry, general labor, etc.). Also farming, landscape worker or similar occupations.     (factor 1.7)

Extreme level: Exceedingly active and/or very demanding activities:  Examples include:  (1) athlete with an almost unstoppable training schedule with multiple training sessions throughout the day  (2) very demanding job, such as shoveling coal or working long hours on an assembly line. Generally, this level of activity is very difficult to achieve.  (factor 1.9)

[DaveJermy]

Colin, thanks for that, it's a really good way to gauge your activity for the day.

One thing, though.  I walk a lot (20,000+ a day Monday to Friday), in short bursts because I have a desk job, and I can reasonably easily get up to extreme levels using that calculation.  Over the last six days, my factors have been 2.1, 1.8, 1.8, 1.9, 1.9 & 2.0.  I wouldn't class myself as an athlete, though 😉

[Colinm39]

@DaveJermySame here and I'm finding the HR Fitbits are exaggerating my calorie burn because of the spikes ware the HR bursts for me when I start moving. But when I was doing 20k per day I was achieving the Heavy intensity.

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@DaveJermy wrote:

Colin, thanks for that, it's a really good way to gauge your activity for the day.

One thing, though.  I walk a lot (20,000+ a day Monday to Friday), in short bursts because I have a desk job, and I can reasonably easily get up to extreme levels using that calculation.  Over the last six days, my factors have been 2.1, 1.8, 1.8, 1.9, 1.9 & 2.0.  I wouldn't class myself as an athlete, though 😉

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[iMike]

Here is a link to an article from BBC that explains where the origin of 10k steps may have come from.  It's a pretty interesting read.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33154510

I think for most people 10k steps should be doable throughout the day, but every article and study I've read suggests that while 10k is considered optimal/a solid general guideline, it should not be considered a hard and fast rule.  Everyone is different.  If you're only used to getting 2-3k steps per day and you increase that to 7-8k steps you're going to reap the benefits.

[SunsetRunner]

I agree with many people on this board. Some people cannot start out at 10K a day, especially if they have haelth problems to boot. I believe people need to start out at what's acheivable for them, that way they feel like a success. When the can can successfully attain that goal then they can set another and another. When I started wearing another step tracking device I could barely walk 500 steps a day. When I recieved my FitBit I set a goal of 3000 steps a day and now I am up to 7000 in just over a month. I look forward to going even further. So you see10k may be the national standard but its not the normal. YOU make your own normal. Happy stepping!

[GisselleM]

Hello there!

@CraigThis is a very interesting topic.  When I got my first Fitbit I thought that 10k was too much and I edited my goal to 5k, then I got to a point in which I wasn't even getting 5k a day, so I made a decided that I had to move more, and started to go to the gym found out that with a 30-min run plus my daily steps I get to 10k easily, now I'm back to my 10k goal 🙂 

What makes me think that if i could run more than 30 minutes for sure will be able to have a higher goal.  So I agree that 10k is a good goal. 😄

[Awen]

I'm new to FitBit, and have only begun a new fitness regimen the last 2 months.  I'm a small business owner and often spend 10 or more hours per day sitting, so finding the time to get in all those steps is difficult.  Most evenings my family laughs at me because I'm running up and down the steps trying to squeeze in as much as I can before midnight!  

The flip side of that is that every other day I'm riding 7-10 miles on my bike, so while I'm getting in some intense cardio exercise and burning plenty of calories in the process, I don't get credit for any steps while I do that.

I think like everything else, the "10,000 minimum steps" thing is going to vary a lot from person to person, and we should set goals that push us, but aren't impossible to achieve.  

[TandemWalker]

I fully agree with you @Awen. I too do a lot of bicyling during the summer months, usually around 30 miles, at an average speed of 14.5-15.0 mph. So when I'm done, I'm in no mood to go out for walk or jog workout. So yes, while the step count is important to me, so is strength training and other forms of cardio that target the core, arms and shoulders - rowing, abs, boxing... 

TW

[Frank_fit]

What I was told when I asked my doctor was to get my heart rate above 100 bpm for at least 30 minutes at least 3 times a week. I'm doing much more than that but for some people this target is hard to achieve and is a worthy goal for them to strive for. 

[loveabull]

There is no way to have an average of recommended steps for the day. I prefer the guideline of ideally a half hour of activity every day. For some people even that can be a challenge. You have to figure in age, gender, previous activity level, physical health, motivation. For my age I exercise like a gerbil. If I was 25 it would look like I was slacking.

[Nannette]

Hi Wendy!

  Yes, I sooo agree with you---we need toget our heart rates up by doing weight training and aerobics, and other exercies during the day. I try to do exercies every day along with the walking:) I do my eliptical 3 tmes a week as I can, and the bike is my favorite:) It is all about keeping healthy, building our muscles to stay strong! Especially as we get older (I am 68--BUT do not look it!! LOL) And I want to be the very BEST I can for a long, long time:) Have a great night, sleep well (this is vital to our health, also) and God Bless:) The Country Girl from Tennessee---Elizabeth:)

[SunsetRunner]

Depends on the person and their lifestyle

I think Fitbit sets the minimum to 7k

[SunsetRunner]

I kept my minimum steps at 10,000  when I first started January 25th until yesterday.even though I did alot more.  I've since increased it to 20,000 steps.  Maybe overtime, I will increase it to 25,000 steps per day minimun.   

One of the things I'm most proud of now is my resting BPM averaged 65 BPM from January 25th - February 27th.  This week, I've noticed my resting BPM is now averaging 56 BPM.  I want to get it down to the 40s.

[Incognito]

What is the recommended steps per day?

One more than 2nd place on your friend's list....

[SunsetRunner]

Go for 20k daily  if you want a new or better physique.  

[ssimak4]

I read a normal person takes about 6,000 steps during the day. I aim for 8,000 always get way over 10,000. Saturday I got almost 16,000. The 10k,I read, was something said by the Japanese and ever since it was the thing to do, the 10k steps but that's not accurate. 🙂 Cheers

[Peezy2016]

The question is what is "recommended"?  10K IS RECOMMENDED, but naturally you do what you can.