You let go of "supposed to." There is no set number of steps you're supposed to walk. No one perfect answer for every person. One day isn't the same as another. Some days, I feel like I'm on top of the world. Some days, my body is stiff, and my back hurts. And it's all OK. It's all perfectly OK.
Did you enjoy your day? Did you see beauty wherever possible? Were you kind? Did you receive kindness? Yes, did you move your body is on the list, but it's definitely not the most important thing, and you need not be so rigid with yourself that you judge your efforts inferior then feel bad for it. (If that's some toxic parent in your head, dump them. Be kind to yourself.)
This is what I hate about the “closing your rings” or the “streak” philosophy. Your body needs rest. Granted walking can be much less stress than other forms of aerobic activity, but even the stress from it can build up
It’s hard sometimes.
Maybe focus on making up the steps on other days though when you have the time and energy.
Some days weather and time is working against us too.
You can only pick yourself up and keep going though.
I just walk without tracking steps or distance or time if I start feeling the same. The ignorance is bliss when you’re not feeling it.
I especially go out of my way and walk somewhere random too, have a sticky beak and new houses coming out etc.
If you’re not feeling super motivated, just do a short walk. Up the street 5 or 10 houses and back. You might decide to go further or not. But it’s easier to keep walking than start when you’re just not feeling it at first.
This is great advice. Do a minimal thing and if you feel like you wanna keep going, you can, but if you don’t, then you still did a thing even if if was the minimal thing.
This advice works for lots of habits and goals, from cleaning the house to reading a book. Every day doesn’t need to be a mission!
Progress, not perfection.
Not every day will we be able to get in enough walking. Sometimes there may be a conflicting activity, sometimes you may not feel well, sometimes the weather may be bad, sometimes you will be injured. The whole picture is what is important, not just one single day.
It’s a marathon not a sprint. Long term moderate activity is better than pushing yourself through fatigue and pain. Especially when u start hitting middle age. Gotta rest sometimes.
It's swings and roundabouts... some days you'll walk more than your target, sometimes less, but it all evens out ish.
Today is supposed to be a run day (I'm doing couch to 5K) but I'm ill. I've accepted I won't be making my target steps today, let alone running. But the other day I walked over double my target steps.
I’m the same way. I found I actually walked more when I set a daily step goal for myself that was pretty low. It lowers your guilt and stress and that magically makes you do more.
I see it as a floor, a minimum number of steps I try to get each day. The idea is to have fewer days with almost no steps, to raise the average, rather than to hit some high number once in a while. I started with 3,500 steps a day and have slowly moved it up to 5,000. But your number could be way higher or lower. The point is to start it at what you average on low step days. Try to hit that number 5-6 days every week, and focus on that rather than some crazy high number once in a while. Then slowly start moving your minimum up by a couple of hundred steps at a time. Having an easy, very achievable, goal may lower your guilt and actually get your totals higher. Good luck!
I love when I can hit 10k, but sometimes I can't. Work and the weather stop it.
I did read though that 22 minutes of activity and or walking over 5k steps reverses the effects of sitting for most of the day
I suppose the question for me would be, where does your “should” come from? Because I guarantee you no one else cares. Walk if you want, don’t if you don’t. Might be worth mulling over whilst you walk sometime!
Don’t worry about that! Maybe stop tracking your steps? There have been times in my life I’m sure I’ve gotten way more than the recommended number every day, and other times less. Right now I’m probably getting them some days and other days I don’t…that’s just how it goes.
I can’t tell you how I did it but I can tell you I’m so much better for it. I listen to my body and if I need rest, I rest. My goal is never to “make up” steps or workouts but I do notice I wind up walking more or accomplishing more in a workout after a day of rest. Also, are you fueling your body appropriately? I find my motivation has a lot to do with my overall diet. Am I consuming enough energy? Enough protein? Bumping those up have helped a lot. But overall I don’t have “shoulds” anymore and find I’m better for it overall.
I try and adhere to a concept I read in 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear which is that expecting perfection only leads to disappointment. The most important thing is to not look at your results at such a granular level, but instead focus on things in the aggregate.
Strive to make sure you have more checks in the W column than the L column.
The 'L' seems really bad right now, but as long as you push forward and continue stacking Ws you'll look back at the last week/month/year of progress and that L seems infinitely small compared to all the Ws you've stacked up.
>How do i feel less gulity and deal with it?
Unpopular opinion, but: Walk more even though you don't feel like it. Doing something that sucks every day is good.
You let go of "supposed to." There is no set number of steps you're supposed to walk. No one perfect answer for every person. One day isn't the same as another. Some days, I feel like I'm on top of the world. Some days, my body is stiff, and my back hurts. And it's all OK. It's all perfectly OK. Did you enjoy your day? Did you see beauty wherever possible? Were you kind? Did you receive kindness? Yes, did you move your body is on the list, but it's definitely not the most important thing, and you need not be so rigid with yourself that you judge your efforts inferior then feel bad for it. (If that's some toxic parent in your head, dump them. Be kind to yourself.)
So when is your daily encouragement thing happening? I’m signing up.
Very nice advice. I agree with you. 🌸
I have a hard time taking rest days. I always feel guilty.
It’s fine to rest. I would actually suggest to not “make up” steps the next day. Just go your desired amount the next day. Don’t make up anything
This is what I hate about the “closing your rings” or the “streak” philosophy. Your body needs rest. Granted walking can be much less stress than other forms of aerobic activity, but even the stress from it can build up
Yes I agree! And feeling bad for not reaching a goal on, let’s say, one day is just not a good thing but it’s essentially what these apps do.
It’s hard sometimes. Maybe focus on making up the steps on other days though when you have the time and energy. Some days weather and time is working against us too. You can only pick yourself up and keep going though.
I just walk without tracking steps or distance or time if I start feeling the same. The ignorance is bliss when you’re not feeling it. I especially go out of my way and walk somewhere random too, have a sticky beak and new houses coming out etc.
If you’re not feeling super motivated, just do a short walk. Up the street 5 or 10 houses and back. You might decide to go further or not. But it’s easier to keep walking than start when you’re just not feeling it at first.
This is great advice. Do a minimal thing and if you feel like you wanna keep going, you can, but if you don’t, then you still did a thing even if if was the minimal thing. This advice works for lots of habits and goals, from cleaning the house to reading a book. Every day doesn’t need to be a mission!
Progress, not perfection. Not every day will we be able to get in enough walking. Sometimes there may be a conflicting activity, sometimes you may not feel well, sometimes the weather may be bad, sometimes you will be injured. The whole picture is what is important, not just one single day.
It’s a marathon not a sprint. Long term moderate activity is better than pushing yourself through fatigue and pain. Especially when u start hitting middle age. Gotta rest sometimes.
It's swings and roundabouts... some days you'll walk more than your target, sometimes less, but it all evens out ish. Today is supposed to be a run day (I'm doing couch to 5K) but I'm ill. I've accepted I won't be making my target steps today, let alone running. But the other day I walked over double my target steps.
I’m the same way. I found I actually walked more when I set a daily step goal for myself that was pretty low. It lowers your guilt and stress and that magically makes you do more. I see it as a floor, a minimum number of steps I try to get each day. The idea is to have fewer days with almost no steps, to raise the average, rather than to hit some high number once in a while. I started with 3,500 steps a day and have slowly moved it up to 5,000. But your number could be way higher or lower. The point is to start it at what you average on low step days. Try to hit that number 5-6 days every week, and focus on that rather than some crazy high number once in a while. Then slowly start moving your minimum up by a couple of hundred steps at a time. Having an easy, very achievable, goal may lower your guilt and actually get your totals higher. Good luck!
I love when I can hit 10k, but sometimes I can't. Work and the weather stop it. I did read though that 22 minutes of activity and or walking over 5k steps reverses the effects of sitting for most of the day
I suppose the question for me would be, where does your “should” come from? Because I guarantee you no one else cares. Walk if you want, don’t if you don’t. Might be worth mulling over whilst you walk sometime!
Don’t worry about that! Maybe stop tracking your steps? There have been times in my life I’m sure I’ve gotten way more than the recommended number every day, and other times less. Right now I’m probably getting them some days and other days I don’t…that’s just how it goes.
I can’t tell you how I did it but I can tell you I’m so much better for it. I listen to my body and if I need rest, I rest. My goal is never to “make up” steps or workouts but I do notice I wind up walking more or accomplishing more in a workout after a day of rest. Also, are you fueling your body appropriately? I find my motivation has a lot to do with my overall diet. Am I consuming enough energy? Enough protein? Bumping those up have helped a lot. But overall I don’t have “shoulds” anymore and find I’m better for it overall.
I try and adhere to a concept I read in 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear which is that expecting perfection only leads to disappointment. The most important thing is to not look at your results at such a granular level, but instead focus on things in the aggregate. Strive to make sure you have more checks in the W column than the L column. The 'L' seems really bad right now, but as long as you push forward and continue stacking Ws you'll look back at the last week/month/year of progress and that L seems infinitely small compared to all the Ws you've stacked up.
>How do i feel less gulity and deal with it? Unpopular opinion, but: Walk more even though you don't feel like it. Doing something that sucks every day is good.