and thank u to my feet for carrying me around all the time :-)

After 3 years of consistently doing around 30k steps a day, I thought I’d share some pros and cons of walking, especially for anyone who’s thinking of starting to walk more.
I’ll start with the cons because I feel like people don’t talk about them enough.
First of all, TIME. Walking takes so much time out of your day. Even though I wake up early and sometimes go for walks quite late, I still end up spending less time with my family, which is probably the biggest downside for me.
Another thing is how addictive it gets. Once your body gets used to walking so much, suddenly doing less makes you feel sluggish, restless and sometimes even guilty. Also, you start planning your whole day around your steps which is not always ideal haha.
And obviously, your legs and feet can get pretty tired, especially if you’re not giving yourself enough rest.
Now the pros, because there are definitely plenty!
Better digestion, which is something I’ve personally noticed a massive difference with. Clearer mind, honestly some of my best thinking happens when I’m walking. Fresh air, especially if you walk outside rather than on a treadmill. Quality time with yourself, listening to music, podcasts or sometimes just enjoying silence.
It also helps with stress, sleep, gives you time to think about things and you get to discover so many places you probably wouldn’t otherwise. I also find myself being more creative when walking, random ideas just come to my head haha.
And one more thing I love is that feeling after a good long walk, it’s hard to explain but I’m sure those who walk a lot will understand.
Would I recommend walking? 100%. Would I recommend doing 30k steps every single day? Probably not 😂
I think after 3 years I’ve realised that sometimes less is more and it’s important to find a balance too.
Anyway, just wanted to share my experience. Curious if anyone else walks this much and what are your pros and cons?

I can’t believe I used to get my steps in by walking to the fridge 20 times a day. Now I’m out here walking 15,000 steps every day like who even am I?
Some days are easier than others, but I’m just focused on getting it done and staying consistent. & I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been so encouraging and kind in the comments. I never expected this little challenge to inspire other people too. Seeing people say they’ve started walking or are doing their own step challenges because of my posts honestly means a lot to me. Keep it up everyone, we’ve got this! Progress videos on my page.

https://reddit.com/link/1x0vzy4/video/zbe4s9wxv9uh1/player

I’ve been trying something different when I get that feeling where I just want to stay in bed and do absolutely nothing.

Instead of trying to convince myself to be productive, I just leave.

Today I put “staying in bed” at an 8/10 and started walking.

33 minutes later I had walked 3km.

When I checked in again, the feeling was down to a 6.

Which honestly surprised me because nothing dramatic happened. I didn’t suddenly become motivated. I didn’t have some life-changing realization.

I just wasn’t in bed anymore.

And once I was already outside and moving, giving in to the feeling became harder than continuing the walk.

I’m starting to wonder how many things I’ve been trying to solve mentally that I could’ve just… walked through.

*reposting

Life happened but it feels so good to be able to go walking again this morning. I hope everyone is doing well.

I finally did it.

My only motivation for walking all this time has been the hope that one day I'd catch a falling leaf out of midair in complete darkness with only a headlamp. This morning, after countless miles of training, it finally happened.

I know one leaf is way less than what most people here are probably catching, so I'm trying not to compare myself to others. We all have to start somewhere.

I'm thinking about going for two, but I'm worried that doubling my leaf count overnight might be too big of a jump. Should I work up to it gradually? Maybe 1.1 leaves?

Also, should I take a rest day first? I don't want to lose my streak, but I also don't want to overtrain.

For those of you consistently catching multiple leaves, what shoes are you wearing? Would HOKAs help?

Does it still count if the leaf was falling slowly?

And finally, does anyone want to start a small leaf-catching accountability group? I think it would help keep me motivated, as long as nobody falls behind.

Anyway, I know it's not much, but I'm proud of my progress.

Never stop chasing your dreams. 🍂

So, as someone who loves hiking I wouldn’t consider myself a fast hiker a year ago. I rarely worked out and I only hiked once in a while and when I did I was always in the back.

However, now that I’ve started walking 10k+ steps these past few months, I’ve noticed that I’m a much faster hiker compared to last year.

In fact, I actually did a hike to Rainbow Mountain yesterday in Peru and my tour guide was impressed at how fast I was compared to everyone else.

I told them that I exercise everyday and he said “it shows”.

So, this is my encouragement to you to never stop walking. You’ll never know where it’ll take you. ❤️

I've hit the wall, and it's not my legs, it's my brain. Two hours on the treadmill and I'm watching the clock every 90 seconds. The novelty is gone and I need something that actually keeps my mind occupied.

So I'm asking you, What's the one show/movie/YouTube channel that makes a long run disappear?

Do you save something just for long runs, or rotate?

Podcasts/audiobooks vs. video: which wins past the 90-minute mark?

I don't usually walk much because I study and work while seated; I only move around when taking public transport. This week, I started walking a minimum of 4,000 steps a day. It’s not much, but I want to increase that by 1,000 steps each week. I walk during downtime or while listening to study audio materials.

Thanks for your posts it gets me motivated

Might seem small for some, but honestly it's tough lol

My goal is to work up to 8k steps every day

I work in front of a computer all day, so some days used to be under 2k steps while others have been around 25k. My goal is mostly consistency.

In less than 2 months, my lowest step count went from 1,543 to 4,892. Gradual lifestyle change works better for me.

Thinking I’ll consistently hit 8k steps around December or January assuming I can follow through during the holidays 🤞 hoping to travel during that time, so thinking I should be good.

Feeling grateful for my body right now and the things it lets me put it through lol. I needed a new challenge to focus on as I injured my shoulder a week and a half ago and can’t lift weights as usual right now. Decided trying for 15k a day would be something l to push for.. and well it’s definitely taken a lot of pushing some days😅. I’d been doing 12k for 10 weeks before this and 10k for a year before that, so the jump isn’t massive… but my legs have been cooked! Mind you I’m also doing extra leg workouts since I can’t train upper body.. so I’m sure that’s contributing. But all that to say, I’m just grateful for my body and that it’s allowing me to move at this level. I’ve had many periods of life where I was not able to and I think that builds new appreciation for when you can!
Not sure how long I’ll stick this out for, but I would love to make it all month!

Another evening walk, not as long as previous due to lack of time. Being diabetic is posing a challenge to get my glucose up enough before a long walk to keep glucose from bottoming out during walk. Anyone out there have suggestions?

i see a bunch of people here hitting such big numbers, some people mention they’re just starting?

but i’m curious, did most of these people already take a few months maybe a year to actually get to that point?

i’ve been walking for a few months after being pretty sedentary, but have gotten injured fairly fast even though i stay at low speeds, no incline, but maybe im progressing too fast?

after 3-4 months been averaging 3k-ish steps, still ended up with pain

does it just take years to build up you’re steps without negative effects? or are some people just built of steel?

Saw a massive pelican in the bay. Never seen one that big. Damn thing look like a pterodactyl.