How I Walked 10,000 Steps a Day for a Year
Key takeaways:
Kristina Goetz never liked group exercise, but she still wanted to find a way to work out on her own.
After a friend posted on social media about taking 10,000 steps a day for an entire year, she decided to try it herself.
She never told anyone outside of her family what she was doing, because she wasn’t sure if she’d have the willpower to hit her goal.
My Journey is a series of personal essays about what it’s like to cope with a medical condition.
I’m starting 2024 with a confession: I’ve never liked exercise. Not one day, not ever.
I’ve tried step aerobics, barre, pilates, and personal training. I’ve endured group yoga and gutted out 5K training app programs that promise to make you a runner. And then there was dancing, kickboxing, swimming, and weight training.
I. Hate. All of it. The competition. The matching workout gear. The early mornings with perky instructors who try to convince you that you GET to work out, you don’t HAVE to. (Or worse, the after-work drill sergeant who yells “LOWERRRR” on that last squat.)
But worst of all, for me, is the community that most gyms and training programs foster. I get it. It motivates a lot of people to show up and exercise with friends. But the very last thing I want is to chit-chat as I’m sucking wind and have sweaty hair plastered to my forehead. (Zero stars, would not recommend.)
So, on the last day of 2022, I surprised myself when I decided to make a New Year’s resolution to exercise more. I was scrolling through Facebook comments from friends who were sharing their accomplishments. One mentioned that she’d walked 10,000 steps a day, every day, for the whole year.
I’m not sure what possessed me to take on that goal for 2023, but I did. I never made it Facebook official. There was no announcement. To be candid, I wasn’t sure I would have the willpower to do it every day for an entire year.
But there was something appealing about it. I could walk any time of day, split it up into chunks, and go as fast or as slow as I wanted. Cute workout gear was not required. And even in a summer heat wave when I had sweat dripping from my clothes, I only had to smell myself, not anyone else in a gym.
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Getting my steps in
I didn’t research the health benefits of walking 10,000 steps a day, track my heart rate, or come up with a weight loss goal. Walking WAS the goal. I used my phone to track steps at first and then a smartwatch.
Once I had a couple of months under my belt, I became more confident that I could actually pull it off. I started parking farther from the door at the grocery so I could get in extra steps, and I’d walk the aisles while my husband was in the checkout line. On days I had to travel for work, I’d wake up at 5AM to get a few thousand steps in before a long drive. I made laps through airport terminals. I sometimes walked in a big cemetery near my house. I could rest assured nobody would talk to me there.
On days that were bitterly cold or the skies threatened storms, I made loops in my small house. In the kitchen, around the dining room table, through the living room and den, then back again.
Finding solitude in my walks
I started to look forward to my evening walks after dinner to finish up the last couple thousand steps. I enjoyed the solitude. And I’ll admit there were a handful of times I got to 10,000 only minutes before midnight. But I did it.
Gradually, it became part of the family routine. And in the last month of the year, I shared a photo on social media of where I was when I hit 10,000 for that day.
Even my 8-year-old got into it. He started asking, “How many steps do you have, Mommy? How many more to go?” And I was surprised when the kid I call my “lounger” asked for a watch with a step counter for Christmas. He set his own goal of 5,000 steps a day and has already asked to take a quick walk around the block after dark to meet his goal.
It’s exercise I can tolerate
I’m proud to say I made it all 365 days with at least 10,000 steps a day. Sometimes I got more than 20,000. The final tally for the year: 4,531,920 steps and 2,018.02 miles.
And though I haven’t seen extraordinary changes in my overall health, I did lose a few pounds. I spent more time outside in the fresh air. And I inspired my son, who couldn’t care less about sports, to set an exercise goal, even if it’s a small one.
But more than anything, I think I’ve finally discovered an exercise I don’t hate. In fact, I may go for 10,000 steps a day again in 2024. And I might have occasional company on my after-dinner walks. But most of the time, I know I’ll enjoy the solitude and the outdoors, and even if I have sweaty hair stuck to my forehead, I won’t have to talk to anybody about it. I can just keep walking.
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