Steppin’ It Up!!

You all have heard me talk about the 60 Day Challenge (here and here) at my beloved barre n9ne. Well, I have a confession. I’ve been half-assing it. There are 4 pieces to the challenge and I’ve only been doing 3 consistently. Eating your number (check, sooo doable!), drinking 64 ounces of water a day (cake!), taking 4 barre classes a week (pie! I live at b9 – just ask my family, they’re rerouting my mail as we speak!), and lastly getting 10,000 steps a day. FAIL. Oh sweet EPIC fail of all fails. Most days I average 4,000 at work and an additional 2,000 outside of work. Some days it’s less if work is meetings X 100. Sometimes it’s more if I run around a lot. Either way I have not been meeting my goal of 10,000. <insert sad face>

That is, until 2 weeks ago. I finally adopted the “put up or shut up” mentality in my head. This means JUST DOING IT every day. Or as my pal Rach says: It’s Not Optional!

Then I saw this on Facebook and I felt like it was no coincidence that STEP was the theme:

If I want to eventually complete a 5K I need to start somewhere. That somewhere is in getting my 10,000 steps a day. Hell even Jessica Simpson does it! Just like when I wanted to get healthy I had to take baby steps away from my bad habits. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t pretty. But ya know what? It’s been really worth it and suddenly things I never thought I could do seem totally within reason.

Oh you might be thinking “But Samantha – what happened to your walking club at work? Weren’t you doing your steps then?!“. Welllll I was – sorta. So the group that sponsors this challenge counted aerobic exercise as 200 steps a minute and pilates as 100 steps a minute. Therefore my barre classes counted anywhere from 11,4000 steps to 5,700. Cheating, total cheating! Especially since I have been wearing my Fitbit to class (I like seeing how many calories I burn!) and I am only averaging 500 steps in class. Eleven thousand my ass.

So as of last Monday I am officially committed to getting my steps in come hell or high water. This might mean walking in circles around the house – or literally pacing in my living room late at night – but I don’t care. I am sleeping better, my legs literally look thinner (maybe it’s in my head…but that’s OK) and I FEEL better. That alone is enough motivation to keep pushing me. 10,000 a day or bust! (Tanya I can see you shaking your head emphatically and saying YES – sorry I didn’t do this sooner!). I was telling my friend Amanda this yesterday in legs class and she agreed – it’s not always easy  but it just feels so good getting it done! BTW look for a post about Amanda soon – that girl is a serious inspiration to me!

Funny story – the other night I accidentally set my Fitbit to some stupid egg timer mode and it stopped counting steps. I knew the last time I had looked I was at 4400 so I busted out my old school pedometer and walked another 5500. BAM! I also started snapping a picture on my phone as proof to myself I did it. I won’t bore you with 14 pictures – but here’s a sample! 😉

Oh and peep my cute new shoes – love me some New Balance! Right now they are indoor only so I can save them cardio class @ b9!

Speaking of I am really excited to take a cardio class- but I keep getting derailed! Last Sunday? Pager. This Wednesday? Dentist. Next Wednesday? Chicago trip. The following Wednesday? NY trip! Boo. I promise, I will get there. Hopefully Sunday August 6th….unless I end up in LA. LOL!

If you’re looking to get healthy take my advice, grab a 10$ pedometer and track your steps. You might be amazed to see how little (or how much!) you walk. My BFF lives in NYC and she cane get 10,000 a day just at her job and nearly another 10,000 walking to and from work!

So, I challenge you dear readers – step it up and join me! Happy Friday!

 

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