Stepping it up
9 full days into August and I’m less behind on my hope to average 7,000 steps per day than I thought I would be, which is a win in my book (a win in my shoes?)!
I had thought it would be a slow ramp up to 7,000ish steps a day. My in-office days are wildly random right now with “no weeks off” summer camp roulette, but I do spend my days there running around the building be it for snacks, meetings, or to film someone here and there. As I’ve mentioned in the past, my work from home (WFH) days are the bigger problem as I tend to get lost in my to-do list and not make time to move around much.
However, I’ve found a “carrot” to get me to get down to the basement and work in some quick between meetings and/or camp pick up treadmill walks and, of course, it’s an almost stereotypical tip for when one may not be as motivated to do a task: I designated a show that I only watch on the treadmill
I know, not groundbreaking. However, I’ve always had trouble with this because I have trouble not watching an entire episode of a scripted series and I don’t always (ever) have time to get through 30, 45, or 60 minutes in one go. I’ve found, though, that I do not have the same issue with walking away from YouTube videos, specifically a series where celebrities are interviewed as they eat wings (chicken or vegan) that are covered in progressively spicier sauce.
I’ve become treadmill addicted to the series Hot Ones.
I don’t know why I’m enjoying it so much; my reality tv watching really lives in the weird space between The Great British Bake Off, random Food Network cooking shows, and American Ninja Warrior. But it’s keeping me moving and motivated – I have no trouble watching 10-15 minutes of an episode and then walking back to my life and picking it back up when I get back down there.
9 days in and I’m averaging 6,900 steps per day. Might I hit this hope this month? We’ll see!
Do you need “carrots” to draw you to certain activities? What gets you moving when your to-do lists are too much of a draw?
I have a dog. Her well-being is my carrot to get out and walk several times a day! I always recommend a dog as a good tool for physical and mental health, although they're also expensive and inconvenient, so I'm sometimes kind of jealous of people without dogs. LOL. It's very complicated.
ReplyDeleteIt really is! Our dog, Bella, will not go for walks; she has some leftover anxiety issues from living with my mom and belly crawls back to the car/house if we try. Lil Momma has a dream of our future dog being our walking "carrot" (and LM's bedtime companion) (and LM's "dress up dog")... big dreams over here for a dog that doesn't exist!
DeleteYay! You are doing so great! And yes, I am all about carrots. Poor about deploying them, though.
ReplyDeleteThat's smart to reward yourself with a show you like on the tread. I do that with podcasts, for crappy jobs around the house. I'll save an episode for when I have to fold laundry or something like that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not groundbreaking but HIGHLY affective. Everyone needs their own "carrot".... for me it's the first cup of coffee in the morning that I only get if I got my workout out of the way ;)
ReplyDeleteHey, whatever works! I was reading the comments and realized I should do something like this for housework- like, have a podcast I only listen to while I clean. I'll have to think about that and pick one!
ReplyDeleteDude, you totally got this. And use whatever motivates you! Who cares if it's kind of inexplicable (even to you :>). Feet are moving = win!
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