All my friends know how much I love my Fitbit!
It not only gives me an accurate view as to how active I am each day, the app gives me competition with other Fitbit wearers and syncs with My Fitness Pal to let me track my calorie outgo!
The one problem I’ve encountered as a stay-at-home mom, even more so as a work-at-home mom, is how to get my 10,000 + steps in.
I have had to become very creative in this area.
Here are some ways I’ve found to help me reach 10,000 steps. And while lately I’ve only been consistently reaching only half of that, I’m back to working hard to reach my 10-kay each day! (see how I made that rhyme. haha!)
1. Walk as soon as you get up. When I get up, the first thing I do is grab my first dose of ascorbic acid and walk. I walk and pray, because mornings are my time of devotion. This not only helps me focus, it helps my body wake up. I usually walk and pray for 20 minutes.
2. Use your iPad and walk while you do social media. I pin, tweet, and FB while I walk up and down my hall.
3. Walk and cook. Stir those pots and stomp away!
4. Walk and do dishes. Rinse your dishes while you step-touch, step-touch.
5. Walk in place while you fold laundry.
6. Pace while you wait.…at the doctor, for the bus, while waiting for your kids to leave school, etc (just so long as it doesn’t make others nervous or look like you need the ladies’ room.)
7. Walk / run in place or exercise while watching TV.
8. Walk while talking on the phone.
9. Do a lap around the house during commercial breaks.
10. Park at the end of the parking lot at the mall or grocery store.
11.Take an extra lap around Walmart before hitting the checkout line.
12. Do Skype walk dates with your bestie. Walk and chat away!
13. Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.
14. Take a family walk after dinner.
15. Set your alarm to remind you to do 2-3 laps around your home.
16. Put on some workout music and get your kids to exercise with you. My kids love it when I exercise with them! I have put together this fun playlist of songs I love to workout to. I like older music, so feel free to let this inspire you to make your own….or you may use mine if you like it! I just dare you to listen to this and not moooooove!
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Morgan @ Morgan Manages Mommyhood says
LOVE this! I actually got a FitBit because I became a SAHM. I was also a little intrigued to see how much I was walking with my then colicky son, which was a surprising amount. I definitely would say one of my favorites especially with small babies is to baby wear and walk around the house. I would nurse my son to sleep in the carried when he was having a bad day and let him nap on me that way. And I’d basically just pace my house for the next hour+ that he was asleep!
amanda says
Great ideas! I can see my husband making fun of my for some of these like step touch while doing dishes 🙂
Rosilind says
haha!! Yes – my husband makes fun of me all the time!!
alisa @ Flourishing Today says
I love this! I don’t have a FitBit, but I definitely need to be moving! You give some great ideas that I will be trying this week! =))
Rashel says
What great tips! I got a Garmin Forerunner for Christmas to track my runs/pace etc but I’ve come to love the step counter.
Ana (@ANAWINSblog) says
Park at the back of the grocery store. I don’t know if I could bring myself to do that one! Haha! With 3 little ones in tow, we might take 45 minutes to get to the door. We love taking family walks when the weather is nice. Great ideas, Rosilind!
Cindy says
Hello Rosilind! Really very helpful ways… I will surely follow these tips to achieve the fitness target. Thanks for the amazing blog.
Mother of 3 says
I don’t have a fitbit but I do try to add more movement in my day. Often doing sit ups or push ups during commercial breaks. This is a great list for more ways to sneak in movement!
Kate says
This was really inspiring. Great ideas – thanks