Did you get a Fitbit or other activity tracker for Christmas? Or maybe you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to increase your step count in 2019? It can be challenging as a mom to find the time to hit that 10,000-step goal. I know I need anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes of walking or running in addition to my normal daily activity in order to hit it. But there are days when I’m ALMOST to 10,000, and I just need a few more steps to push me over the edge. So I’ve come up with a few tricks to get me to my goal. Here are the step counts of some of my typical “mom” activities. I hope you can reap the benefits!

So if you need….

100 steps: Read and act out “Barnyard Dance” by Sandra Boynton. Leap like a frog several times!

200 steps: Do a sink full of dishes after dinner while your husband handles the bath and pajamas. It will be the most restful 200 steps you’ve ever earned.

300 steps: Have a dance party with your kids. Keep it going for more songs and get more steps! Or fold a load of your kids’ laundry, and watch 30 minutes of Netflix while you’re doing it.

500 steps: Go to the grocery store. If you’re alone, good for you! Walk up and down every aisle for more steps, just because you can. Or do some shadowboxing while watching DVRed television with your husband. Every time he fast-forwards through commercials, punch it out!

700 steps: Put a 5-year-old to bed. You wouldn’t think it would be this many steps, but putting on her pajamas and brushing her hair and teeth while she fights me every step of the way earns more than you’d think!

1,000 steps: Choose a spot for lunch that’s .25 miles from your house or office, and walk there and back. Or arrive early for an appointment and walk around the block until it’s your turn.

2,000 steps: Walk your kids to school. If you also walk to pick them up, you’re almost halfway to your 10,000-step goal. This distance will obviously vary based on the distance from your house to your school, but I estimated an average. It also saves in gas and vehicle emissions.

15,000 steps (minimum): Go to Disney World. You’ll be amazed.

How do you stay active outside the gym? Share your mom-friendly ideas with us!

 

Rachel Wilson
Rachel is a native of the West Coast and didn't know that her straight hair could frizz until she made the move East! After earning a Master of Environmental Management from Yale, she moved to Boston for a job opportunity and, on her first Saturday night in the city, met the man who would become her husband. They married in 2012 and are learning more every day about how to be parents to daughters Annabel (2013) and Eleanor (2016). Rachel and her family recently relocated from Charlestown to the Metrowest suburbs and are enjoying their yard, but dislike shoveling snow from their driveway. Rachel currently works as an energy and environmental consultant, and wore Birkenstocks before they were trendy. Likes: her family, her in-laws, cooking ambitious meals and leaving the dishes for someone else, hiking, running, yoga, climbing mountains, reading books, farmers' markets and her CSA, dark chocolate peanut butter cups, the sound of her daughters' laughter, and coffee Dislikes: running out of milk, New England winters, diaper rash, wastefulness, cell phones at the dinner table