Because I wear a Fitbit pedometer, I’ve become acutely aware of  many steps I’m taking each day (okay, I’m borderline obsessed). Last week I was at Ivar’s, picking up an order of Fish and Chips. As I stood there, I was frustrated about wasting time when I needed more steps to reach my daily goal. Suddenly, I had a flash of brilliance: I could walk while I waited.

I started moving around the waiting area. No, I wasn’t striding purposefully around the restaurant – that would have looked really weird. I sort of  paced, but I was subtle. I’m pretty sure I looked only a little bit weird.

Voila!  I got 175 steps in during the 5 minutes I waited for my Fish and Chips. During a 10 minute wait at Fed Ex Office the next day I added 350 steps.

It’s not something I’ll do every time I wait. Like when I’m standing in a long line of grumpy people at the post office – I’ll stand there and be grumpy right along with them. But there are times, and places, it will work.

Think about it – where can you squeeze some extra steps in?

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I recommend having a pedometer (Fitbit is my favorite, but any old pedometer will work). From a study at the Stanford School of Medicine about pedometers:

“Much to my surprise, these little devices were shown to increase physical activity by just over 2,000 steps, or about 1 mile of walking per day,” said the study’s lead author, Dena Bravata, MD, MS, a senior research scientist in medicine. “This goes a long way toward helping people meet the national guidelines for daily physical activity.”

Read the complete story here.

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My stats for February 9:

12030 steps taken
22 floors climbed
5.1 miles traveled
2011 calories burned
1900 calories eaten
133.9 pounds
FYM Day 174 Missed workout – but lots of steps!