Dear Kayla,

I’m thinking you’ve answered this question before, but I’ve forgotten. How did you determine it was 6 miles you needed to do each day? And is that around 14,000 steps for you?

God Bless you!

Grace

Dear Grace,

My six-mile-a-day goal was completely arbitrary. Okay, maybe not completely arbitrary, but it wasn’t exactly scientific. Back in 2015, I came across an article on the internet about a personal trainer who worked with celebrities. Which trainer? I can’t remember, but it might have been Kit Rich. Which website had the article? I have no idea. I googled it, for old time’s sake, but I couldn’t find it. Anyway, the point is, this trainer, whoever she was, told her clients to move three miles a day in order to lose weight and get in shape.

When I read that advice, I was feeling rather desperate. You see, I had started that year working out hard. I was going to the gym every day. I would do Zumba, HIIT, CrossFit, or anything that left me sweating buckets and sore the next day. By mid-year, I had switched from focusing on cardio to lifting really heavy weights. This intensity-focused mindset led me to push myself too far. I injured my back doing a deadlift, and suddenly, I found myself with very few options. I couldn’t squat. I certainly couldn’t deadlift. I couldn’t even run. Walking was the only thing I could tolerate, and I thought it didn’t truly count as exercise. But what else could I do?

Adding to my desperation was the fact that despite all my hard work, I was still obese. My weight was hovering frustratingly around 205. I was also convinced that my metabolism was slow. So, my thinking went, if I doubled this trainer’s recommendation, her advice would have to work, even for me, even if all I was doing was walking. I was pretty sure this would fail, but what other choice did I have? Thus, was born my new exercise plan: six miles of walking, every single day.

The 14,000 steps came from my Fitbit’s calculations. You measure your stride length, then put that into the Fitbit app. And then, based on how many steps you take, it calculates how far you’ve walked. For me, 14,000 steps was just over the six-mile mark. So, I pushed my step goal up to 14,000 steps to test it out. And here’s what I learned: when I hit that 6-mile goal, it felt good. I felt like I had really accomplished something. And it was completely within my control, unlike the scale.

You see, I was struggling with the scale. The scale is fickle. I had learned that I couldn’t really control what it showed me on a day-to-day basis. I was beginning to understand that I just had to ride the waves up and down. I had to kinda ignore the upward fluctuations, celebrate the downward ones, and try really hard to focus on the trend over time, while still holding myself accountable and making sure I wasn’t slipping into bad habits. Dealing with all this gray-area, back-and-forth squishiness of the scale is a hard thing for a control freak like me to tolerate.

Here’s a peek at what my inner dialogue would look like on a typical morning’s visit to the scale in 2015. Okay, yesterday I’m pretty sure I ate the right amount. I didn’t even eat a snack, even though I thought about it. I was full after I ate supper, but not too full. So maybe the scale will be down. Let’s see, yesterday’s weight was 205. And today’s weight is….. 205.2. Wait. What? Does that mean I ate too much yesterday after all? But if I don’t eat enough I’ll feel tired and cranky, and…..

Hitting my step goal, on the other hand? Black and white. Are there 14,000 steps on my Fitbit? Yes? Yay! You hit your goal! Are there less than 14,000? Keep walking! Simple to understand. No mental gymnastics required.

Hitting my step goal gave me a daily victory. My walking put me in a consistently good mood, which helped me to stay positive about my weight loss plan in general, no matter what the morning number was. So, I committed to the walking. I decided to get my steps in, come hell or high water. And I did. My consistency with steps helped me get consistent with intermittent fasting. And the consistency with fasting is what, by and large, helped me lose the weight.

And yes, I continue to have a goal of 6 miles a day, Monday-Saturday. And yes, I still get that feeling of accomplishment when I look down and see my step count is over 14,000. Walking relieves stress, helps me feel good, helps me avoid emotionally eating, gives me time to think, and gives me time outside.

That doesn’t mean a 6-mile goal is a great idea for everyone. What’s much more important is a goal that fits well in the individual’s life, and that it aligns with their goals. 14,000 steps is simply what works for me.

Sincerely,

Kayla Cox