Wearable Fitness Trackers – Will these help me achieve my fitness goals?

There are also apps on phones that can track your step count. With the global endemic called obesity affecting most countries across the world, governments needed to try and get people more active to try and combat this crisis. With this in mind, most governments advised people to try and get at least 10,000 steps in every day. This essentially was parallel to the old say of ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ (a 19th century English proverb advocating the consumption of apples as keeping healthy) 

 

With more and more people leading sedentary lifestyles, and many jobs requiring people to sit behind a desk all day, something needed to be done. Aside from trying to encourage people to eat healthier, governments wanted people to move more, and this is where daily steps were advised. 

 

10,000 steps, approximately 5 miles (8km) is what most governments are recommending people to walk every day, but most adults don’t get near this target. We live in a life of convenience and making everything simpler, or essentially lazier, and this has become the ‘norm’ of modern society. Most households have at least one car, and will even use a car to travel less than 1 mile to the nearest store for food. Now that is not to tar everyone with the same brush, but it is becoming the status quo. 

 

So, is 10,000 steps going to help with your weight loss goals? Yes, but only if incorporated properly. If you just watch people walking around now in your local town or city, nearly everyone is watching videos, looking at their social media platforms, or playing games all whilst walking. People are genuinely becoming addicted to their cell phones, and are using them at every opportunity available to them. This leads me onto the point I’m trying to make! 

 

Walking every day can help you lose weight, but it needs to be done with a particular effort. You need to be walking at a pace that is having an exerting effort on your breathing rate. Just walking and using your phone is not going to give you any benefit, as you are not increasing your heart rate above it’s baseline. The best thing to do is to put your phone in your pocket, and leave it there, or if you can just leave it at home and give yourself a daily detox away from it! The key is to increase your heart rate, which in turn increases your core body temperature, which in turn helps you to burn additional calories. So whilst walking you need to walk at a pace that is faster than your standard walking pace, but not so fast that you couldn’t keep up a conversation with someone. 

 

To incorporate 10,000 steps into your daily routine can be made achievable with just a few different methods added to your daily life. Here are some ideas for you to try:- 

 

 

So in conclusion, yes steps can be a great way to help with your weight loss goals, but they are not the ‘be all end all’ method. There are several components that make a successful weight loss journey, so don’t get hung up on forcing yourself to ‘get your steps in’. We at Baby Rock Fitness can outline the methods most suitable to your lifestyle to achieve your goals with a fully customised training and nutrition package.