I Move Little

From the time I left the house this morning to the time I sat down to write this from home, I've taken 3,238 steps.

A friend visiting from Minnesota told me that to maintain one's level of fitness, one ought to walk 10,000 steps a day. Holy shit, I have work to do. I wore a pedometer today -- one I got for Christmas last year from another friend. I went through my normal routine -- walk about two blocks to the subway, walk from the subway to work (23rd and 6th to 19th and 5th), across the street from my office to get lunch, and then the reverse of my morning routine to get home. Not to mention a few trips to the bathroom, copy machine, co-workers' offices, etc., during the day. And all I got was this lousy 3,000 steps.

A non-profit called Shapeup.org (founded by former surgeon general C. Everett Koop) says this:

"So how much activity is enough for weight management? There are now some studies suggesting that walking10,000 steps a day is the right ball park to be in. ... After wearing the pedometer for a few weeks, we learned that in the normal course of events – just living and working – we took anywhere from 900 to 3000 steps in a day and not much more. In other words, we came to realize that it was pretty nearly impossible for us to get in 10,000 steps in a day without intentionally going out for a walk (or getting on a treadmill)."

Wow -- so I'm on the high side of a normal American's day. When I moved here I thought I'd trim down to a lean, athletic build. I didn't account for the abundance of food and the scarcity of companionship.

Not that I'm chunky -- friends still think I've slimmed down when in reality, I've gained about ten pounds since I moved here. I'm looking into a gym membership. Modern human beings have no reason to move a lot. We have to create fake work, like exercise.

UPDATE: I decided to put on my 1990s era sneakers and go for a run. Not far -- I don't want to be in such pain that I don't do it again. Before I moved here I didn't know anything about Brooklyn. I had no idea that it had a park the size of Manhattan's Central Park. Prospect Park was created in the 1860s by Frederick Law Olmstead, the man who designed Central Park. George Washington fought (and lost) the Battle of Brooklyn in what is now the park.

So I walked two blocks from my apartment to the Park and jogged for a leisurely 20 minutes. It felt great. The Park was full of joggers, bikers, and roller bladers. Even barbecuers -- strange for a Monday. I didn't realize how close the lake was in the Park. And looking at a map of the Park, it's a bigger lake than I thought it was.