People often wonder why fitness tracking devices are set to a default goal of 10,000 steps per day. The answer is simple. There are approximately 2,000 steps in a mile, so with a goal of 10,000 steps, you would have walked the equivalent of 5 miles each day. People like round numbers, I guess.
I share this little tidbit with you because this evening the good folks at Fitbit sent me an email, congratulating me on the anniversary of my purchase. Which confused me to no end, as I did not purchase the device until mid February 2014…
I digress.
They emailed me to also congratulate me on my achievements this past year. Which was actually 11 months. It’s the thought that counts.
I walked 2,655,566 steps.
That is approximately 1328 miles.
Which is the distance between Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Key West, Florida.
Dude!! I walked from home to Key West, Florida!
And I didn’t get a single blister.
…Well, not true. Remember that time I hiked from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, all the way down to the Colorado River, and all the way back up. That was my best day for steps (45,000!!!), but it did leave me battered and broken.
That which does not kill us…
Enough with the melodrama.
This email from Fitbit actuallly tickled me pink because it told me that despite totally phoning it in, workout-wise, between August and November, I still managed to achieve an average of ~ 120 miles per month across the 11 months I’ve been tracking my activity.
Not so bad for someone who gutted and renovated 2 bathrooms, purged 15 years worth of stuff to get my house ready for sale, managed to keep it staged and show-ready for nearly a month, and took on a new job in the process.
Sometimes you have to stop beating yourself up and give yourself a nice pat on the back for a job well done.
Keep moving,
xoxo nancy
p.s. Bonus points to anyone who can identify the reference in my title. 🙂
my year of sweat 
Congratulations Nancy! I’m actually not surprised that someone as active as you is walking more than you think you are. Nice of Fitbit to let you know. Keep moving! ~Kathy
I see my step counts each day, but the cumulative total was still a nice, bug, surprise! 🙂
I think the ecard at the end said it all – awesomeness and glitter 🙂 1328 miles? Wow! 🙂
Haha! I actually saw this as a t-shirt several months ago and thought, I TOTALLY WANT ONE OF THOSE!! 🙂
Oh my gosh, the awesomeness and glitter picture…totally loving it!! You are awesome by the way!! I mean, actually, you are REALLY awesome because you walked to Key West with um, no blisters (or minimal at least)!! WOW!! You’re amazing!! Way to step it up (get it?)!! Eek, I’m so not funny! Oh well, I tried! Hope I made you smile! You rock! You’re awesome!! I’m so proud of you and YES, you should definitely be proud of yourself!! Get it! XOXO
You are a cutie! THANKS, beautiful!
I just got a Fitbit a few weeks ago, and i’m finding it quite useful and motivating! Maybe someday, I’ll walk to Key West, too! 🙂
It really is a hugely motivating tool for me, Debra. I hope you find it as useful as I have! Cheers!
Go you!!!
But . . . the NEXT time you walk from home to Key West Florida, please stop by for an adult beverage with me!
I TOTALLY thought of that. Geez! I could have visited with Nancy H, Helen/Tiny AND Kerry. Maybe if I start walking RIGHT NOW… 🙂
Not too shabby, Nancy, not too shabby! Fitbit’s are a nice way to see objective proof of our efforts. Too bad I lost mine after twelve days of use. I got one this Christmas. It was great. Until it was gone.
Oh CRAP, Carrie! 😦
I’m shocked I haven’t lost mine because I know a bunch of people who’ve lost there’s due to it unsnapping and falling off. Too bad Fitbit doesn’t make some changes to the design to address this issue.
I’ll probably get the wrist one next time, though I’m not sure I want to wear it all the time. I’m thinking of getting the one that measures heart rate. It’s supposed to be out this month.
Sam uses the Garmin Vivofit and loves it. I may try that one next.
Oh man, that is a long way… I have a feeling I’d barely make it to the border… or more rightly, the liquor store at the border…
Well, duty free would be a big distraction… but, think of how much cheaper that booze gets the further south you get.
WoooWooo! Nice work Nance. That’s a long way!!!
I walked right past Kerry ‘ s place and onto the southernmost point of the U.S. of A. 🙂
If you took that route you would have literally walked directly through my town! Bummed you didn’t stop and visit 🙂
Way to go Nancy! I knew you were a rockstar!
Shit, I could have visited with so many blog friends. Why didn’t I actually follow that route??? Would have been so much more fun than just going up and down the waterfront trail.
Maybe when you officially retire you can add that to your bucket list 🙂
Either way… way to go!
Great idea! 🙂
That’s a lot of miles. Well done!
It really is! It’s funny how I see that I’m putting in 4 – 5 miles a day, every day, but never stop to consider the cumulative distance. Perspective. 🙂
Ha ha ha! Well done you 🙂 And hey – I didn’t know that it was 5 miles a day, so thank you for that! X
Mr. Google told me that (multiple sources, so it must be true :-))
woooohooooo!! That is excellent!!
and a really long way!!
I have walked 1749 miles since November 2013 which is when I started on my way to mordor! I am 30 miles from the top of mount doom at the moment which is when there is going to be another update!!
It makes a lot more sense if you can see it on a real life map though 😀
as for your reference, the only thing I know that mentions snaps is the film Legally Blonde 2…I suspect it is not this though!
okay, so I just had a totally DOH! moment. I just realized that they weren’t congratulating me on my one year anniversary (with a trailing 12 month report); rather, they were congratulating me on my 2014 results. SO… I started using the Fitbit Feb 10, 2014, and these results are to Dec 31, 2014 — approx 46 weeks. Not too shabby!
I wonder wheere I can see my lifetime miles. I looked around the dashboard but couldn’t really see anything like that.
p.s. You got it! The Snap Cup from Legally Blonde 2, where she tries to get the coworkers to stop bickering by putting nice comments about each other in the Snap Cup. She reads one aloud and then it’s “Snaps for X”, the person the nice comment was about. 🙂 Well done, Sam!
That is awesome on 46 weeks!!
Woohoo! I am proud of my slightly iffy film knowledge 😀
Totally snaps for nancy though 😀
You are a wealth of knowledge! 🙂
Yep! Not all of it useful 😉
Same. 🙂
😀
Congratulations! I love when you get great surprises like that! It is so easy to get discouraged because we can’t always “see” our progress. You are an inspiration!!!
Mapping it out was a real eye opener! Feeling pretty bad ass, Kate, not gonna lie. Well, not build-my-own-fence bad ass, but bad ass all the same. 🙂
Another great reason to celebrate all those steps:
1328 miles x 100 calories/mi. = 132,800 calories burned
132,800 / 3500 calories in a pound => 37.94 pounds of weight you are NOT carrying around
Woo Hoo!
What an awesome way to look at it, NH! Thanks for that!
You’re welcome . . . plus you did all the work!
My Fitbit promptly died 24 hours after I published this post. How ironic. 🙂
That is too funny . . . in the most ironic sense of the word.
Indeed! I just bought a new toy to replace it with. Will blog about it soon! 🙂
In theory, you could have walked to my house and personally delivered that awesome can of food. 😀 Congrats, Nancy, that is an awesome achievement!
I would have gotten to your house in no time at all. New England is a hop, skip and a jump compared to Key West.
You could have carried two cans. 😀
and a bag of sausage.
hahaha! In the context of the soup, it would work just fine.
That soup was in a cardboard cup-like thing, but I see where you’re going with it. 🙂
Sorry, it was right out there in front of me and I couldn’t resist. 😀
Hey, who could resist?
Certainly, not I!
Atta boy.
Yowza girl! What a CRAZY accomplishment…..and the little map puts it all into perspective…so did nrhatch’s comment!!! Great job!
I know, right? Nancy Hatch’s added bit of illustration made me really puff my chest with pride. 😉
You ROCK, girl!! This calls for a bowl of cock soup! Oh wait, I have that. I’ll have to eat it on your behalf!
I have a fit bit now but have not opened it yet. Baby steps… 🙂 Off to tweet your accomplishment! xo
Please think of me and my trip from Toronto to Key West as you slurp on the cock soup! 🙂
Baby steps are perfectly good steps! Enjoy your new toy! xoxo
You deserve a pat on the back, Nancy! But if you walked to Key West you should’ve taken the west coast of Florida and dropped in for lunch or coffee 🙂 Anyway, well done!!
Oh, believe me, I’m kicking myself for missing the opportunity to drop in on Kerry (by the panhandle), you, Nancy H, etc. 🙂
awesome stepping! 🙂 you have done a ton of hard work and I remember that walk and those blisters..ouch! Love the quote, xoxo
That “walk” damn near killed me, Kerry. 🙂 8,700′ of elevation change. 🙂 What does it say about me that I now want to do a Rim-to-Rim hike (North rim down to river, across, then straight up to the South Rim, which neatly killed me) 🙂 !!!
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It’s awesome that you’ve walked so far………Does it weird you out that they keep track of your walking? Do you wonder what they do with it? I have to confess……that’s what’s kept me from getting a FitBit……or activating the health app on my iPhone……..or any of that stuff.
Does it weird me out? No. I bought the device specifically so I could track # of steps, distance, calories burned and # of minutes of fitness activity. So I’m getting what I paid for.
I think people believe they move a lot more than they actually do. I know I’m one of them. The Fitness tracker serves as the sobering truth. 🙂
As far as how the company might use that info, what are they going to do? Serve up ads for fitness clothing, gym membership or diet pills? I get targeted ads on social media already, just based on my Google searches, FB likes, etc. Actually, I find other sources far more invasive, Gmail being the worst of the bunch. Send an email with Italian cooking vacations in the body and watch what happens to your screen the next time you login to check mail. And we all know about the targeted ads in FB. So, in comparison, I can say that I experience none of that (or ar least none so conspucuous) with the fitness tracking devices.
You are unstoppable, Nancy. Someone should hook up some sort of battery recharging unit to your body. You put the concept of perpetual motion to shame. But the lovely thing about you is that all your movement is truly inspirational. Every time I read one of your posts, I feel like leaping up out of my chair and finding a cliff to climb.
I hope the workouts with the niece are still going strong. If anyone can make that dream come true, I’d want you at my side.
Cheers and congrats on a busy, but wildly productive year!
My niece is killing it, Shelley! I’m so very proud of her! What started out Jan 1st as me training her has morphed into her motivating and re-inspiring me. Awesome!
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My daughter just purchased a Fitbit. I’m wondering if maybe I might do the same. You are definitely worthy of congratulations and you inspire me! I’ll definitely give you snaps, Nancy! 🙂
Before you buy that Fitbit, check out my post today… Spoiler alert….I had the same issue I had in August with the Fitbit, so I trashed it in favor of a different brand. 😦
Wow, Nancy, that is awesome!
Thanks Lynne! I was pretty stoked to see the email!
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