How far do you walk in a typical day?

I must say I was astonished to hear, in a report out today, that 40% of 40-60-year-olds don't even achieve 10 minutes of brisk walking A MONTH! How could you not manage that? Walking the length of your local high street, walking to the post office, walking to a sandwich bar in your lunch hour ....
I go for a brisk walk most days, usually between 30 minutes and an hour, and on top of that I do the usual household tasks, gardening, shopping etc, which all add to my activity levels. (Oh, and I'm well over 60!). For me, it's a mental health thing as well as a physical exercise, and I really feel the benefit of my walks.

My parents had a car, although mum couldn't drive. Neither of them did a moment's exercise, as we would consider it today, but dad died at almost 92, having been in perfect health, and the same weight as when he and mum married, until prostate cancer got him three months before he died.

Mum is 90 in November, and although she has mobility problems due to arthritis, she has no other illnesses.

Like most people then, they both had a much more physically active lifestyle than today. For most of my childhood we lived in a five storey house (a falling-down one - it wasn't as posh as it sounds!) and mum cared for seven of us, all told.

Dad worked until he was 73 (What's this nonsense about retiring at 68??) and he also had an allotment, plus he did things around the house and mended the car etc.

I have a cheap step counter but it does not stay on my trouser waist band and I have to pin it on.
Do any of you know of a reliable and not too expensive alternative?

I don't think I do enough every day!

I have done a lot of counting and on more sedentary days at home have mad a point of going up and down stairs and through the house. If I take the car into town I park in a slightly out of the way place to ensure I walk more. I take stairs rather than a lift if needed and I do try t have a longer walk every week, but brisk? Er ... no ...

Always tomorrow ...

Dare I be completely honest? OK - here goes.

I KNOW we have to keep fit and walking is a good way to do it, but I find it very hard to make myself go for a walk, just for the sake of it. I'd have to head for somewhere and my walk would consist of walking along pavements to get to a park or shops and I'd have traffic going by me on the busy roads. It's not the most exciting of walks...

I do try to bend, stretch, move as much as I can around the house, and when I have the grandchildren I feel quite exhausted afterwards as they never stop and I am not as fit as I once was.

I'll also admit that after an extremely stressful and hectic working life, one of my great indulgences now is to have 'nothing days' where I choose just how much or little I'll do.

I confess to days where I'll read, catch up with TV programmes, do crossword puzzles, research stuff online, play Sudoku online, read Gransnet forums, write emails to friends, talk to family on the phone and do very little else other than make drinks and light meals throughout the day. I go to bed feeling quite disturbed sometimes because doing nothing much is such a new and strange way of life.

I no longer feel any guilt at all that I am not busying myself with housework. Me and the man tidy up regularly, clean sinks, loos and floors as we go along etc, so the place never gets dirty really, with just the two of us leading our fairly sedentary lives. Housework tends to be a once every few weeks binge. Suits us.

We get out and about together and like pottering around and have gentle strolls around NT properties etc. We like fresh air but don't exercise, per se.

I know you have to use it or lose it and I appreciate that we should look after ourselves and move our bodies, but I did that for decades and now I like being self-indulgent/lazy.

So, to answer the question, I confess I hardly walk at all some days

Am I alone in this?

Can ask how you motivate yourselves to exercise? What push do you give yourselves because the path of least resistance appeals to me far more these days then putting on my walking shoes and going out to walk along the local streets.

I walk one mile to a mile and a half with the dog every day - though admittedly not generally "brisk" walking as my dog is either sniffing everything in sight or expiring in the heat.

I decided at the beginning of the year to do 10,000 steps every day. I was doing really well,never missed a day until in May I fell and broke my wrist. Since then I have lost my confidence and am really nervous of falling again. I'm slowly getting my steps up again. I'm amazed at how quickly I slipped back into doing very little walking and how hard it is to get back to where I was.

Nelliemoser, I have a Tanita 3 axes pedometer, which came from Ebay for less than £20. It is accurate to the last step (I know because I sometimes count!). It can be carried in a pocket, in a handbag or has a neck strap. An added bonus is a built-in personal alarm.

I have been walking a minimum of 10,000 steps a day for the last few years. It has become a habit rather than a pleasure, but I get the bulk of the steps done early in the morning, taking about an hour. The remainder are made up over the day with exercise classes, shopping, gardening etc. It has not helped me to lose weight but must be good for the cardio-vascular system and mood.

I challenged myself to walk 500 miles over the "summer". Initially thought this would be really hard but in fact I have found it quite easy to do and only have another 30 to go. I do about 5 miles a day and am lucky to have good riverside paths to walk along.

So yes, I do my 10,000 a day and a bit more most days, but don't beat myself up if it is blowing a hoolie and raining - then I just stay home.

I definitely feel better for it and am going to join the local gym in the winter so I can keep it up on a treadmill - though I'm not sure if doing it indoors will have the same mental benefits.

Since starting work last August I walked to work it used to take me about 30 mins. I now do it in around 20.

I walked there and back 3 times a week (more if they ask me to go in extra)

Over the period of about 6 months a lost around a stone with brisk walking and also my diet was pretty limited as I had been very careful with my Job seekers spending money!
Now I have a little more funds..I do eat better (sometimes rubbish) I also go to work on my scooter sometimes/bu/or dd gives me a lift so I am not walking as much.
Also being able to buy more food now I am working.
All this combined..I have now put weight on (big spare tyre etc)

I work in a charity shop once a week and few weeks ago we had 3 stepometers come in so I bought the 3 ORION ones...think normally about £19 I got them for 80p each
Im giving my 82 yr old mum one! (she wants to count her steps, thats after shes been swimming on a Monday morn. and Aqua jog on a Tuesday morn)

Its about 3,000 steps to my works.

So I think brisk walking (apparently you have to get your heart rate up a bit, rather than just "ambling" don't quote me on this its only what I have heard.

A combination of careful eating brisk walking/excersise seems to work for me.

I have no idea, as I've never measured, and probably never will.

O thank goodness I'm not the only one Miss Adventure I did this step counting thing years ago when I was still working and loads of people seemed to be doing it. Now I couldn't care less. Some days I do hardly any, some days (chasing 2 year old) I do a lot more. I seem to remember step counting was a bloody nuisance and the damn counter thing kept resetting.

I was very sceptical of that less than 10 minutes a month thing for 40 - 60 year olds. Assuming most of them are working, it would be difficult to do LESS than 10 minutes, surely, just walking from the car to the desk, to the coffee machine, the loo etc...
Having said that, I was motivated by that report to walk to town and back yesterday - only 6,000 odd steps, but that included a hill, and I was carrying a bag, so I'm counting that as my 10,000 a day. Today, well ... I shall try to 'walk briskly' up and down the aisles at Sainsburys. So look out everyone else!!

Not enough since we lost our beautiful dog. It seems all wrong to walk without a dog & I don't want another until DGC not needing me so much. One day!

congratulations to those of you here who are able to walk that far.
i've got severe arthritis in my left knee which has left me in severe pain when i try to walk. i can manage to walk out to the car [which my daughter drives as i cannot] and i can walk from the car to the supermarket and get in one of their buggies.
we are urged to walk this far, walk that far, walk briskly but nobody seems to remember that some people aren't able to walk without pain for any length of time.
i manage to walk from my bed to the settee [via the loo and bathroom] in the morning and to the kitchen several times a day. and my last trip upstairs at night feels like i'm climbing everest.
i would dearly love to do even 500 steps a day.
i'm hoping after my op [delayed as i have to lose weight] i'm hoping that i'll be able to walk more - and look forward to being able to drive again so i can get out and about ........... and walk!

So sorry about your dog, Craftycat Ours is who keeps me going. And we did have a good walk last night. She's 14 now.

Ourkid1 I think the point in the report was about brisk walking so 'walking from the car to the desk, to the coffee machine, the loo etc...' wouldn't count unless you walk much faster than me!

Up until a year ago I easily managed 10,000 steps a day, usually almost double that. I'm now recovering from hip replacement surgery (2weeks ago today) and already I'm managing almost a mile a day and intending to increase that till I'm back to what I consider normal for me.
I must admit that it does help to have a dog asking if you'd be able to take him out.
We're lucky where we are as we've got lots of footpaths around beautiful countryside, you just need an Ordnance Survey map to find your local paths

Day6, I hear what you're saying! I quite enjoy a walk when there's a point to it, as on a rare day out. The rest of the time I struggle to find the motivation to put shoes and coat on just to walk briskly round the same small suburban area where I've lived for 30years. At one level, I know about the health benefits but in practice it just feels pointless. I don't wear sporty clothing or "athleisure" so putting on trainers with ordinary clothes makes me feel ridiculous before I even start!

It's true that it can be harder to walk in rural areas. We have friends in rural N Devon - down a very narrow lane and steep in both directions, with the odd car hurtling past. They found it far easier to walk their dogs here - we are in SW London with a big park close by. At home they'd have to get in the car and drive at least 10 minutes to anywhere they could let them off the lead.

I get a good walk most days - either in the park or along the river, or walking about 20 or 30 mins to the supermarket depending on which one - though I always get the bus back. Since I've had the good old London Freedom Pass. I use my car so much less - a lot more walking.

700-10000 steps a day usually with a few exceptions up or down! I have a step counter on my phone that tells me!

I did 14,000 yesterday and walked one and a half miles today. Problem is I feel so tired and now need to have a nap!

As we have two dogs and I regularly walk the mile in to town and back I easily clock up 10000 steps in a day and often by lunch time too. The most I have done in a day is 25000 but I have set myself a challenge to do as many of the 214 Wainwrights by the time I am 70 so I am going to have to up my game.

I walk the dogs several times a day and walk for pleasure. Usually 9-12000 steps.

Due to a spinal condition I can't walk anywhere near what I would like to, my daughter, however, is a riding instructor and her daily average is 18 miles!!!