One of the big things I knew for sure about our trip to Disney was that I did not want to take a stroller for Michael. He is six years old and I felt like he needed to be able to walk for long periods of time to tour the parks. So starting in January, we made a goal for ourselves (well mostly me, I dragged Michael into it) to get 10,000 steps every day for the nine weeks leading up to our trip! We were very successful in our goal and I think it helped immensely and Michael did not need a stroller at all! I enjoyed documenting our journey on instagram with my fitbit and thought I'd share it here with you as well.
Our first outing was at the mall with the girls and Michael, walking laps. We made a morning of it, stopping at the play place and for a snack afterwards. We only walked for about 30 minutes on this day which was a shock to Michael to walk for that long without stopping but he did great.
My first week- seven days in a row! I hadn't EVER done a goal like this in the months I'd been wearing my fitbit. Usually I'd get a string of days but never a whole week.
Two weeks in a row! I loved seeing all the green stars in a row. Who would think those little stars would be so motivating? They really are!
Our second weekend trip to the mall, we did 44 minutes of total walking. About 35 of it was without stopping and then the rest of it was walking to get lunch and back to the parking lot. Another successful day and I enjoyed the special time with Michael!
At the very end of January we had a heat wave and so we headed to the zoo to get our steps in. It was super fun and nice to have a distraction while we walked!
Another week in the books!
I wouldn't always get Michael to come with me for a walk- this weekend I tried to treat myself to a nice long solo walk after a Saturday at school to get my steps in.
In February, I talked Scott into taking a family outing walk downtown in the skywalks. I had originally envisioned doing the walking as a family but it was just easier for Michael and I to do it. But this outing was super fun and we were glad Scott was with us. We put in a few miles doing all the skywalks downtown and we felt like tourists in our own city. We celebrated with an early dinner of pizza at Fong's in Ankeny. For those that are curious, we parked at the ramp by Court Ave. and walked a bit loop through all the skywalks. We did a lot of backtracking because of the construction but it sure beat walking outdoors and it was a nice change of scenery.
Concert day! My most steps ever up to that point! Wowzers!
Another nice day at the park! Happy to have Michael with me and the girls. I think he was finally getting used to the idea of walking for a long time without stopping and biggest thing- not complaining about it!
Neighborhood walk!
Another beautiful day at the zoo to walk! We loved it!
So overall we spent about eight weekend days doing a big walk somewhere, striving for 45-60 minutes of continuous walking. We did both malls twice, the zoo twice, the park and then the skywalks. It worked out well and was a lot of fun to have a goal to work towards in anticipation of our trip. It was motivating to me to strive towards a goal of 10,000 steps every day and I felt great on the trip. The walking was absolutely not an issue for me and I was not tired one bit!
And because I know everyone is curious...here are my fitbit readings from our vacation:
Our biggest day was Epcot at almost ten miles of walking followed by our long Magic Kingdom day at nine miles. It was considerably less on our Seaworld (Mon. March 14th) and Legoland (March 15) days but those were much shorter park days overall. It really is a lot of walking!!
My goal in doing all the walking was purely to get in better shape for our vacation but I have lost 25 pounds since last April which is not nothing and I am feeling a lot better. I do think I look a bit better too- even down a whole pants size! I have some more big goals before our next vacation this summer so hopefully I can share those with you as well. I am still trying for 10,000 steps every day- it is addicting!
Thanks for stopping by!
