Way back on May 2, 2014, after 2 years and 42 weeks of the GlobalFit program, I hit 5 million steps. Yesterday, in the 49th week of year 2 of using the Fitbit, I’ve once again hit the milestone, coming right on the heals of hitting 2500 miles the Monday before Christmas. That’s a pretty decent improvement, if I do say so myself.
If you add the two programs together, I’ve put up 11.5 million steps in a little over 5 1/2 years. I hope the next 5 1/2 years are even more fruitful.
Last winter, as the GlobalFit program was wrapping up, I took my last look at the top 20 step days I’ve had since I first started tracking my steps way back in July of 2011. At the time, I had only surpassed the 10,000 step plateau 45 times. In the year plus since then, I have managed to nearly double that number, raising the total to 81. With my first year using the Fitbit coming to an end last week, I thought it would be appropriate to take a new look at my updated top 20 step days over the past 4 1/2 years, featuring 8 new entries.
1: 6/6/2013 – 24,988 steps
My best single day total came during my 2013 trip to Disney World. The day’s excursion to both Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom ended up with a total of approximately 12.5 miles. And yes, it still bothers me that I didn’t get those 12 additional steps to reach 25,000.
2: 7/27/2013 – 20,592 steps
My second highest total came nearly 2 months after my highest, thanks to the BTN 5K and a, for lack of a better word, misunderstanding about where I should be picked up after the race. These 2 days are the sum total of my days over 20,000 steps.
3: 9/6/2015 – 18,259 steps
The first new addition to the list comes courtesy of my trip to Toronto last September. This Sunday consisted of traversing around Toronto, with trips to Royal Ontario Museum and, at night, the Molson Canadian Ampitheatre for the Oddball Comedy Fest.
4: 9/11/2015 – 17,889 steps
Another new addition thanks to my trip to Toronto. My last day in the city was spent at the Eaton Centre mall, the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a few other stops.
5: 6/8/2013 – 17,852 steps
My now-fifth highest output brings us back to Disney World, this time for a day split between Animal Kingdom in the morning and Hollywood Studios in the afternoon.
6: 9/5/2015 – 16,083 steps
We head back to Toronto for my sixth highest day, my first full day in the city. There was exploring along the riverfront and, of course, a trip to Rogers Centre for a Blue Jays game.
7: 9/23/2014 – 15,728 steps
This total was accomplished thanks to the 2014 Sprint & Stride 5K race that was held at work.
8: 9/9/2012 – 14,957 steps
My eighth highest total comes thanks to a Sunday in Belfast spent walking from our hotel, down to the Titanic museum, and then back again.
9: 6/7/2013 – 14,940 steps
Another day of 2013’s vacation to Disney World, this day started with a morning trip to the hotel pool, followed by an abbreviated day at the Magic Kingdom.
A year and a half ago, I set a goal to average 5500 steps per day, which would bring me to a yearly total of 2,002,000 steps. When the GlobalFit program came to an end last February and I switched over to the Fitbit, I kept the same goal. A year later, I have far surpassed those expectations, finishing with 2,604,933 steps. My average step total per week was 49,568.8, which comes out to about 7081.3 per day. The median weekly total was 48,978. My best week was Week 32, which was my week in Toronto and upstate New York this past fall. My worst week was Week 1, which fell victim to missing days due to not getting the Fitbit until a Wednesday night.
For the upcoming year, I plan to up the ante a bit. I am upping my goal for steps per day from 5500 to 6000, which would bring me to a yearly total of 2,184,000 steps. Seeing as I surpassed that total this year, with over 420,000 steps to spare, I expect I will have no issue with this. As a stretch goal, I’ve joined up with some friends for 5K February, where I will surpass 3.1 miles (or a 5K) per day. So far, so good.
As the first half of my first year using the Fitbit draws to a close, it is time to check in on my progress towards my goal of 2,002,000 steps, or an average of 5500 per day. One half of that total would be 1,001,000. So how did I do?
In a word, tremendously. I put up 63.5% of my goal for the year in the first six months, finishing with 1,270,816 steps. That translates to a little under 650 miles, which is a little mind-blowing. Along the way, I also managed to climb nearly 1300 steps.
Other than the first week, which didn’t start until Thursday, every week has surpassed my weekly goal of 38,500 steps. This is much better than my success rate under the GlobalFit program, where I was at 13 out of 30 in the aborted Year 4 and 25 out of 52 in Year 3. Hopefully things continue at this pace, especially once the weather starts to cool down.
Last year, as the 4th year of the GlobalFit program was getting underway, I set a goal to average 5500 steps per day, for a year total of 2,002,000 steps. Of course, the whole shebang got shut down earlier this year, cutting things short.
6 months ago, at the halfway point for the year, I was 51% of the way to my goal. If you take the first part of the year from the GlobalFit program and finish it off with my results from Fitbit, did I reach my goal?
The answer is a resounding yes! Adding the two together, which also lost over a week between the end of GlobalFit and the arrival of the Fitbit, I finished with 2,150,392 steps, 107% of my goal. I repeated the same goal for this first go around with the Fitbit and, as we near the halfway point for the year, I’m already well over 50% of the goal. Hopefully this ends up translating to some improved weight/health numbers.
With the GlobalFit program now officially shut down, it was time to start a new fitness program. I ordered the Fitbit Charge the previous Saturday and the good folks at Amazon delivered it on Wednesday. I managed to get in a whopping 19 steps after setting it up Wednesday night.
Thursday and Friday both came in over 6000 steps, thanks to trips to North Plaza for afternoon coffee. Saturday even managed to break 5000 steps, due to trips to 2 grocery stores.
My initial feelings are that the Fitbit is a tad bit more generous than the GlobalFit tracker. Breaking 5000 steps on Saturday was a little suspect, but I also deviated from my normal activities as well.
Weekly total: 18,510
Daily average: 6170
After many false starts (or stops, really), things finally came to a close last week for the GlobalFit Destination: You program at work. As previously reported, the check-in points in the cafeteria have been removed and, while the one in the bridge between North and South Plaza was working Monday, it didn’t update anything the rest of the week, so I’m assuming everything is done. I assume I would have topped 5500 steps on Monday were the rest of the day counted.
So, in 3 years and 29+ weeks, I finish with 6,511,500 steps. This estimates out to about 35,197 steps per week, or 5028 steps per day. Not great, but, all things considered, not bad.
As for the future, I’ve ordered a Fitbit Charge, which should be arriving by Monday. I should be back in the game soon enough. We’ll have to see how the two compare on an ordinary day, but hopefully they are close enough for comparisons to be valid.
A temporary return from the dead, as this program can’t decide if it wants to shut down or not. It looked like curtains for sure two weeks ago, when the website went down for a day before returning in seemingly a read only state. But then it started updating again, so we were able to eek another week out of things. Last Monday, the check-in points in the cafeteria were removed, but the one on the bridge between North and South plazas was still up. I’m pretty sure things will shut down for good soon, so plans are afoot for a new tracking mechanism to enter my life.
As for the week itself, things were looking pretty good during the work week, with 3 days over 7000 steps. Wednesday and Friday, when I was pretty sure things were over and done with, were disappointing. An special autograph session for White Sox season ticket holders at Chicago Sports Depot on Saturday got me out of the usual weekend doldrums, but Sunday returned right back to my poor normal.
Total steps: 37,860
Daily average: 5408.6
Last spring, I took an initial look at the top 20 step days I’ve had since starting the GlobalFit program way back in July of 2011. At the time, I had only surpassed the 10,000 step plateau 31 times. In the 8 months since then, I have managed to raise that number to 45. With the GlobalFit program officially wrapping up earlier this week, I thought it would be appropriate to take a new, and final, look at my updated top 20 step days over the past 3 1/2 years.
1: 6/6/2013 – 24,988 steps
My best single day total came during my 2013 trip to Disney World. The day’s excursion to both Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom ended up with a total of approximately 12.5 miles. And yes, it still bothers me that I didn’t get those 12 additional steps to reach 25,000.
2: 7/27/2013 – 20,592 steps
My second highest total came nearly 2 months after my highest, thanks to the BTN 5K and a, for lack of a better word, misunderstanding about where I should be picked up after the race. These 2 days are the sum total of my days over 20,000 steps.
3: 6/8/2013 – 17,852 steps
My third highest output brings us back to Disney World, this time for a day split between Animal Kingdom in the morning and Hollywood Studios in the afternoon.
4: 9/23/2014 – 15,728 steps
A new addition since my original list, this total was accomplished thanks to the Sprint & Stride 5K race that was held at work last fall.
5: 9/9/2012 – 14,957 steps
We round out the top 5 with my highest total outside of the United States. A Sunday in Belfast spent walking from our hotel, down to the Titanic museum, and then back again.
6: 6/7/2013 – 14,940 steps
Another day of 2013’s vacation to Disney World, this day started with a morning trip to the hotel pool, followed by an abbreviated day at the Magic Kingdom.
Last week was supposed to be the end of the Global Fit era, with the program due to shut down on Friday. However, the trackers kept on tracking and the website was still operating through yesterday, so we were able to finish off one final week. My totals for Monday and Tuesday of this week, sadly, are now lost forever.
As for last week, my string of 6000 step days ended on Tuesday at 8, my string of 5500 step days ended Friday (by a measly 168 steps) at 11, and my string of 5000 step days ended the following day at 12, thanks to another lousy weekend.
Total steps: 34,608
Daily average: 4944