Tag / Fitbit

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Once There Was A 10,000-Step Club

My world was very different six years ago, as I was finishing up my fifth year using a Fitbit.  I had just added 45 new 10,000 step days, my third best year to date, and, with upcoming trips to Boston and California already on the docket, things were looking good to add a good number more and add some new tales to this list of my Top 25 step days.  Then, the corona virus happened, the world basically shut down for the next year or so, and I stopped needing to leave the house.  I’ve worked from home since March of 2020, which theoretically gives me plenty of free time to go out for walks, but, in practice, leaves me homebound more often than not.  For the first time since I started tracking my steps back in 2011, I failed to add a single 10,000 step day for the just completed eleventh year of Fitbit usage or in calendar year 2025, keeping my total static at 288.With that in mind, here’s the list of my Top 25 step days, which has now remained the same for six years.  However, I hope to see some improvement this year thanks to my continued weight loss and increased activity, thanks to the miracles of modern medicine.

1: 4/14/2018 – 27,470 steps

My best single day total is from my April 2017 trip to New York to see Angelina.  The day’s excursions included trips to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, the Museum of the City of New York, Central Park, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Empire State Building.

2: 7/21/2018 – 27,278 steps

My July 2017 trip to Virginia, to hike up Catawba Mountain to McAfee Knob with Jeff and Val, fell just short of the top spot.

3: 6/6/2013 – 24,988 steps

2013’s trip to Disney World, which spent 5 years as my single day best, included excursions to both Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom, and yes, falling 12 steps short of 25,000 still irks me.

4: 6/3/2019 – 24,665 steps

The first full day of 2019’s summer trip to Washington DC spent most of the day at the Smithsonian Zoo.

5: 8/8/2019 – 23,866 steps

Late in the summer of 2019, I spent two weeks in San Francisco for a work trip.   On my last full day, I went out after work, walking to Pier 39 and then back the other direction to Oracle Park to see the Giants take on the Phillies.  My totals would have been even higher, but I was dead tired and took an Uber back to the hotel after the game.

6: 3/18/2018 – 23,780 steps

My first day in Las Vegas for the 2017 IBM Think conference, the day’s totals include gallivanting around town, including a late night trip up to Caesar’s Palace from the MGM Grand to see Absinthe.

7: 10/24/2018 – 23,362 steps

My October 2018 trip to Boston to see Angelina for our birthday gives us our next entry.  While she was in class, I took tours of Fenway Park and Harvard, before meeting up with her for a late lunch and then heading to the airport for the trip home.

8: 3/22/2016 – 22,493 steps

My one-time second highest day took place during the ill-fated trip to Disney World in March of 2016.  The day’s excursion started at Hollywood Studios before heading over to Epcot Center with Jeff and Val.

9: 7/27/2013 – 20,592 steps

Still my highest total at home in the state of Illinois, the next entry comes thanks to the 2013 BTN 5K and a, for lack of a better word, misunderstanding about where I should be picked up after the race.

10: 12/29/2018 – 20,374 steps

We wrap up the top 10 with 2018’s trip to California and the trip to Disneyland to see Danny perform with the Lincoln-Way Marching Band.

11: 8/5/2017 – 20,218 steps

The next entry came in August of 2017 on the first day of my trip to Boston with Danny and Michael.  After landing in town, we traipsed to the Science Museum, a breakfast joint, our hotel, and, finally, Fenway Park.

12: 7/14/2017 – 20,208 steps

Down to #12 is my 2017 trip to Disney World, a one day journey with Angelina to celebrate her high school graduation. Continue reading →

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Fitbit 12 – Week 5

Unseasonably warm weather led to a pretty decent week, keeping me above 30,000 steps for the second straight week.  The week got off to a nice start on Sunday, surpassing 4200 steps.  Monday turned out to be the low point of the week, finishing with 3600 steps.  A trip to the mall for lunch on Tuesday left me just 2 steps shy of 4600.  A walk to Walgreens to pick up a prescription on Wednesday put me 11 steps away from 6200.  A decrease, but still another nice day on Thursday dropped me to 4600 steps.  Friday fell again, going down to 3700 steps.  A productive Saturday wrapped up the week with exactly 4800 steps.

Total steps: 31,750

Daily average: 4535.7

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Fitbit 12 – Week 4

A warming trend, plus an unplanned trip to Iowa to wrap up the week, put me back above 30,000 steps after a brief blip.  The week got off to an ok start on Sunday, falling 23 steps away from 4000.  A morning visitation and funeral for my aunt on Monday led to 4200 steps.  A slight drop on Tuesday left me with 4100 steps.  Another drop on Wednesday put me at 3900 steps.  An increase on Thursday bumped me up to 4400.  Friday fell back down to 3900 steps.  I headed to Iowa on Saturday to take in some more exciting Purdue basketball, which wrapped the week up with 6400 steps.

Total steps: 31,026

Daily average: 4432.3

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Fitbit 12 – Week 3

Despite a good start to the week, more sub-freezing temperatures combined with a bad week for meetings brought my streak of 30,000 step weeks to an end at nine.  The week got off to a good start on Sunday thanks in part of birthday celebrations for my mother, finishing the day just 8 steps away from 4800.  A post-work wake on Monday propelled me to 5300 steps.  Multiple back-to-back meetings on Tuesday kept me glued to my chair and left me 3 steps shy of 2800.  Wednesday saw a nice improvement but still needed 34 more steps to reach 4000.  Thursday was a near duplicate, finishing exactly 100 steps behind the day prior.  A nice increase on Friday, the first time the Chicago area broke above freezing in nearly 3 weeks, left me with 4300 steps.  A trip for a haircut on Saturday wrapped up the week 32 steps shy of 3700.

Total steps: 28,722

Daily average: 4103.1

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Fitbit 12 – Week 2

Despite sub-freezing temperatures for the entire week, I managed to extend my streak of 30,000 step weeks to nine thanks.  The week got off to a good start on Sunday, as two rounds of snow blowing helped me finish just 12 steps away from 6500.  A drop-off on Monday, as single digit temperatures kept me inside all day but still garnered 4500 steps.  Things were slightly worse on Tuesday, falling 13 steps shy of 4200.  Wednesday turned into the low point of the week, ending with 3300 steps.  A mere 2 steps kept me away from 4000 on Thursday.  A post-work trip to the Ramova Theatre for a season ticket holder event in advance of Sox Fest on Friday propelled me to exactly 5600 steps.  A lazy Saturday to wrap up the week ended with 3400 steps.

Total steps: 31,584

Daily average: 4512

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Fitbit 12 – Week 1

Year twelve on the Fitbit platform gets off to a good start, thanks to a well-timed trip to southern California.  The week got off to a decent start on Sunday, where breakfast out and finding a charger for the rental car left me 35 steps shy of 6600, with some additional effort of an afternoon swim not included.  A trip to the beach followed by a tour of Sony Pictures Studios on Monday put me above goal with 8000 steps.  Tuesday was even better, jumping up to 8500 steps thanks to a tour of Dodger Stadium followed by a trip to Pauley Pavilion to see UCLA steal a victory against Purdue.  The trip to LAX for the flight back home on Wednesday left me with 5200 steps.  Returning to work, and getting a bit of rest, on Thursday led to a big drop, coming in with 3900 steps.  Bitter cold temperatures on Friday kept me inside all day, leading to 4300 steps.  The low point of the week came on Saturday, where the ongoing polar vortex left me 31 steps shy of 3700

Total steps: 40,230

Daily average: 5747.1

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Fitbit Year 11

A year ago, I set a goal of 2,730,000 steps, an average of 7500 steps per day. Thanks to a combination of old age and my weight finally getting the better of me, I fell quite a bit short of my challenge, finishing well more than a million steps behind with only 1,657,522, the seventh straight year I’ve failed to surpass my yearly goal but my highest total in in three years.  My average step total per week was 31,875.42, which comes out to about 4553.6 steps per day. The median weekly step total was 31,292.5.  My best week was Week 25, where I went to four baseball games and had a couple days off of work, propelling me to only 42,281 steps for the week.  My worst week was Week 7, where work woes took a toll.

Since medication is helping me get a handle on the weight and I am nothing if not a glutton for punishment, I’m going to keep things as is for the upcoming year.  I am leaving my goal for steps per day at 7500, which would again bring me to a yearly total of 2,730,000 steps. Hopefully this eighth attempt is the one that sticks.

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Fitbit XI – Week 52

We wrap up my eleventh year using a Fitbit to track my steps on a high note, extend my streak of 30,000 step weeks to eight thanks, in part, to a trip to Southern California.  The week got off to a slow start on Sunday, finishing with just 3400 steps.  Monday saw a nice improvement, jumping all the way up to 4800 steps.  Work by Comcast knocked out my internet on Tuesday, forcing me to work from my sister’s house, which left me 29 steps shy of 5800.  A snow squall on Wednesday, and the corresponding snow blowing, gave me 5600 steps.  Packing on Thursday left me with 4800 steps.  Traipsing through O’Hare and LAX on Friday night helped push me over my daily goal, finishing with 7800 steps.  A trip to the Galen Center for exciting Purdue/USC basketball on Saturday, along with other activities, finished the week, and the year, on the upswing with 9600 steps.

Total steps: 41,990

Daily average: 5998.6

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Fitbit XI – Week 51

As the 2026 work year got into full swing, things were pretty slow, but a trip to the old alma mater helped extend my streak of 30,000 step weeks to seven.  Despite a trip to the local hardware store, the week got off to a slow start on Sunday, needing 7 more steps to reach 3600.  Monday saw a nice improvement, falling 40 steps shy of 4200.  An additional 25 steps on Tuesday would have given me just 3300.  Another jump on Wednesday pushed me back up to 4400 steps.  Thursday came in at 3900 steps.  Friday managed to go back above 4100 steps.  A trip to West Lafayette to see Purdue battle Penn State at Mackey on Saturday ended the week on a high note, finishing with 6700 steps.

Total steps: 30,206

Daily average: 4315.1

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Fitbit XI – Week 50

Things slowed down as we saw the end of 2025 and the start of 2026, though I did barely manage to extend my streak of 30,000 step weeks to six.  Things got off to an ok start on Sunday, needing 39 more steps to reach 4000.  A slight drop on Monday left me with exactly 3800 steps.  An additional 35 steps on Tuesday would have put me at 4400.  A date with the snowblower on New Year’s Eve pushed me up to 5700 steps.  A slow New Year’s Day on Thursday left me 40 steps shy of 3600.  I had to go back to work on Friday, finishing the day 17 steps away from 4000.  Leaving the house on Saturday ended the week with 4900 steps.

Total steps: 30,347

Daily average: 4335.3