How active are you *other* than when you're working out?

[Usia]

Not very, because I have a desk job. I try to walk at lunchtime, but living in Chicago area, I can't always do that. Today it's beautiful out, so right after I have my lunch (I'm at work) I will go walking.

Other than that, I have 4 floors in my home and walk up and down all floors several time per day, but nothing more than that.

[KathAL79]

I'm unfortunately quite sedentary, as a humanities graduate student in the research phase of the dissertation and as a person without kids to chase around or a dog to walk or something of that sort. I do try to get up and walk to get a drink, go to the bathroom, get a bite or breath of fresh air, etc., with some regularity, but I don't have a lot of opportunities to be active outside of my exercise and some of my free time.

I used to be much more active. In college I walked almost everywhere, and once I graduated I had a teaching job in a very long classroom plus tried to take the stairs as often as I could; in graduate school I did walk around but not that much, especially since it wasn't particularly safe to go wandering around at night.

As my general activity level goes down my weight creeps up, even as my fitness level increases. And of course I've read how too much sitting is bad for you, so much so that even exercising doesn't counteract all of the ill effects, but there's only so much I can do right now. I might like a treadmill desk that I read about in an article, but writing a diss. while walking or jogging sounds tricky!

[hannah]

I have a huge seasonal difference; I'm very active in the summer (spend most of my time out of the house) and a total couch potato in the winter. I like to be out and about, but I hate the cold and rain, and I live in Boston. I'm also prone to "winter blues" which make me less likely to do anything. Someday I will move to a warm climate and then I will be happy and active and fit.

[sciencelady]

I just started wearing a pedometer as part of a fitness challenge at work and have found out I'm a slug.... First day count was 990 steps (I think this was actually wrong because my parking space to my office is over 700 steps one way when I counted the next day), next day was around 2500, which is probably my baseline. I've been consciously adding steps in and walking between buildings instead of taking the shuttle and am now averaging a bit over 5000 steps a day - still a slug... My job is sedentary, my evenings are pretty sedentary, and my dog hates to leave the back yard to go for a walk... I do exercise for 90-120 minutes a day, so I'm good that way. It's definitely something for me to work on over this challenge time!

[SharonNYC]

Yes, like most New Yorkers I spend a great deal of time walking. Before I retired I worked in a 2 block long white marble building -- probably walked almost every inch of it every day. The stairs too.

Since I've been retired I still walk. It's a mile just to get to the supermarket. And I live down the street from one of New York City's greatest parks.

Always been a walker, even when I was growing up in S. Florida.

[MsThistlebottom]

I also have a desk job and a long commute each day, but I try to offset that as much as I can by taking frequent breaks and walking a mile or two after lunch--indoors when the weather is bad (we have a skyway at work--don't hate me ). Unfortunately, winters are long here, but when it's warm enough, I head outside for a two-mile walk. I work in a large city, but I'm lucky to work near a lovely paved walking/jogging/biking trail and don't have to dodge any traffic.

That all helps, but I'm not nearly as active as I'd like to be, despite working out for at least an hour 5-6 days a week. On weekends, I participate in events such as water softener salt wrestling and bathtub scrubbing, which helps.

[FitBoop]

Good topic! I think about this a lot. Especially in the cold months, I am not nearly as active as I would like to be. My exercise sessions are my main activity. When out and about, I take stairs and walk a lot, but I also spend a lot of time sitting during the day. I can't wait until spring to get outside and exercise, garden, etc..

[Gyggles1]

This is interesting, I'd like to get a pedometer to see how many steps I get in a day. I have an in home child care so they keep me pretty active during the day but at nap time I like to get on the computer and have me time. I do a lot of cleaning every day, I do all the shopping, groceries and errands so I think about the only time Im really relaxing is in the evenings from about 7pm - 10pm then its off to bed for the night.

We do have a dog and when its nice I like to take him to the dog park but its been awhile being bogged down with so much to do on the weekends.

[counterclockwise]

Lately, I am fairly active outside of exercising. I have a 2.5 year old and stay home w/him, and I have no other children, so I am his playmate whenever we're at home. But we have play dates and I take him places constantly, so I'm often chasing after him.

[kathylcsw]

I work at a VA hospital that has multiple buildings all interconnected by tunnels. I try to get up and take a walk though the tunnels 1-3 times per day. I also get to work early to get a parking space and use that time to walk around the outside perimeter which is 1.29 miles. On most days I leave work already having logged 10,000 steps. In the evenings I do my video workout between 45 minutes to an hour. Wearing the pedometer really pushes me to stay active because I hate to not get in all my steps!