Doing a lot of steps isn't really exercise if it isn't raising your heart rate. I've been paying myself on the back a lot recently about the number of steps I've been doing. But if it's not raising my heart rate, it's not really exercise...which is what I've been kidding myself I've been doing. Because of this I have been able to use it as an excuse to not have to do the C25K. So today I've taken a good look at myself and the excuses I've been promoting to me and got rid of them. If I'm not honest with myself, then I'm not helping myself.
The NHS website advocates a minimum of 30 mins of exercise per day, which as you rightly mention, refers to raising the heart rate above normal.
I believe IndigoBlue61 has a great link to a video about the right level of exercise and it's benefits to us. The bit of it I like the most is that it concludes by asking us to try and limit the amount of time we are inactive to no more than 23 and a half hours per day
When I joined here I was disabled - and used a mobility scooter or wheelchair outside the house.
When they fitted a new pacemaker (and an additional atrial lead) I was able to walk.
As I had been disabled for half a decade, I was not able to walk briskly, but I still benefitted from the "exercise". I have now been walking for over a year, and I can, sometimes, walk at 5km per hour.
I now walk 30 or 40 km a week. My average bpm is usually about 80 bpm. I walk briskly when I feel up to it. When I feel fit I walk briskly uphill, and get my heart rate over 100 bpm - or occasionally, briefly, 140bpm.
Would you agree that any walking is better than no exercise?
I certainly agree with you. I just wish I could do vigorous exercise but I can’t. I simply work hard at remaining mobile with my main aim being climbing the 2 flights of stairs to me flat and still being able to speak🤣😂
Vigorous exercise is vigorous to where we are as individuals. I am quite fit but my idea of rigorous won’t be a professional athlete’s. If you are out of breath to the point of not being to speak after 2 flights of stairs - that is vigorous for you. Keep doing it & it should get easier - as I am sure you will know. S11m is very fit & lean now, but it did not happen Overnight or the magic - so be encouraged by how we can all make big changes over time if we stick at it. I certainly am.
The annoying thing is that we need to do both a lot of steps and also more intense exercise to get our heart rate up. Doing 10000 steps all day by pottering about isn’t the route to get fitness but nor is sitting at a desk all day then pounding on the treadmill for 40 mins. We both need to move about regularly during day AND do something to raise our heart rate. You can raise your heart rate walking but it needs to be fast & or hilly. It’s also good to do some resistance / weights exercise too. Bit of everything really
My gizmo records a lot of data - until a recent Strava update, it recorded all the time logged by Strava as an outdoor walk as "exercise" but they have now fixed it and some days I walk for an hour and a half, and less than 20 minutes of it are logged as "exercise" - many days about 30 minutes count as exercise - but one day last week it credited me with 78 minutes exercise!
I have recently fought off flu, and have not been feeling very well, but, perhaps I will try to increase my walking pace and average more than 30 minutes a day counted as exercise.
Perhaps the daily active" calories burnt is more relevant - I have averaged 639 calories per day for the last 90 days, and 616 for the last year.
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I don't exercise!
Any exercise ideas that are kind to your feet? Or shall I just leave exercise until I'm at a lower weight? 
