Martin Lewis: I averaged 24,630 steps a day (burning 3,886 calories) in 2022 – here's how...

How does this compare to pre-tracker years?

As soon as I got a tracker, I started walking more. As a numbers person, this self-monitoring had a real impact.

A good example of this is in my running and cross training (which I have a separate graph for, of course). I used to do this before I had trackers, but the amount I do now is scales of magnitude more.

Back then, I would graph my times to see if I got quicker. Yet with speed as my key performance indicator, as progression isn't linear, if I'd start a run and realise it wasn't a fast day, it was demotivating and I'd sometimes stop.

Partly due to the tracker, I switched to an annual distance target which means every run, even a slow one, feeds the graph. In 2020 I smashed the pants off my 'km a year' run (and cross training) doing over 2,000km, when in the past 1,000km had been good. In 2021 I beat that again hitting a personal-best 3,100km. I didn't quite crack that this year, but still did 3,033km.

However, even with all this running, by far the bulk of the steps, over 60%, are done walking. My mentality is to try to avoid any other form of transport unless there's a good reason, for example:

- It's over 10km away or over 3km if I'm with mini MSE.
- It's very early or very late (or I'm very late).
- I've got golf clubs with me.

The health impact

I'm substantially lighter than when I started stepping – no surprise, as according to my fitness tracker I'm burning 3,500 to 4,000 calories a day. I'm not sure how real that number is, but certainly my body energy use is far greater.

My core stability is stronger, and some of my repetitive strain injury and back pain has gone (I'd never put this together until I mentioned it to a physio and he asked if I now walked more, as apparently it's a great help for backs).

I tend to think of running as for fitness and my mental health, while walking is for physical health and relaxation – for the few minutes I'm off the phone when walking, a little bit of me-time or listening to an audiobook in a day is useful. Sadly it isn't a cure-all for stress and anxiety, but I hope it helps reduce some of the impact.

A risk to my step obsession is it means I tend to be put off exercise which gets me no steps. So over the last couple of years, I've added a weight training graph too, to encourage me to do that. In 2022, I ramped that up and did 196 sessions (20 more than my prior record for the year before).

Are the steps accurate?

Apparently, according to the technology broadcaster @LaraLewington (also known in these blogs as Mrs MSE), step accuracy has improved a lot in recent years. In 2015 she did a film wearing four different trackers for a week and there were substantial inconsistencies between them. Yet a repeat of that in 2022 (which sadly isn't available online) showed how much things had improved.

Regardless though, accuracy is less important than consistency. I compete with myself based on the same metrics – number of steps in a day.

And my fixation hasn't only helped me – when some friends who are linked via an app see my steps, they often up their own steppage (though others have also found it demotivating to be linked to an obsessive). Unsurprisingly, I do get a tad competitive about it.

Best of all though and a reason for keeping writing an annual blog is that each year, many people have been in contact to say that they inspired them to start stepping more – especially the 'never miss your buzz' challenge. Maybe a few more will do after reading this.

If you're a stepper too, do let me know how you did last year either via the forum discussion below or Twitter.