Choose Well Daily

Wow - it’s almost the end of February! Are your Fitbit step totals not where you envisioned them to be? Are you frustrated that the cold weather and snow has hampered your efforts? Find the treadmill boring? Well, here’s a great way to push those totals higher and have fun at the same time.

Mall Walking!

Malls allow you to get in a lot of steps in a climate controlled, sociable, and safe environment. (Well, for the most part safe. While doing my research on this blog, there were acts of violence at two of the malls shortly after I left, including the recent deadly shooting at the Columbia Mall. But fortunately these types of incidents are rare.)

Our goal is to average 6,027 steps a day. For research, I went to four malls near my house to determine how many steps a “lap” would be.

Marley Station Mall’s glory days are past. But with fewer patrons, walking here is a breeze. From one escalator to the other and back (what I call “one lap”), I logged 1,800 steps. In just three laps, combined with steps from and to my car, the daily goal was easily reached.

Arundel Mills is a terrific mall for walking, especially considering you walk in an oval. With one lap, you’ll easily reach over 2,000 steps. However, while including my walk from/to the parking lot and jaunts inside Bass Pro and Best Buy(I know – it’s a tough job) I recently logged 5,000 steps.

The Columbia Mall has over a million square feet of total retail floor area. From one end of the mall to the other and back, and meandering through some anchor stores, I logged 4,800 steps. That was just one lap!

The Annapolis Mall is Maryland’s largest. With its latest expansion, it now has nearly 1½ million square feet of total retail floor area. You’ll easily be able to log over 2,500 steps in one lap. I recently was able to walk over 4,000 steps by just adding a few stores, and the food court, to my one lap journey.

So during these cold, snowy winter months, when you find yourself discouraged by your step total, consider a trip to the mall. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the results!