But did I get tired?

I’m not going to lie to you, it was a bit of a shock to say the least. I started to feel the effects of drastically increasing my daily steps. I was increasing from 2k to 15k steps a day. It was tiring. There were days where it felt like I could have fallen asleep whilst walking. I wish I could say that was hyperbole! It also took much more time – around 2.5 hours each day. But, I had a superpower. You guessed it, I had photography!

I was kept motivated each day to get better shots than the previous day. When I got tired, I stopped to take a picture (and to secretly recover). When the light was particularly pleasing, I chased it and the steps seemed to happen on their own. I varied my subject matter and planned routes to places further away that I’d ever been to on foot. Walking and photography became intrinsically linked – one complimenting the other.

“Don’t make it your Goal to be fit. Make it your goal to be Disciplined and being Fit will follow” – Paige Hathaway

My social media became a lot more active and people were noticing. My profiles became beautiful and posting regularly became natural. I began getting more comments, likes and followers across Instagram and Facebook. I began unlocking ‘top fans’ on my page and ‘top contributor’ badges on photography groups. The reach of each post increased as did the engagement.  People sent me words of encouragement which kept me motivated in my daily challenge!

I began to notice some incredible health benefits

By the end of week 2 I was no longer out of breath after climbing steep hills and I felt more energised. My body seemed to want to move, and every day I gained more power with each step. I was completing my daily steps in less time than before and with more energy. Overall my head felt clearer and I was more focused on tasks. My skin appeared healthier and the quality of sleep I was getting was unbelievable – I felt like a new person! All these benefits without thinking about the exercise. Instead, simply trying to get the best 10 images possible each day.

So how much weight did I actually lose?

Well here’s the information you might have been waiting for! I lost 1.5 stone (12.7kg) in 30 days entirely with walking. I didn’t go on any special diets. I reached a deficit of 600-700 calories that I was burning every day with my 15k steps. Walking for hours each day meant I didn’t have time to snack at home when I otherwise would have. It replaced evenings spent on the couch indulging on crisps and chocolate.

Walking doesn’t cause a hunger spike in the same way that running or other exercise does. Drinking a lot more water could explain why I was less hungry also. I was clearer mentally and felt I was able to concentrate more on tasks. I was shocked at how much weight I lost just with daily walking.

When it came to the photography though, I have to confess that I did cheat a little bit…

I didn’t post my street photography images every single day. I’m sorry if this makes me sound like a bit of a fraud, but it wasn’t through lack of trying. There were days that were challenging due to the infamous Scottish weather. Those were the days that my photography suffered the most. I used those days instead to scout out new locations and treated them like a reconnaissance mission. I revisted those locations on days with much better weather and got the shot then. 

It was also around this time that I began to group images into themes. Instead of the daily 10 images, I categorised similar subject matters together. I created each post to inspire people and provide some context. Bicycles, flowers and couples holding hands proved to be the most popular themes. This is where I started telling a story with my photography. I took people on a journey through a deliberate sequence of images to inspire them in different ways.