Walking is one of the most underrated forms of exercise that can contribute to weight loss.
It is gentle on the joints, doesn’t require fancy equipment, can be done anywhere… The list of benefits goes on.
If you want to lose weight, you might question how many steps you need a day.
Walking apps and pedometers put pressure on people to hit 10,000 steps daily as a health measure.
Yet, most people end up:
If any of these sums up your experience with walking or puts you off this exercise form, you may want to continue reading.
This article reveals the actual origins of 10,000 steps, why you should not blindly follow the number, why some people lose little to no weight even with 10,000+ steps, and how anyone can manage their weight without spending 2 hours or more walking.
Just for clarification, there’s nothing wrong with aiming for 10,000 steps a day.
Yet, the number is out of reach for most people.
That’s why it’s worth looking at its origins.
The roots of 10,000 steps a day date back to 1965. A Japanese company founded a pedometer, which translates to “10,000 steps meter.”
Over time, this marketing slogan became a gold standard and health measure. With no scientific evidence at all.
But what do up-to-date studies reveal about this phenomenon? And how accurate is this number?
Generally, researchers find that more steps are better. Higher numbers have a greater impact on fitness and overall well-being.
Yet, possibly, the only downside of walking is that it’s not very time-efficient.
Even at an intentional pace, walking 10,000 steps may take anywhere from 1.5 to 2 hours of your day.
2 hours each day is 14 hours each week. Or approximately 60 hours per month.
The time commitment is significant. It forces people to look for a way to exercise with a better time-to-benefit ratio.
This fact alone led researchers to look for a satisfying answer to the following question…
Walking is one of the most popular forms of exercise for a reason.
It is an excellent way to deal with obesity and lower the risk of many health problems, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, sleep disorders, depression, and anxiety.1
But how many steps does it actually take for those health-related benefits to manifest themselves?
Some studies supported the previous findings. Walking 7,000 steps a day lowered the risk of mortality for middle-aged people by 50–70%. Yet, when walking 8,000 steps or more, the benefit leveled off.2
Up to 10,000 steps per day may be associated with decreased risk of cancer and cardiovascular incidence and mortality.3
Walking at least 3,800 steps is associated with a lower risk of dementia. But beyond 9,800 steps a day, the benefits upturned.4
But what about walking and weight loss?
Researchers conducted a 12-week study to explore the effects of moderate walking on fat loss. The participants who did 2.5 hours per week of moderate walking got significant results. On average, they decreased their body mass by 8.8 kilograms or around 19 pounds.5
However, another study placed a group of overweight adults on a regime to walk 10,000 steps a day on average. In 36 weeks, participants lost about 5.3 pounds and 2% of their body fat.6
These utterly different results of these two studies might leave you wondering…
These two studies are just the tip of the iceberg.
Weight loss communities are filled with success stories…
And disappointments, like…
“I did lose a bit of weight in the first month, I am not losing much anymore…”
“I walked 10,000 steps per day, but my weight still remains the same…”
“I did not even lose 1 pound of weight… what am I doing wrong?”
The question is – what determines such ambiguous outcomes?
There is one key thing that the 12-week research and all the other success stories have in common…
No one can outwalk the diet.
While anyone can benefit from walking, lower the risks of certain diseases, and improve their overall well-being…
Without changing the diet, there is slim or no chance at all of seeing major weight loss.
That’s why it is essential to…
Most people enjoy walking because it is probably the simplest and most accessible form of exercise.
It can significantly improve overall well-being. But, as studies have discovered, walking alone is often not enough to lose weight.
Trying to get all the other things right is hard, takes time, and often feels demotivating.
If instead of going through trials and tribulations while trying to figure it all out on your own, you would like to…
There is an easy-to-use app called Walking.Diet that gets everything right for you.
It all starts with a free, no-obligation quiz.
Take a minute to submit answers about your current fitness and activity levels, goals, health conditions, food preferences, and a couple of other things.
After taking this quiz, Walking.Diet creates personalized and easy-to-follow walking and meal plans.
Along with these plans, the app comes with all the features and benefits stated slightly above.
By taking this free 1-minute quiz, you can save yourself weeks or even months of research, trials, and tribulations and reap the benefits of walking right away.
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This is accurate! I didn’t lose much weight until I changed my diet. It’s a perfect quote from the article. You can’t outwalk the diet.
Walking is great, and I have been walking for a couple of years already. The pace seems to be important too. But what you eat is a game changer. Definitely don’t need to walk for hours to lose weight.
I can talk about Walking Diet from my own experience. I struggled to stay consistent, and eating was where I struggled. This app gave me everything – a sense of accountability, an easy-to-follow meal plan, and an optimal schedule of my walks.