You’ve probably come across recommendations to start tracking your daily steps if you want to lose weight.
But why exactly is that? What’s so special about the number of steps you take daily, and would tracking that help you shed fat more easily?
Let’s review.
Common Step-Tracking Recommendations
Like most, you’ve probably seen guidelines for your daily step count. A common idea is to take at least 10,000 steps daily, equivalent to roughly 8 kilometres. Of course, the distance can vary, depending on the person’s stride length.
Fitter individuals can bump that number to 15, or even 20,000 steps per day.
Four Solid Reasons Why People Recommend Tracking Your Daily Steps
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It’s Practical
A good reason folks recommend tracking your daily steps is that doing so is a practical way of staying more active without necessarily spending more time in the gym. Instead of walking on the treadmill after lifting, you can fit more walking into your day and save yourself the trouble.
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Walking Burns Calories
Another good reason to bump your daily step count and keep it elevated is that walking burns a good deal of calories. The caloric expenditure isn’t anything crazy, but the average person can burn 300 to 400 calories per 10,000 steps. Repeat the process five or six days per week, and that’s an extra 1,500 to 2,400 calories burned, more than enough for you to establish a calorie deficit and start shedding fat.
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It Doesn’t Put Stress On Your Joints
Another notable benefit of walking is that the activity is beginner-friendly because it doesn’t put much stress on your lower body. As such, walking is excellent for overweight folks who want to become more active and those dealing with a foot, knee, or hip injury.
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It Improves Your Health
Like most forms of physical activity, walking is beneficial for your health. According to studies, walking improves our mental health, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, and promotes healthy blood sugar levels.
The great thing about walking is that you can ensure better health by hitting your daily goal, even if that’s no more than 5,000 to 7,000 steps per day.
Is Walking Enough For You to Lose Weight?
If you’re interested in weight loss, you might be wondering if tracking your daily steps would be enough for you. The short answer is yes. As mentioned above, walking offers a decent caloric expenditure, especially for people who routinely do 10,000 steps per day. The expenditure can add up little by little, placing you in a calorie deficit and leading to weight loss.
Another benefit of walking for weight loss is that the activity is low-impact and not as fatiguing as other options, such as running. As such, walking wouldn’t interfere with your weight training performance and recovery.
Plus, walking is excellent precisely because you can integrate it into your life without dedicating extra time to it.
Should We Track Other Metrics, Aside From Steps Taken?
People often discuss time spent standing as a measure of physical activity, but we don’t believe the metric matters as much. Yes, standing would lead to a slightly higher caloric burn than sitting. But the difference isn’t much and certainly not enough to cause the same caloric burn as walking.
Standing forces your legs and core to engage more, but you’re still stationary, which limits the number of calories you can burn per unit of time.
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