Why steps are undefeated for fat loss

I’m sure you’ve heard it everywhere…

Get 10,000 steps per day.

But why?

I view this as the lowest hanging fruit for exercise, especially for busy, stressed out people that don't need to go run sprints and add more stress to their life.

Here are 9 reasons you should walk more:

1. Calorie Burn

What is your metabolism? What contributes to it?

This chart is where ALL the calories you burn come from:

70% - Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

• This is your resting energy expenditure.

• This is what you burn simply living - all systems in your body operating are included here. If you laid in bed all day and didn’t move, you’d still burn 70% of the calories you normally do

• We can’t change this on any given day, but you can increase this in the long term by improving your body body composition - muscle burns more calories at rest than fat.

15% - Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)

• This is your steps!

• Anything you do outside of the gym - fidgeting, walking, etc.

• This is the most amount of calorie burn that’s in our control

• Thus, having a higher impact on your daily calorie burn than your time in the gym

10% - Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)

• Your body burns calories digesting food

• Each macronutrient differs in our bodies efficiency of digestion

  • Protein 20-30%

  • Carbs 5-10%

  • Fat 0-3%

• This is another perk of a high protein diet, as our body burns more digesting it, leading to a lower “net” calorie.

  • Side note: processed foods have a lower TEF than whole food sources - so eating generally whole foods also leads to a higher TEF.

  • Don’t get caught up here - these differences are small.

5% - Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT)

• Lastly we have calories burned during exercise.

• This is an average, obviously if you go run for 2 hours it will make up a higher amount of your daily burn.

• But the point remains that we have much easier avenues to burn calories than jumping on an elliptical or doing a class

• Why spend time and stress getting to the gym to burn more calories?

  • We want to maximize muscle with our workouts, and use the time outside of the gym to increase calorie burn by just walking (and getting more done throughout the day)

Think of this as your lowest hanging fruit when it comes to weight loss. 

Yes - you could lose weight and burn calories adding 30 minutes on the elliptical every day....

But if you are only getting 3,000 steps it's just silly to force yourself to something much harder (and let's face it - harder to stick to).

2. Longevity

This shows the relationship between average steps per day and all-cause mortality risk (essentially your risk of death).

Not much explanation needed here - steps (daily activity) help you live longer...so if you want to be around for your kids when you're older....get to steppin.

3. Sleep

Sunlight is extremely important for general health because it anchors your circadian rhythm - getting all cells of your body to optimally function. 

Depending where you live, this can change - but generally we want 5 + minutes of sunlight into our eyes both morning and evening.

And no - it doesn't need to be sunny out, you will still get these benefits through the clouds.

Get out within 1-2 hours of waking and then any time in the 2-3 hours before dark. 

Simply doing anything outside will suffice here...you don't need to be staring up into the sky (please don't look directly at the sun). 

After a couple days of getting this time outside both morning and evening you’ll sleep much better and wonder how you ever lived another way. 

4. Anxiety

Another bonus benefit from walking outdoors is from forward motion. 

When generating forward movement and looking ahead, the motion of objects on your peripheral vision actually down regulate the activation of your amygdala, associated with feelings of fear and anxiety. 

Getting out and moving (obviously not texting), can decrease anxiety. 

You’ll come to cherish your walks as a form of meditation.

5. Convenience

This may seem like a no brainer - but the convenience of using steps for activity cannot be beat. 

No matter where you are in the world - you can always get steps in. 

You don’t have to get them all done at once:

• Take a couple laps around the office or around the block with a 5 minute break

• Use the treadmill for a warm up and cool down at the gym

• Get a desk treadmill with a standing desk

• Park farther away at the store

• Take calls pacing around

• Get a dog

When there's a will, there's a way.

Tracking steps make it easy to piece together small bouts and stay on track no matter what life throws at you!

6. Aerobic Fitness

Don't get me wrong - cardio is wonderful for heart and brain health...and it can have it's place in weight loss. 

But my beef is when people are doing cardio when they aren't active the rest of the day. 

As you can see, step count is associated with a decrease in resting heart rate - a great indicator of aerobic fitness.

Babies need to crawl before they can walk - and you need to walk before you run sprints.

I recommend adding 1-2 sessions of 20-30 minute cardio to your week AFTER establishing a baseline of steps.

7. Energy Flux

If you’re losing weight - a 500 calorie deficit per day will lead to losing 1 lb per week.

This can be done regardless of the number of calories:

• If you eat 1,000 and burn 1,500, you’ll lose 1 lb per week.

• If you eat 2,500 and burn 3,000, you’ll lose 1 lb per week

Which do you think will be easier to stick to?

More food allows:

• More energy

• More nutrients

• More flexibility

• More social events

• More sustainability

• Less psychological burn out

Energy in and out of the system is known as energy flux - and regardless of your goal this is a good thing.

8. Data

This is DataFit - we love data.

And the fact is, the estimated calorie burn from fitness trackers and exercise machines is not accurate.

There is no better unbiased, objective measure of physical activity than step count.

I’m never going to allow you to decrease calories if you are only walking 4,000 steps per day.

You'll feel like shit, and the only option is to keep cutting calories until all you have is a salad once per day.

Establishing 8,000-10,000+ steps per day ensures you are eating more and moving more to make weight loss sustainable in the long run.

We also get a true, objective look at your progress every week…

No guessing, no subjective analysis on how much you burn - we know exactly in order to monitor progress and adjust as necessary.

9. Metabolic Adaptation

When dieting down - you’ll unconsciously move less since you’re eating less.

This is your body’s attempt at keeping your weight the same (in addition to increasing hunger).

If you cut calories and don't monitor your steps - you may just move less and not realize it - essentially eating less and moving less - and not losing any weight.

Steps are a perfect way to make sure you aren’t burning less active calories while decreasing your calories.

Weight loss could stall at 2500 calories - so you drop to 2000 to lose weight...

But if you don't maintain your movement you end up burning 2000 instead - all you did was keep maintaining while getting less food to eat - that's no fun.

Keeping steps consistent while losing weight maximizes calorie intake at any given stage of weight loss - making your journey much less extreme.

So how many should you get?

There’s no magic number and it depends on your goals at the time.

If you aren't actively looking to lose weight, a bare minimum of 8,000 per day is a great start.

Going up to 12,000 can be helpful in maintaining your weight long term.

You don't need to jump to 8-12,000 overnight.

What I recommend is tracking for a week and increasing by 1,000 per day each week.

If you're actively trying to lose weight, I would start with a minimum of 8,000 and then go up from there as your weight loss plateaus.

When you hit a plateau, you can create a further deficit (and more weight loss) by increasing steps or decreasing food.

So check in on your hunger and how much time you have available...

If you'd prefer to just eat less, drop calories down.

If you're pretty hungry already, consider adding more steps.

In general, 1,000 steps is about 50 calories burned.

Adding 2,000 steps = 100 calorie drop in food.

That's a wrap. 

If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend!

P.S. I try to provide everything I can for you to reach your goals on your own, but if you’d like guidance - apply for my 1-on-1 coaching program here.