Tracking your steps is a great way to increase activity levels, but does it help you achieve weight loss? Registered nutritionist, Kerry Torrens discusses how many steps we should be taking, how to achieve a good step count and more
Exercise is not only important for weight loss but for maintaining your new healthy weight too. Being physically active increases your metabolic rate – so that you burn more calories – even at rest. The good news is that walking at any pace uses energy and can aid weight loss.
Although governments suggest exercise guidelines in terms of frequency, duration and intensity, most experts agree that monitoring how active you are throughout the course of your day, in addition to any scheduled exercise, gives a better overall picture of your activity levels. Recording distance as opposed to time is also more relevant for certain activities such as running and walking.
Time after time studies report that the more steps we take, the better it is for our health and longevity. Still, is there a magic number to aim for and does it matter how these steps are accumulated?
Evidence confirms that most healthy adults typically take between 4,000 and 18,000 steps per day, with 10,000 being a reasonable number for an active adult. However, this 10,000 step target is not appropriate for everyone, including older adults or those with chronic conditions. It may also not be appropriate for older children, who should be clocking up more than 10,000 steps a day.
For less active groups, a better guide is based on an average 100 steps per minute over the recommended 30 minutes of moderate activity, suggesting a minimum of 3,000 steps. These steps should be completed over and above your habitual activity and on at least 5 days of the week to meet government activity guidelines.
While increasing our steps by “taking the stairs rather than the lift” or “getting off the bus one stop earlier” adds to our overall step count, there may be other benefits too. A 2021 study of older women (average age 72 years) found those who took regular bursts of activity (2,000+ steps), were 32% less likely to die within the study timeline.
When weight loss is the primary goal, counting steps using a pedometer seems to be an effective tool for both children and adults.
