At this point, you have been tracking your food/calories for a couple weeks.
This means you have been observing the “input” side of the weight loss equation.
Remember back to the first article you read? There was an equation (below) that consisted of the calories you consume vs the calories you expend.
When it comes to weight loss, we need to be in a calorie deficit, meaning we are consuming fewer calories than we’re burning (aka: burning more calories than we consume).
So now that you have been tracking your food (calories consumed), it’s time to take a look at the other part of the equation: Calories burned.
How do we burn calories?
While our body burns calories when we are at rest (to keep our body alive – think breathing, heart beating, etc.), we don’t have much control over that.
What we do have control over is how much we move, which makes a big difference when it comes to burning fat.
Increase Daily Steps For Weight Loss
When it comes to weight loss, increasing the number of steps you take per day is going to be the best way to increase your output and burn calories.
Walking is by far and away the most underrated form of exercise.
It’s incredibly low impact, doesn’t increase appetite much, and is a great way to stay active, burn more calories, and stay healthy.
While you do burn calories when working out, it’s incredibly important to move outside of your structured workouts every day.
Going to the gym 3 days per week and living an otherwise sedentary lifestyle isn’t going to cut it.
During a 60 minute strength training workout, the average person will burn between 200-300 calories.
Going back to the equation I stated in the first article you read, there are 3500 calories in 1 pound of fat.
All else equal, if all you changed to your lifestyle was adding 3 strength training workouts per week, it would take about a month to lose 1 pound of fat.
That is why you need to be active outside of your workouts.
How Effective Is Walking?
The average person burns about 60 calories per 1,000 steps.
So if you can increase the number of steps you take per day by 2,000, you’d burn an extra 120 calories per day.
Let’s say you went from taking 5,000 steps per day to 7,000.
If you did that, then in a month, you’d burn an extra 3600 calories (120 x 30).
Considering there are about 3,500 calories in 1 pound of fat, assuming all else equal, increasing your steps by just 2,000 per day would burn an extra pound of fat per month.
If you took an extra 4,000 steps (so let’s say from 5,000 to 9,000), you could theoretically double the fat loss, meaning you’d burn an extra 2 pounds of fat per month.
Now that’s a huge difference!
Can you start to see how combining daily movement (getting enough steps) with proper nutrition can put you in a calorie deficit to start losing weight?
The number of steps you take per day is much more powerful than we think. So ensuring you’re taking enough steps per day is incredibly important not only when it comes to burning fat and losing weight, but also to keep it off once you lose it.
Action Plan: 8,000 to 10,000 Steps/Day
Let’s keep it simple.
If you are currently taking fewer than 8,000 steps per day, your first challenge is to get 8,000 per day. If you are currently getting at least 8,000 per day, your challenge is to consistently get 10,000 steps per day.
How do you increase your step count?
Although 8,000 to 10,000 may seem very difficult, especially if you are at home all day and/or working a desk job, it’s not as difficult as you might think.
The most effective strategy is to pair extra steps with habits that are already part of your daily routine.
1. 10 minute walk after each meal (3,500 steps)
My goal for you is to go for a 10 minute walk after each meal. If you do just this and nothing else, assuming you do this 3 times a day (after breakfast, lunch, and dinner), you will get an extra 3,500 steps to your step count.
2. Two 5 minute work “breaks” (1,000 steps)
Two times throughout your work day, I challenge you to walk for 5 minutes. Inside or outside, it doesn’t matter. That alone will add an additional 1,000 steps to your daily step count.
Set an alarm/reminder sometime before lunch and sometime after lunch and get your steps in with a quick 5 minute break!
3. Pace while brushing your teeth (400 steps)
When brushing your teeth, instead of simply standing there, walk around and in 2 minutes, you’ll take roughly 200 steps. Assuming you brush your teeth twice per day, that’s an extra 400 steps!
Those 3 strategies would get you an extra 5,000 steps per day…
If you took an extra 5,000 steps per day, assuming the average person burns about 60 calories per 1,000 steps, that’s an extra 300 calories per day.
Considering there are about 3,500 calories in 1 pound of fat, assuming all else equal, increasing your steps by just 5,000 per day would burn an extra 2.5 pounds of fat per month (300 calories x 30 days = 9,000 / 3500 = 2.57).
Can you start to see how the numbers add up?
By now, you can probably see that daily movement is really important. While the difference between 3,000 and 8,000, or 5,000 and 10,000 steps might not seem like much, that alone is an extra 2.5 pounds lost per month.
If you combine 8,000-10,000 steps per day with proper nutrition that puts you in a calorie deficit, you can see how you create a sustainable lifestyle that promotes weight loss (up until a certain point where you’ll want to just maintain your weight).
Other ways to increase your step count
1. 30 minute walk (before work, during your lunch break, or after work)
If you feel as though you’d rather go for one 30 minute walk (before/after work, or during your lunch break), that’s fine too. Again, there’s no perfect way to approach this – it’s simply finding a routine that works for you and sticking to it.
Walking with someone else is a great way to create a routine/habit and hold each other accountable.
2. Drink more water
Huh? What does this have to do with steps? Keeping yourself hydrated and drinking lots of water will force you to use the bathroom more. This means there will be more times throughout the day that you will need to walk to the bathroom and back to your work place.
Make it a point to go to the bathroom that is furthest away in your house/office.
If you took an extra 3-4 trips to the bathroom per day, that could easily be an extra 300-500 steps per day, which adds up significantly!
3. Take calls on the move
If you have work calls on your cellphone, you can pace around while talking. Even if your calls are restrained to a desk, you can still stand up and pace around the desk (when you don’t have to take notes), which adds up significantly to your total daily step count.
On a 10 minute call, you could easily take 600+ steps just standing and walking around your house, office, hallway, etc.
Remember, it’s not about how much distance you cover – this could all be done in a small office. It’s about being on your feet and moving around.
4. Park Farther Away
Next time you go to the supermarket or anywhere for that matter, don’t look for the closest spot. Instead, park further away, which allows you to get more steps in. The first time I ever heard someone say this, I laughed and thought it was a dumb idea.
But when you run the numbers, you realize it actually can make a big difference. Simply parking further away could easily get you an additional 200-400 steps for each stop you make!
5. Do chores and yardwork
I used to think of doing chores and yardwork as just another annoying thing that needs to get done around the house. But one day, I shifted my mindset around the idea of doing work around the house and it completely change my attitude about it.
I now think of all the benefits of more activity that I’m getting simply from doing anything from the laundry, to vacuuming, to mowing the grass.
It’s amazing how many steps you take doing chores and yardwork. Simply vacuuming for 20 minutes will get you roughly 1,500 additional steps.
6. Walk when socializing
Before you ask your friend to go get coffee (or something of the sort), think about asking to catch up while going for a walk!
7. Play with your kids
Activity is activity – it doesn’t matter how it’s done. Playing with your kids is an amazing way to increase your daily step count.
8. Find an activity you enjoy
One of the best ways to move more and get more steps in is to take part in an activity that involves movement.
- Sports (Shooting the basketball, tennis, squash, etc.)
- Hiking
- Biking/swimming (not steps, but still counts as activity because you’re doing work!)
- etc.
The Point Is This…
As you can see in the numbers I ran above, all of these little things throughout the day are going to drastically increase your step count. Unless you go for a long walk, there isn’t going to be one thing that is going to be most helpful.
But instead, it is about dedicating some time to daily structured movement (three 10 minute walks or one 30 minute walk every day) and these smaller tasks (walking around while brushing your teeth, standing up from your desk and going to the bathroom, walking around while on the phone or Zoom, etc).
This movement will help make losing weight a simple process. I am and at the end of the day, we want to create a lifestyle out of this so that you can not only lose weight in the short term, but keep the weight off in the long term.
Making daily movement a habit in your life is one of the best things you can do not only for weight loss, but also general health.
My Challenge To You
So my challenge to you and is that if you are currently getting under 8000 steps per day, your first goal is to reach 8000. If you already average 8,000 or once you’ve built a habit out of getting 8,000 steps per day, your next challenge is 10,000.
I want you to send me a text or email outlining which strategies you will do to reach your goal of increasing the number of steps you take each day and how many steps you are going to commit to getting each day to start.
This about what is realistic for you and your lifestyle. Is a 30 minute walk reasonable? What about three 10 minute walks? Can you pace around while on the phone? Or not? Outlining which strategies will work for you will help to create some structure for you to reach your step count goal.
It can consist of strategies that I’ve mentioned here, or ones I haven’t touched on (there’s plenty of other ones too).