You diet, you hit the gym, you do everything right, and you lose weight. But a couple of months or years later, you regain it — sometimes more than you lost. Sounds familiar? Well, scientists have finally found a way to keep the weight off!Experts have now found a way to sustain weight loss. All you have to do is walk. And no, you don’t need to hit 10,000 steps. Scientists have identified the sweet spot, and it may just work. The findings of the study are being presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, Turkey, and are also slated for publication in the Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Walk 8,500 steps to keep the weight off
People aiming to sustain weight loss should aim for 8,500 steps. The researchers found that walking 8,500 steps a day can help people keep weight off after dieting.Weight management programmes often sell the same narrative — that you have to increase the number of steps each day. However, there is little evidence that this actually helps with weight loss during dieting.Moreover, it is unclear whether adding more steps helps people maintain their new weight and, if it does, how many steps they should complete.“The most important and greatest challenge when treating obesity is preventing weight regain. Around 80% of people with overweight or obesity who initially lose weight tend to put some or all of it back on again within three to five years,” Professor Marwan El Ghoch, of the Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy, said in a release.“The identification of a strategy that would solve this problem and help people maintain their new weight would be of huge clinical value,” Professor El Ghoch added.
Why 8,500 steps really works
Professor El Ghoch and his team conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing research to better understand the link between walking and weight management.They reviewed eighteen randomised controlled trials and closely analysed fourteen of them, involving 3,758 individuals (average age 53 years) with overweight/obesity (average BMI of 31 kg/m²) from countries including the UK, US, Australia and Japan.The studies also compared people in lifestyle programmes — who followed diet advice and increased their daily steps — with those who were only dieting or receiving no treatment. These programmes involved a weight loss phase followed by a weight maintenance phase. Researchers also tracked daily steps at the start, after the weight loss phase (about eight months), and after the maintenance phase (about ten months).At the start of the study, both groups walked around 7,200 steps a day. The control group did not increase their activity levels and did not lose weight at any time.On the other hand, those in the lifestyle programme increased their daily steps to about 8,450 during the weight loss phase. They lost around 4 kg on average during this time. They continued to maintain the step count and, towards the end of the weight maintenance phase, were walking 8,241 steps daily. These participants managed to keep off most of the weight and maintained an average loss of around 3 kg.
What you should know
The researchers found a clear link between increasing step count and preventing weight regain. Most importantly, people who increased their step count during the weight loss phase and maintained this increase during the weight maintenance phase regained less weight.However, an increase in daily steps was not associated with greater weight loss during the weight loss phase. The researchers believe other factors, such as reducing calorie intake, play a greater role.Professor El Ghoch emphasised that lifestyle modification can lead to a meaningful amount of long-term weight loss.“Participants should always be encouraged to increase their step count to approximately 8,500 a day during the weight loss phase and sustain this level of physical activity during the maintenance phase to help prevent weight regain. Increasing the number of steps to 8,500 each day is a simple and affordable strategy to prevent weight regain,” he said.