A new study presented at the European Association for the Study of Obesity suggests the magic number for weight loss may be 8,500 steps a day, not the widely touted 10,000.
Researchers analyzed clinical trials involving nearly 4,000 patients and found that participants who increased their daily steps to around 8,454 during the weight loss phase lost an average of 4.39% of their body weight-roughly 4 kilograms.
Lead author Marwan El Ghoch of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy emphasized that maintaining this level of activity is critical. "Participants should always be encouraged to increase their step count to approximately 8,500 a day during the weight loss phase and sustain it during the maintenance phase to prevent weight regain," he said.
That warning comes as the global obesity crisis deepens. The World Obesity Atlas projects that 30% of the world's population will be obese by 2035. In Europe, no country has met the WHO's target to halt adult obesity at 2010 levels, with rates soaring 138% since 1975.