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Hey ya legend, I hope your week has gotten off to a great start so far.
If you've been part of 'The Wellness Report' newsletter family for a while, you'll know that I don't make claims without a rock solid research to back me up.
I do this for a few reasons...
For one, I've got a reputation to uphold. I've spent the last ten years building my reputation and credibility as a coach. I don't fancy staining that with weak and fraudulent claims.
Secondly, I don't play games with people’s health. I'd rather not give you any advice at all, over giving you bad advice.
When I started researching today’s topic, I couldn’t find anything that backed up my point in its entirety.
So, I thought, f*ck it, there's no better piece of evidence than that of lived experience. With that being said, let's get stuck into the extremely popular question of...
Does a higher step count actually increase fat loss?
Like I do every week, I start off my newsletter prep with some research, but this time I couldn’t find any that said 'yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about'.
But luckily for the both of us, I unknowingly did some research of my own a couple of years ago, and the results were astounding to say the least.
Now, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you've heard the phrase "eat less and move more", regarding fat loss.
While it's a pretty blanket statement, the logic behind it is solid.
If your goal is fat loss, reducing your caloric input and increasing your caloric output will help you achieve an energy deficit, which enables fat loss to occur.
So called 'experts' will try and confuse you with some nonsensical things, but the facts are the facts and the law of thermodynamics don't lie.
Burn more than you consume for long enough and your body will burn body fat - simples.
As someone who loves eating, I don't enjoy diets.
In fairness, who actually does enjoy diets?
So, if I'm not willing to starve myself for fat loss, what road do I go down?
I move my ass more and I walk.
It's as simple as that. Did you catch my pun there? Road, walk 😂
Yes you need to workout hard, eat well, get enough sleep, and manage your stress, but when it comes to fat loss and getting in great shape...
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) has HUGE role tom play.
NEAT is the energy you expend (calories you burn) doing all the activities that aren’t your workouts, sports, runs, etc.
Examples include gardening, fidgeting, standing at your desk, talking the stairs, and of course...walking.
And walking is exactly how I got in shape a couple of years ago.
The best part is that I didn’t put any effort into it whatsoever. No, really, I got in shape with minimal extra effort and it was a complete surprise. Let me explain...
Between 2015-2023 I lived in London. For 5 of those years I worked on the gym floor coaching clients. I would average 13-14k steps per day without a seconds thought.
During those 5 years, Mon-Fri I don't remember ever thinking I needed to go for a walk to get my steps in - not once.
Then from 2020-2023, I left the gym floor and moved my business online. While I gained a new level of freedom I never knew was possible, I also gained a sh*t tonne of unwanted body fat 😑
It didn’t happen straight away, but slowly but surely over the next few years my body fat percentage went from 10-12%, to 20-25%.
Why?
Because my step count got cut in half!
I went from crushing 14k steps per day in the gym, to barely hitting 7k working from home.
My diet wasn't all that much different, but I won’t sit here and tell you it was perfect. But it sure as hell wasn’t 10% extra body fat bad.
In Aug 2023 we made the big move from London to Barcelona, and that's when everything changed.
Because the city is far smaller than London, I started walking everywhere. Oh and not to mention the weather is in a different stratosphere 😂
Instead than getting the tube to dinner, I walked.
Instead of getting the bus to my mates house, I walked.
Instead of getting an uber from the shops, I walked.
My step count went from the low 8k range in England, to averaging 15-16k for months on end.
The result speak for themselves ⤵️
There’s only a few months between these pictures, but the difference is clearly visible.
Yes, I had a gym pump in the left picture, but that's not shifting all that extra body fat.
What's also really telling and something I've never noticed before, is the look on my face. On the right side, in the 'before' photo, my expression is a bit despondent. While on the left side, in the 'after' photo, behind my phone is a chirpy expression, one of happiness.
The only thing that changed between these photos was my step count.
My training was the same, if anything I ate more food, and I slept for at least 7 hours a night, but a higher calorie expenditure as a result of my step count enabled me to massively improve my body composition levels.
Obviously this fat loss didn’t just occur solely because of more steps:
- I was still busting my ass in the gym
- Consuming 80% ish of my calories from whole foods
- sleeping 7-8 hours per night
- Hitting my protein targets
- Running 2-3x per week
My goal is to look, feel, and perform at my best, and a high step count alone won't do that for me, so I NEED these other habits to be a non-negotiable in my life.
Now, I'm not telling you to move to a smaller, sunnier city, and walk everywhere. You only have to look at people who live in Dubai and can't walk much at all.
But the evidence is clear for everyone to see.
When combined with smart nutrition, strength training, and some great sleep, a higher step count will torch the body fat right off you!
Like I said at the very start, peer reviewed research backs up all the claims I make in this newsletter, but there's no research is beating the evidence I've showed you.
A few points before I go:
- You can do 20k steps per day, but if your diet is sh*t, you'll never lose weight. What's the point in burning 3,000 calories per day, but eating 3,500? I know plenty of 'heavy' people who have a higher step count than me, but they can't control what goes in their mouth.
- Get tactical with your steps. Walk during a phone call, take a meeting outside, take the stairs at work. A high step count rarely happens by chance, you have to make it happen. I've recently bought a treadmill for underneath my standing desk that I'll be using all the time once winter comes a knocking.
- Incrementally increase your step count. If you're unconditioned, going from 5k-10k really quickly can be a bit too much for you body to handle. Take your time and slowly increase the step count every couple of weeks. In a few months you can go from a hard 5k per day to an easy 10k per day.
Right, I'm off to go walk the dog.
I hope that's been helpful.
