IN THE AGE of wearables, fitness is no longer about going for a run on a nice day or scheduling a walk around the neighborhood with a friend for the sake of movement. These feats are now all about hitting 10,000 steps a day.
Even if you aren’t a slave to a fitness tracker, the concept of walking 10,000 steps a day is ingrained as a general health goal for tons of Americans.
“The idea of walking 10,000 steps daily actually came from a 1960s Japanese marketing campaign for a device called the 10,000-steps meter,” shares Kim Yawitz, R.D. “The number 10,000 had no medical significance at the time—they only chose it because the Japanese character for 10,000 resembles a person walking (which made for a nice logo).”
Even today, there’s no medical consensus on how many steps you should aim to hit each day. The number you need varies by age and other factors.
Nevertheless, the goal has a chokehold on the fitness community—especially on those aiming to lose weight. It’s shown some great success, too. Does it burn enough calories to really create a calorie deficit?
We asked dietitians how many calories you really burn by walking 10,000 steps.
How many calories do you burn by walking 10,000 steps?
The short answer: It’s different for everyone.
That’s because how many calories you burn doing something depends on a variety of factors, such as your weight, muscle mass, whether you are jogging, running, or walking, and more.
With that in mind, Yawitz says that an average-sized man (roughly 200 pounds) might burn around 400 to 500 calories by accumulating 10,000 steps through normal daily activities, such as walking around the office.
“However, a larger-bodied man will typically burn more calories than a smaller-bodied man—kind of like a Hummer uses more fuel than a Mini Cooper,” she says. “The number of calories you burn while walking comes down to your body size and the intensity of your movement.”
In general, you can burn more calories by increasing your walking intensity, regardless of your body size, says Yawitz. You can do that by adding a weighted vest, walking more briskly, swinging your arms, or involving steps whenever possible.
Additionally, if you’ve never tried accumulating 10,000 steps in a day, you might be surprised by how challenging it can be, Yawitz says. Finding small opportunities to move throughout the day will make hitting that 10K mark easier.
“Parking your car further away from building entrances, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and walking around for a few minutes every hour will help you chip away at your goal,” she says.
Don’t forget to keep your safety in mind, especially if you’re new to exercise or working to increase how much activity you pack into a day. Walking is low-impact, Yawitz says, but doing too much of anything too quickly can hurt you.
“It’s important to start slowly and gradually increase your step count, especially if your baseline step count is on the lower side,” she says. “Try increasing your seven-day average by 500 to 1,000 steps at a time until you hit the 10,000-step mark.”
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