Walking for Weight Loss (10,000 Steps is a Lie…DO THIS)

You've probably heard it everywhere. You need 10,000 steps a day. But is it actually true or is it just some random number? Today, I'm going to break down the science behind step counts. How many you really need. Like, what is that sweet spot for health and fat loss? And why more might not be better. By the way, I'm Dr. Ashley Lucas. I'm the owner and founder of PhD Weight Loss, where to date we have served over 11,600 people and we have helped those folks drop more than £466,000 nationwide. And my goal with this channel is to give you the information you need to actually create positive change in your life. And if that is weight loss, to help you keep that fat off for good.

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All right, so let's dive in to all things step counts. You know, if you think about it, we go way back to our cave days, our ancestor days. We were literally born to walk. For millions of years, our ancestors weren't pounding out marathons. They weren't participating in endless spin classes, right? They were moving steadily. They were covering ground in a way that was sustainable and life giving. Walking is truly the foundation to human health. Research shows that when we walk adequately, it helps to reduce mortality risk, it helps to improve circulation, helps to stabilize mood, and it keeps your fat metabolism switched on. The good news is even a small baseline like 2000 steps a day has been shown to have a lot of these benefits, including reducing stiffness and keeping joints lubricated as you age. The number one most important activity to participate in for your body as you age is walking. Now, if you are listening to this and you think that walking just isn't enough, or maybe you're an avid runner and you're thinking, hmm, you know, I just don't get it about Walking I really need to run or running is really the way to go. Research shows that recreational runners have an annual injury rate between 37 to 56%, which is actually higher than than the 31% injury rate of NFL players. When you walk, you avoid this high injury rate. It's safe, it's sustainable. It doesn't beat your body up like the long, arduous, moderate to high effort workouts which also lead to hormonal suppression, immune strain, overuse energies and metabolic exhaustion. So more is not necessarily better when it comes to the intensity of walking versus running. Now if you like what I'm saying that you don't have to do crazy exercise, specifically a lot of cardio, to achieve optimal health and actually drop weight and keep it off, then you should definitely check out PhD weight loss. If you're listening to this on a podcast platform, go to my PhD weight loss.com if you're watching this on YouTube, just head over to the description, click the link to learn more and we will create for you a customized meal plan along with guiding you in what type of movement you need to do. Now one of the great things about PhD weight loss is that you do not have to exercise a ton. Now if you love to exercise, we will meet you where you are for sure. You don't have to make huge changes in that. But if you are not an avid exerciser and you feel like you just have to do two a days or work out like crazy to hit that weight you were able to hit when you were younger and you were working out a lot, it doesn't have to be that way. We work with people all the time who are so shocked by the fact that they do not have to work out like crazy. Go to myphdweightloss.com and you will see over 1200 plus near 5 star reviews of real people who do not hit the gym and are dropping massive weight pretty darn quickly and easily without medications. Okay, so where did this 10,000 step rule come from? It came from a Japanese pedometer in the 1960s and the name of it actually means the 10,000 step meter. It was simply a marketing hook and it had no science backing whatsoever, but it spread worldwide. And you know us, we love our rounded numbers and only recently did researchers actually put it to the test and look into the number 10,000 to see if it had any correlation to actual health benefits. So what the major studies showed is that the sweet spot for steps is somewhere between 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day. So the Japanese pedometer wasn't too far off. Anything below 7,000 steps seems to increase the risk of disease and early death. Beyond 10,000 steps, the benefits plateau and we see increased wear and tear on joints. For a lot of people, the biggest reduction in mortality risk by 50 to 70% happens just by crossing that 7,000 step threshold. Also, walking is the perfect Zone 2 activity, which is the conversational pace that your body prefers to burn fat for fuel. It just helps to build your aerobic base without being draining like chronic cardio is. So in addition to this, there are a lot more benefits to walking. Let's list them. Number one, supports fat metabolism at low intensity. Number two, helps to improve insulin sensitivity, which helps to stabilize blood sugar. Very important, important if you're struggling with insulin resistance. Type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes, pre diabetes. PCOS helps to reduce inflammation, protecting skin, your liver and hair. Number four, it helps to strengthen the brain. In older adults, those who walked more than 1.8 miles a day had 12% greater hippocampal volume. That is the area in the brain that's associated with memory and learning. So, so super important as we age. Also boosts creativity by 60% according to a Stanford study. Improves mood and focus. Just a 12 minute walk is enough to raise energy, sharpen attention and increase self confidence. Helps with longevity as well. Walking supports circulation, it lowers inflammation, enhances metabolic health and like we mentioned earlier, avoids the wear and tear cost of long distance running for you long distance runners. I know it's really hard for some of us to pull back, but you know, I had to do this as a professional ballet dancer and then an avid cyclist. I just thought more was always better. And I have learned the hard way that less can provide such profound benefits. You know, also as a business owner and you know, leading to companies and having 60 plus team members and thousands of clients and being a wife and a mother of three, it can be a lot. And I have found getting outside by myself with nothing input, meaning not talking on the phone, not being with anyone, not having any music come in through headphones, and just walking and moving my body in nature is when I get the best downloads or the best reduction in anxiety and stress. It just lets everything come back together. So that's one benefit that we might not see when we're, you know, looking up the research around walking. But there is something very powerful about being out in nature without any inputs and just listening to what our higher power might have to tell us. Also remember that when it comes to walking, it doesn't have to Be one long walk. You know, you might have a crazy busy lifestyle and believe me, I fully get that if that's you. But it all counts. So you can break it up into movement snacks, like a few minutes after meals. If you have a phone call that you needed to take, get up and go for a walk, it all has the same effect. You guys walking after a meal can reduce your blood sugar. I think it's up to 30%. That is massive. So the next time you eat, if you have a choice to sit down and watch TV or get up and go for a quick walk, I want you to hear my little voice in your ear over your shoulder saying, get out there and go for a walk. Even if it's just for five minutes. Okay, so what are other ways that you could apply this? Well, you're going to aim if you can, if it's not too overwhelming for 7,000 to 10,000 steps most days. If right now you're at like 1,000 steps or 2,000 steps, then incrementally increase it so that it's not overwhelming. You have to make it something that's manageable. If you say, oh my gosh, I'm just going to do from nothing to 7,000 steps every day, that's not a realistic goal and you're going to end up doing nothing. So something is better than nothing. Break it into chunks throughout the day. Like I said, post meal walks are preferred and and significantly impactful in your overall health. Add variety if you're like, oh my gosh, this is easy. You can do it in uneven terrain. You could do it barefoot. You know, there is something really powerful about connecting your bare feet to the earth again. You know, I always go back when I'm thinking what makes sense with all this information we're given. And I go back to what our ancestors did, like how we were born on this earth before we had anything and we touched our bare skin to the earth. So there must be something about that. And if you do that every day, you will notice a difference. Grounding on the earth. I'd love to hear from you. If you ground, if you have a practice of connecting your bare skin to the earth, what you do, what it feels like. Share Please over on YouTube in the comments here, I'd love to read them and learn from you. When you connect your bare feet or bare skin to the ground, you're releasing unwanted and excess energy and it's allowing the free electrons to flow back through the body. Just kind of helps to recalibrate your body a lot. Of folks also will walk barefoot in the forest and take it a whole other level so something that we can all strive for. Once you've built a strong base with your walking, you can sprinkle in occasional short sprints or high effort bursts. Again, this is just short bursts. Maybe after you warm up, this high intensity interval could be 20 to 30 seconds. It doesn't have to be running. I like the stationary bike because it doesn't put a lot of impact through my sore knees from my professional ballet dancing days. And you would do that burst for about 20 to 30 seconds and then calm down for a minute. Repeat that six to 12 times and then you are done. But again, the most important activity that you get in is going to be walking. If you would like to learn more about exercise, then you should join me in another video that I've done where I do a deep dive on why cardio might be keeping you fat. And even if you're not too into cardio, you might be wondering what types of activity you should do to burn fat effectively. Definitely want to check out that video. Just come on over into the description. Click the link on that specific video to learn more. I also have a great free resource for you. It is an exercise guide that will tell you exactly what types of exercise and how frequently to do them to drop fat most effectively. I will also include that in the link here in the description on YouTube. All right you guys, I hope that you got a lot out of this and I hope that I will see you when walking somewhere someday. If you are listening to this on a podcast platform, please leave a review. I read them all and they really do matter if you are watching this on YouTube. Drop your thoughts, your comments, how you ground, how you walk, what your goals are. Four steps. Drop them in the comments below. Also, please make sure you subscribe. And remember, you've got to step up to make the change. Lead with your heart, train your mind and do not negotiate with your body. I'll see you next time.