Can You Lose Weight By Just Walking I Walking For Exercise
In this final "walk and talk" episode, Eric Roberts explains why walking can be an effective tool for weight loss. He starts by emphasizing that a calorie deficit—primarily achieved through nutrition—is the only way to lose weight. Roberts then breaks down daily calorie expenditure into four components: basal metabolic rate (BMR) (~70% of total calories burned), non‑exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) (~15%), the thermic effect of food (TEF) (~10%), and exercise (~5%). He positions walking as a key contributor to NEAT, offering practical ways to increase daily steps (e.g., parking farther away, taking stairs, walking while on calls). Roberts discusses how calorie deficits can lower NEAT, so maintaining a step count of 5,000–10,000 per day helps preserve metabolic rate. He cites research suggesting health benefits start around 7,000 steps and that beyond 12,000 steps there are diminishing returns. The video also highlights walking’s accessibility, consistency benefits, and mental‑health advantages, including using walks for self‑reflection. Throughout, Roberts references client examples (e.g., Nadia, Ashley) and promotes his free calorie calculator and the Eric Roberts Fitness Podcast for deeper guidance.
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What is going on, guys? Welcome back to another walk and talk with me. Actually, it's the last walk and talk, I think, unless I do more later on. But as of right now, it's the last walk and talk. So if you've watched these, first of all, I appreciate you. Second, let me know how you liked it. Um, and actually it's fitting because today, um, gonna be the last walk and talk, but I want to talk about why walking and if walking is important for weight loss. And it's funny because yesterday— this is not going to be good— yesterday I got a total all day of 420 steps. That's it. That's— that was the extent of my steps yesterday. I did not do a walk and talk yesterday. Um, yeah, it was— it was bad. It was not good. Um, definitely try to get more steps than that. But in this walk and talk, we're going to be talking about Why, how, what walking is important for weight loss. 'Cause I get a lot of people ask me like, hey, you know, is walking enough? Can I, can I do, can I walk 8,000 steps a day? Can I walk 10,000 steps a day? Is this good? Is this bad? Is it gonna help me? Is it not gonna help me? Is it a waste of time? And I think, number one, we have to remember being in a calorie deficit is gonna help you lose weight, 'cause that is the only way to lose weight. So that's number one, and that is mainly done through your through your nutrition. I said mainly because there's basically four main things that your body burns calories throughout the day, right? Because remember, a calorie deficit is you eat less calories than what your body burns, right? Everyone always asks me, how do I know how many calories my body burns? There's four things. In which your body burns calories throughout the day. You can't really track— you can't accurately track them. This is why you track how many calories you eat and then you see the results from there. So, you know, everyone's asking me how many calories I burned during my workout. Like, none of that matters. Um, you don't need to worry about that. You're gonna— if you wanna know how many calories you need to eat to lose weight, you can head to my YouTube channel and, you know, just click on my little icon and I have a video on that. I have a free calorie calculator. But point being, there's 4 main things. Your first off is going to be something called your BMR, your basal metabolic rate. This makes up about 70% of how many calories your body burns during the day. This is different for everybody, and it depends on many things. Depends on your genetics, it depends on your lean muscle mass, it depends on your weight and your height and your size and, and so many things, right? But your BMR is what makes up 70% of how many calories your body burns during the day. That's why we're going to talk about exercise here in a second for weight loss, fat loss. The second thing that— the next tier. So basically 70% is BMR. The next tier is something called NEAT, which is non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which basically just means All of the extraneous movement that you do, like me doing that right there, that was neat. Um, all the extraneous movement you do throughout the day is considered NEAT. So literally watching this video right now is NEAT. Walking to the fridge is NEAT. Walking into the store is NEAT, right? Everything that's not like lifting weights or dedicated exercise is non-exercise Activity thermogenesis because you know thermogenesis calories burned. So walking would be included in your NEAT, and I get some people ask me, well, isn't walking cardio and da da da? Like I I guess it could be. Like you know, I guess it could be considered your exercise for the day. But either way, like just get out and walk more. Like park farther away at the store. I have one client right now. Her name is Nadia. Nadia has made insane changes to her body and her life. But Nadia, actually, I think she told me on Monday, she was like, yeah, I park 3 blocks. I think she said 3 blocks away from work so she can get more steps in during her day. Things like that, like park farther away, get up like this right now. Like I told you yesterday, I got 420 steps. It was awful. It was fucking terrible. But one of the reasons why I like doing this walk and talk, and I probably should do more so I get up and walk more, but— Right now, like, this isn't exercise for me. This is actually considered work for me. But like, this isn't like exercise for me. I'm just getting out and walking. Like, I don't really consider this like a part of my exercise routine. Like, I don't— I didn't schedule this walk into— well, I did schedule this walk into my day because it's a part of my workday. But like, I didn't schedule this walk like I would a workout, or I didn't plan a workout routine, right? Just getting out and walking more. But this takes up Roughly 15— 10 to 15% of how many calories your body burns during the day. Let me say that again. Your BMR takes up 70% and your NEAT takes up— I'm gonna call 15% just for easy math. I'm gonna call 15%. So 85% of the amount of calories you burn during the day comes from your BMR and comes from your NEAT. When talking about getting yourself into a calorie deficit and eating less calories than what your body burns, I think those are the 2 biggest things: your BMR and your NEAT. Walking would fall under the NEAT category. Again, if you want to, you know, pickleball me here and there for if it's exercise, it's cardio, whatever, I don't even give a shit. That would fall Under NEAT, non-exercise activity thermogenesis. So yes, walking is going to help tremendously. And I'll round out what else plays into your calories burned during the day. There's something called TEF, which is your thermic effect of food. And this takes up roughly 10% of how many calories your body burns during the day, 'cause you have to digest food. Fun tip, protein, Has the highest TEF, 'cause protein, it takes the most calories, your body has to burn the most calories digesting protein than it does carbs or fats, which is again why protein is such a massive key for weight loss. It will help you actually burn more calories. So that is 10%. And then finally comes the last part. The last 5%. Which is how many calories your body burns through exercise. That is 5%. Yes, 5%. I'm going to turn around. 5%. That's how many calories your body burns through exercise during a given day. So you're focusing on exercise as the most, the biggest thing. It's really BMR, NEAT, and TEF. Those are the 3 biggest things. That you should be concerning yourself with when it comes to calories burned, because that will help you. And getting out in— especially so when you go into a calorie deficit, your body actually decreases— I almost nailed that pole— your body actually— I'm gonna go to the left a little bit— your body decreases your NEAT because it has less calories coming in. And remember, NEAT is like, um, like fidgeting too. Like, for example, if you had a kid in school who was always fidgeting And they're like really skinny. They have a high NEAT. They're always fidgeting, they're always moving. That's a high NEAT. When you go into a calorie deficit, your NEAT automatically decreases. So this is why for all of my clients, we set step goals anywhere from, depending on the individual, 5,000 to 10,000 steps per day. Because this is going to keep your NEAT high, which is going to keep your calories burned higher. Which is going to help because automatically when you start eating less calories than what your body burns, your body is going to decrease your NEAT, which is going to decrease— it's like, that's how your metabolism decreases, quote unquote, is through things like this where it's like your body decreases its NEAT. That would decrease calories burned. That would decrease your metabolism. You know, people get so scared over like decreasing metabolism. It's gonna happen. It has to happen if you're looking to lose weight. So, But again, keeping your NEAT high, keeping your steps high, is going to help you lose more weight, burn more body fat, and help you be in a calorie deficit more. So when it comes to is walking important, will it help, fuck yes, it's important, and fuck yes, it will help both of those things. Because that makes up 15% of how many calories your body burns throughout the day. So you're— it's— you're taking yourself behind the 8-ball. Like, you're getting out of that, right? You're putting yourself in front— is that even a phrase, putting yourself in front of the 8-ball? I don't know. I'll use it. You're putting yourself in front of the 8-ball with getting anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 steps a day. 10,000 steps is a lot. For some people it's a lot, like myself. I mean, yesterday, fuck, I got 420 steps. I literally sat at my desk all day long and just stared at my computer. But either way, I would say at the very least, try to get 5,000 steps. I think they've done studies on— I think 7,000 is the range where, like, the start where a lot of positive health benefits happen. After, like, I think after 10,000 or 12,000— I think it's after 12,000— there's not much extra benefit. And it's actually— I think it can actually harm you. So, you know, I wouldn't be like— unless you're like a dog walker getting 10,000 steps per day. I mean, 20,000 steps per day. But yes, walking is a great place. And also, it's readily available. Like, I'm outside walking right now. You can go— you can walk around your house. Like, I had clients in quarantine, quarantine, for example, they couldn't leave their house. So what do they do? They walked up and down their steps for 15 minutes. They got steps that way, just up and down, up and down, up and down. Some of them were like carrying like water jugs or putting their kids on their back or their backpacks on their back. But you know, it's always readily available. You can always go out and walk, which again, When talking about con— we're talking about weight loss, consistency is one of the biggest factors, right? Adherence, consistency. Above any program, above any calories, consistency and adherence is always the most important thing. Because without that, I don't care what program you have, you are not going to see results in that program if you don't follow that program. So when talking about consistently hitting your steps, walking is always available, so you can be very consistent, and consistency breeds results. So that's also why very important. Also can help mentally as well. I can't tell you how many people, you know, get to a point, especially in a weight loss journey, where it's very frustrating or very overwhelming and whatever the case may be, and their mental health benefits so much from just getting outside and walking. Make sure I'm not running into anybody. Getting outside and walking. And so, you know, it can make you— actually, I just got off a podcast, which if you don't listen to the podcast, Eric Roberts Fitness Podcast, again, I'm gonna have great podcasts coming up there, so definitely go check it out. But I had a podcast with one of my clients recently, Clubhouse members, Ashley, and she talked about walking is where she kind of self-reflects and she plans her day and she, you know, thinks over things. That is massive for a weight loss journey, 'cause you know just as well as I know, when talking about a weight loss journey, it's in between your ears. It's up here. That's what holds most people back, not the calories or the information. It's, I fucked up, or, I'm not doing enough, or, this isn't good enough. That's where things get out. So if you can go on a walk, clear your mind, increase your NEAT, yes, walking is massively, massively beneficial. for your weight loss journey for all of those reasons. And so guys, hope you enjoyed the last walk and talk for now. Who knows, might do more, but hope you enjoyed the last walk and talk. Again, I'm going to be doing another challenge on my podcast where I bring clients on the podcast, just talk to them, have them hear their story. It's one thing to hear, you know, weight loss tips from me, the coach, the 25-year-old who doesn't have kids and all that kind of stuff, which is great. It's awesome. But to hear, for example, Ashley's story, or Jamie's story, or Michelle's story, or Aaron's story, or Ryan's story, all these people who are gonna come on the podcast and talk about, you know, they're just like you. They have the same struggles you do, they have the same challenges you do, they have the same, you know, things going on, same obstacles, and yet they are, you know, they're overcoming it. They're seeing progress, they're seeing results, they're changing their lives, they're changing their body, and you can kind of hear how they're doing it, how they're mentally going about doing it. I think it's really gonna be a huge thing. So, If you have not subscribed to the podcast, Eric Roberts Fitness Podcast. Hope you enjoy these walk and talks. Thank you again, and we'll talk soon. Okay. Bye.
