My lifestyle changed dramatically during two extended overseas work trips and vacations lasting over six weeks. I traveled to Japan for two weeks, Estonia for one week, and Italy for two weeks, with a one-week break in between.
As someone interested in fitness experiments, I’ve often heard about the transformative effects of walking 10,000 steps a day on body composition and overall health. I Increased My Step Count to 13,000 Steps/Day for 6 Weeks, Here’s What Happened.
While I’m already relatively lean and prefer Zone 2 cardio, the allure of spending time outdoors motivated me to test this walking experiment. Over those five weeks of vacation, I aimed to see if increasing my step count would lead to any noticeable changes in my body. My step count averaged around 13,000 steps per day for six weeks, excluding travel days. I will share my experience, the results, tips, and strategies, and answer the question of whether the 10,000 steps/day challenge truly works.
What People Say About Walking
The magic number of 10,000 steps/day has gained popularity in recent years. Claims range from weight loss, such as 36kg in 11 months. Some studies indicate that:
‘Getting in 9,000 to 10,000 daily steps cuts risk of death by more than a third and reduced cardiovascular disease risk by at least 20 percent’
Walking builds a huge amount of calories, strengthens your heart, increases leg strength, fights against mental health issues, and improves your sleep quality. Walking outside under the sun in nature helps to regulate the biological clock and enhances the production of vitamin D, crucial for maintaining bone health.
However, completing 10,000 steps every day takes time, around 1 hour 40 minutes on average.
How The Walk Looked Like
Walking in Japan
Walking for a long time wasn’t second nature for me. My workouts at home were mostly weighted calisthenics, zone 2 cardio, or zone 5 cardio, and I typically walked less than 2,000 steps a day.
In Tokyo, I had a ton of places I wanted to visit, things I wanted to shop for, and food places I wanted to eat at. I walked around 12k steps that day. The following days, with my girlfriend, we walked 13–14k steps each day, sightseeing and visiting Tokyo Disneyland. The week after, my step count wasn’t as high because I was mostly caught up in meetings and working at the office. Traveling alone wasn’t as interesting for me, so I naturally walked less.
Walking for the sake of getting steps in isn’t something that I can do consistently day in and day out. Listening to a podcast or having some sort of variety will help with that.
Always wear comfortable shoes and stretch at the end of the day.
Walking In Estonia
In Estonia, my steps increased to around 13k steps/day on average. It was a company conference with planned events. We would have walked a lot more if it weren’t for the e-scooters.
Walking In Italy
For the 2 weeks in Italy, my step count was dependent on the activities. Some days, we could be traveling from one city to the next, but on others, it’ll easily be around ~8k steps/day or even over 20k steps/day because of the sightseeing and shopping. On certain days, like when I was in Almafi and I got to trek through the Path of Gods, I raked in over 30k steps.
The Result
I walked for ~13k steps/day on average. For the entire 6 weeks, my meals were also relatively relaxed and I ate and drank anything that I wanted, whether it’s pasta, pizza, potato chips, burgers, or even beer and wine.
Weight and size
My weight still maintained at around the same weight at 74kg. Walking more than 10,000 steps a day helped me burn ~400 calories each day. My body frame also remained relatively the same.
A couple of workouts that I did were even in the local park where I completed a 7 km Zone 2 run in the morning just before heading off to work.
Sleep and energy levels
Walking throughout the day was like a workout for my body. It helped me to stay super relaxed at the end of the day, especially when my steps are done out in the sun or simply in nature. It also helps to energize my body for the next day since I feel refreshed after a good night’s sleep.
Cardiovascular fitness
Walking these many steps has helped me to maintain my weight while consuming a ton of food, improved my sleep and energy levels. I think this walking challenge was a huge win for me!
Tips For Getting Into This 10k Steps Challenge
- Progressive overload. Start small and increase mileage over time.
- Wear comfortable shoes. Walking a ton should feel comfortable.
- Stretch daily. Stretching daily really helps to alleviate pain and relieve the muscles around your body.
- Make it more interesting. Do yourself a favor and make things more interesting by listening to a podcast or watching a show while getting your steps in.
- Integrate it into your lifestyle.
- Avoid doing it all at once. Part of integrating the 10,000 steps into your lifestyle is to break it down into separate chunks.
Conclusion
This experiment made me realize that a little something is definitely better than nothing. I still managed to maintain the lean physique that I had, with the only con was losing a little strength.
Walking a ton isn’t easy but it’s a simple addition to your life that anyone can make to make their lives better. There are literally no excuses you can make to avoid walking at all, so you can easily gain some of the benefit by simply walking more.