For people who have lost weight or are dieting, new research suggests that a simple daily step target could be the key to preventing weight regain
People who are dieting for weight loss should walk around 8,500 steps a day to maintain the results and prevent weight regain, according to a new study by the European Association for the Study of Obesity.
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“Around 80% of people with overweight or obesity who initially lose weight tend to put some or all of it back on again within three to five years,” said Marwan El Ghoch, co-author of the study at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy.
“The identification of a strategy that would solve this problem and help people maintain their new weight would be of huge clinical value,” he added.
One of the most common recommendations during weight loss programmes is to increase daily steps; however, why, when, and how many is still unclear, the study authors noted.
Aiming to find a consensus on how much people should walk while trying to lose weight, the researchers analysed multiple clinical trials involving around 4,000 patients.
These trials compared 1,987 patients participating in lifestyle modification programmes, such as dietary recommendations and advice to walk more and track their steps, with 1,771 patients who were either dieting alone or not receiving any treatment.
The first group increased their daily step count to 8,454 by the end of the weight loss phase and lost a significant amount of body weight, 4.39% on average, around 4 kg, the study found.
“Participants should be always encouraged to increase their step count to approximately 8,500 a day during the weight loss phase and sustain this level of physical activity during the maintenance phase to help prevent them from regaining weight,” El Ghoch said.
Rising obesity worldwide
As obesity is rising worldwide and is expected to reach 30% by 2035, according to the World Obesity Atlas, researchers are increasingly looking at lifestyle changes and actions to improve obesity treatment outcomes.
This projected rise is a considerable source of concern, the authors noted.
Being overweight and obesity are associated with several medical and psychological comorbidities, with a heavy financial burden on healthcare systems, and strong social impacts that can lead to major disabilities and increased risk of mortality, according to the study.
Recent research found that people with obesity are at 70% higher risk of serious infections, with one in ten infectious disease deaths globally potentially linked to obesity.
The World Health Organization Europe had set a target to halt the increase in adult obesity at 2010 levels by 2025, but no European country met it, with rates up 138% since 1975.
Newer goals in the 2022–2030 Non-Communicable Diseases Action Plan include a 30% relative drop in mean BMI by 2030, including preventing child obesity.
