Scientists will talk about new findings at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul this May. The research says that walking around 8,500 steps a day can help people keep the weight they lose.
Why Stopping Weight Gain Matters
Professor Marwan El Ghoch explains that the biggest problem in treating obesity is the weight that comes back after a diet. About eight out of ten people who lose weight gain some or all of it back within three to five years. Finding a simple way to stop this would be a big medical breakthrough.
What the Study Looked At
El Ghoch and his team gathered results from 18 past experiments. Fourteen of those studies, involving 3,758 adults, were good enough to be analyzed. The participants were about 53 years old on average and had a body‑mass index of 31 kg/m².
The studies compared two groups. One group (1,987 people) followed a lifestyle program that combined diet advice with a goal to walk more. The other group (1,771 people) only dieted or received no extra help.
Step Counts and Weight Changes
At the start, both groups walked about 7,200 steps each day. The program group raised their daily steps to roughly 8,450 during the weight‑loss phase, which lasted about eight months. In that time they lost about 4 % of their body weight – around 4 kg.
During the next ten months, the program group kept walking about 8,240 steps a day. They kept most of the weight loss, ending with a long‑term loss of about 3 % (roughly 3 kg). The control group did not change their step count and did not lose weight.
What the Numbers Mean
More steps were linked to less weight coming back. People who kept a higher step count after losing weight were better at staying thin. Walking more did not make the initial weight loss faster, showing that diet changes are still the main driver at first.
A Simple, Cheap Tip
Professor El Ghoch says the results support lifestyle programs that add walking goals. He suggests aiming for about 8,500 steps each day while losing weight and keeping that number during the maintenance phase. This easy, low‑cost habit can help many people avoid gaining weight again.