Walking 8,500 steps daily helps people keep weight off after dieting

A new study presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026) in Istanbul, Turkey (May 12-15) found that walking about 8,500 steps daily may help people avoid regaining weight after a diet. The results will also appear in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Most weight loss programs tell people to walk more, but scientists have had limited proof that extra walking actually helps during a diet or afterward. It was unclear whether walking could maintain weight loss over time, and what daily step count worked best.

Professor Marwan El Ghoch of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy explained why this matters. "The most important -- and greatest -- challenge when treating obesity is preventing weight regain," he said. Around 80 percent of people who lose weight regain some or all of it within three to five years.

Professor El Ghoch and colleagues from Italy and Lebanon reviewed 18 randomized controlled trials on walking and weight management. Fourteen of those studies, involving 3,758 adults, went into the final analysis. The average participant was 53 years old with a BMI of 31 kg/m2. People came from the UK, US, Australia, and Japan.

The study compared 1,987 people in lifestyle modification programs (which combined diet advice with step-tracking) against 1,771 in control groups who dieted alone or received no help. Researchers measured step counts at the start, after weight loss (averaging 7.9 months), and after maintenance (averaging 10.3 months).

At the beginning, both groups walked about the same amount: the lifestyle group averaged 7,280 steps daily, and the control group averaged 7,180. The control group did not increase walking and did not lose weight.

People in the lifestyle programs raised their daily steps to 8,454 by the end of the weight loss phase and lost an average of 4.39 percent of their body weight (roughly 4 kg). During the maintenance phase, they kept most of the weight off, averaging 8,241 steps per day and sustaining a long-term weight loss of 3.28 percent (about 3 kg).

The analysis showed a clear link between higher step counts and less weight regain. People who increased steps during dieting and kept up that activity afterward did better at maintaining their loss. Walking more did not, however, lead to more weight loss during the initial diet phase, possibly because eating less has a stronger short-term effect.

Professor El Ghoch said the findings show lifestyle programs support meaningful long-term weight loss. "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," he said. "Increasing the number of steps walked to 8,500 each day is a simple and affordable strategy to prevent weight regain."