TGIM: Walk It Out

Welcome back to Thank God It’s Monday!
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tl;dr Steps are the most underrated health hack. From an evolutionary perspective, our ancestors didn’t hit the gym or go on a diet. They simply moved A LOT. While we are fortunate to live in the age of antibiotics and modern technology, we are suffering from a society optimized for comfort, and our health is coming at the expense of it.

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Before you close out this email, consider how much effort you put into getting your steps. Have you ever considered your step count before? Have you ever gone out of your way to specifically increase your step count?

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This seems benign, maybe even nitpicky. But steps are a powerful tool.

First, steps can help with weight loss, both for aesthetics and health. Walking can help decrease body fat while maintaining muscle mass. It is low impact, making it easy on the joints and accessible for most people. Steps help digest after a meal and promote blood flow to circulate nutrients in the body.

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Second, walking is a front-line crime fighter against chronic diseases. Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and dementia have all been on the rise over the last few decades. While the increasing prevalence is multifactorial, one key reason is the developments in society that have allowed people to become increasingly sedentary.
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Food delivery apps have allowed people to get meals delivered, decreasing the steps required from a couple of thousand (getting to the grocery store, shopping, cooking) to a couple of dozen (from the couch to the door and back). Holiday shopping used to require tens of thousands of steps across weeks in multiple stores now reduced to a few trips to the front door to collect Amazon packages. Work, which used to be a large contributor to step counts, has now moved online, in front of screens, and even into the home, having a detrimental effect on steps (and lower back pain) everywhere.

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It might not seem like much, but the difference in 2,000 steps every day for a year is potentially 10 10-pound difference in weight loss or gain! (2,000 steps is roughly 1 mile, which burns about 100 calories. Across 365 days, that’s 36,500 calories. Divided by 3,500 calories roughly in 1 pound of fat is equal to 10 pounds.)

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10 pounds again might not sound like a lot, but every pound of excess body fat exerts four pounds of force on your knees. Try carrying an extra 40-pound weight around to fully appreciate that difference.

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That’s enough of a math lesson for now.
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Steps are inconspicuous. One day you’re at work and it’s raining out, so you get a couple of thousand between going into the office and getting up for the bathroom. Maybe you even get to the gym after work and hit another couple of thousand in your class. But by the time you’re sitting down for dinner, you’re only at 5,000 steps, and because of the rain, you go right from dinner to the couch or bed. This goes on for the rest of the week with bad weather and uneventful office work. And because you haven’t checked your step count, you haven’t broken 10,000 steps all week.
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Becoming aware of your steps and making an active effort to hit a goal will transform your life (not to be dramatic). Those same days, you get home and realize you didn’t hit your goal of say 8,000 steps for the day, so you take a lap around the block or break out your walking pad before putting the TV on. Those extra few thousand steps add up to a noticeable difference at the end of the week and a visible difference in your body at the end of the month or year.

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Beyond looking a certain way, getting these extra steps in helps decrease your A1C (staving off Type 2 diabetes), decreases your risk of cardiovascular disease, and has some links to delaying dementia. Again, it’s inconspicuous. A couple of steps today and tomorrow change the course of your life for decades to come. It will decrease your risk of stroke, amputation, and heart attack. Subtle adjustments now lend to significant changes later.

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The biggest struggles I’ve seen people encounter with trying to get their steps in include not having a way to track them, time, and environment.
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Tracking steps can be done with a smartphone, a cheap pedometer, or a smartwatch. It’s a simple tool that goes a long way. Say you have a goal of 8,000 steps per day, and you see you’re at a total of 7,500 steps after dinner. You’re more likely to go on a short walk since your goal is within reach. It also helps track your trends to get an idea of what your baseline is and if it’s trending up or down. You can’t change something you aren’t aware of.
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Second, people’s favorite rationale is time constraints. You’re already trying to make it to the gym, hopefully, working eight or twelve hours, and doing all of the busy chores associated with life. Where can you possibly find the time to get in a few thousand extra steps? Well, first of all, your screen time better be zero if you claim not to have any time. But more realistically speaking, set some rules for yourself. No Netflix unless you’re walking on a walking pad/treadmill. Or no social media unless you’ve hit your goal. You can also sneak steps into your day without adding time by pacing at the gym in between steps or always taking the stairs at work, not the elevator.
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Lastly, structure your environment to support your goals! My desk is a standing desk with a walking treadmill underneath it, or an exercise ball to sit on. Those are the only two options. So there’s no choice but to slump in a chair. Tell your partner you want to schedule walks after dinner to stimulate digestion, or make a rule no TV until you finish your steps for the day. The times when you’re exhausted, your environment will determine your outcomes.
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The bottom line is, go get your steps in! Whether you’re trying to shed the last few pounds for summer or keep off the threat of chronic disease, get moving.

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If you found some value in this, please share it with a friend you think would enjoy it! And let me know if you’d like to be added to get TGIM.​
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This week, my podcast recommendation is new from The HigherUp Podcast, “Greg O’Gallagher: Kinobody, 3 Lifts Per Week & How to Get Lean Easily.”

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With that, hit reply and let me know what you’re stepping into this week!
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Until next time,

Shannon