Deficitly
Open the calculator
How many steps a day do you need to lose weight?
There's no step count that guarantees weight loss. Each extra 1,000 steps a day burns about 20–35 calories, depending on your weight. Going from 4,000 to 10,000 steps adds about 160 calories a day at 75 kg (165 lb): around 0.6 kg (1.4 lb) a month, if you eat the same.
What more steps do each month
| Extra steps | 60 kg 132 lb | 80 kg 176 lb | 100 kg 220 lb |
|---|---|---|---|
| +2,000 | 40 kcal0.2 kg/mo | 55 kcal0.2 kg/mo | 70 kcal0.3 kg/mo |
| +4,000 | 85 kcal0.3 kg/mo | 115 kcal0.4 kg/mo | 140 kcal0.6 kg/mo |
| +6,000 | 125 kcal0.5 kg/mo | 170 kcal0.7 kg/mo | 210 kcal0.8 kg/mo |
| +8,000 | 170 kcal0.7 kg/mo | 225 kcal0.9 kg/mo | 280 kcal1.1 kg/mo |
| +10,000 | 210 kcal0.8 kg/mo | 280 kcal1.1 kg/mo | 350 kcal1.4 kg/mo |
Steps or eating less?
Both work, and they work best together. Cutting 300 calories of food a day is often easier than adding 8,000 steps, but steps keep your daily burn up while you diet and are good for you regardless. Start with what you'll keep doing: see how many calories to eat to lose weight.
Trust your step count, not your watch's calories
Phones and watches count steps fairly well. Their calorie numbers are less reliable and usually run high, partly because they include calories you'd burn anyway. Use your 7- or 30-day average step count from your phone's health app, and let the calculator turn it into calories.
Is 10,000 steps the target?
The 10,000 figure began as a marketing slogan, but it's a reasonable goal: health benefits keep rising up to around 8,000–10,000 steps a day for most adults. For weight, any increase counts. See what 10,000 steps burn for your size.