The very title of this post must’ve widened your eyes when you saw the, “10,000 steps per day.” Sure, that’s understandable. Depending on your lifestyle, you might have the thought that 10,000 steps per day are way too overwhelming and impossible, especially if your job is where you’re stuck in the office for 8 to 9 hours per day in front of the computer – going home and sleep immediately because of the long day. So, is 10,000 steps even possible … daily?

The idea of walking at least 10,000 per day was from Japanese researchers in the 1960s. Lead by Dr. Yoshiro Hatano, he said that an average person is recommended to walk at least 3,500 to 5,000 steps per day and that if increased to 10,000, they could improve their overall health and fitness. After some decades, health organizations embraced this campaign to promote good health. The 10,000 steps became a guideline in improving health and reducing the risk of disease.

So how many calories do we burn with every 10,000 steps? Good question. On average a person burns 100 calories with each 2,000 step or 500 calories for 10,000 steps. However, this may not be set in stone because many factors would be counted for this matter – it depends on your weight, speed, age, and body fat percentage.

Now that we know how many calories we can burn with 10,000 steps, why are we doing this in the first place? What are the benefits?

The Heart Foundation says walking can:

• Boost your energy
• Reduce your risk of heart attack
• Help manage your weight / lose weight
• Aid relaxation and clear your mind
• Improve confidence and mood
• Promote healthier blood cholesterol and blood pressure
• The more you walk, the less swelling and pain you’ll have in your legs

Ready to set some daily walking goals? That’s great! Knowing how beneficial walking is, there’s no need to get pressured about why we should do it. Generally speaking, 10,000 steps equal to a 1-hour exercise per day. Of course, none of us can count each of our steps daily, but we have different available resources to help us track our goals. Buying a pedometer watch or downloading a mobile application that can track your daily steps will work for a start. Don’t forget to wear comfortable shoes, and enjoy walking!