A Walking Goal

On December 15, 2019, I made a decision that, with follow-through, has been life-changing.  I decided that I would walk 10,000 steps per day and hoped to bring my body back into more reasonable condition and health.

When I made this decision, my weight was 212 pounds, my cholesterol was too high, my blood pressure was too high, and well, numerous other blood statistics were also out of whack.  I was almost 72 years old, and knew I needed to turn things around.

After a time, I changed that daily goal to the slightly farther distance of five miles per day.  But that is inconsequential to the story.  The goal was to walk and exercise more.  I had been playing pickleball since early 2017, and that sport was a part of my plan.  Fortunately, my Fitbit Sense 2 measures steps pretty accurately when I am playing.  I also knew that a better diet, i.e., paying attention to what I eat and drink, would be an integral part of the overall plan.

A Wake-Up Call

Some 90 days into my walking program, and having not missed a single day of hitting my walking goal, on March 15, 2020, the Covid-19 Pandemic shutdown was put in place.  I had been walking at home, work, my club, the streets, and anywhere I found time and space to walk.  But we all were sent to work from home.

With the shutdown came some bad weather in Memphis and it snowed a good bit and was cold.  I remember being tempted to let things go, but I was experiencing favorable changes in my weight and physical (and mental) well-being, and did not want to stop.

I became even more intentional about my walking through the pandemic. I talked to people and read about what came to be called the “pandemic bulge,” or the fact that many people who were working from home began to gain weight.

The times caused me to reflect on ways to maintain physical and mental health in pandemic times.  On May 1, 2020, I posted a video titled A Dozen Things to Try to Maintain Physical and Mental Health in Pandemic Times.  (the text is transcribed)

I spoke about creating a good workspace at home, limiting work hours to a reasonable level (initially, many professionals were working longer than normal hours while at home), and a number of other things, including attending church services online.

The item on my list that has meant the most to me, however, was simple: Create a “one plate per meal” rule for all meals.  Of course, a small salad might come on a separate plate, but the essence of the rule is to eat one reasonable plate of food per meal.  And, an occasional small dessert is okay.

I did have a couple of negative suggestions.  First, try not to let oneself fall into the “I need a snack” trap.  And second, don’t watch too much television.  You can guess why for both of these.

A Balance of Exercise and Diet

Before writing another word, let me say that I am not a physician.  I know there are a number of issues that can make getting fit and losing weight difficult, or even impossible at times for some people.  However, based on what I have read and experienced in life thus far, the ideas and “rules” that I write about do apply to most men and women.

In the referenced post of suggestions for maintaining physical and mental well-being, I was alluding to what I call one of the “Great Equations of Life.”  The equations for weight are simple:

Calories Consumed > Calories Expended => Gain Weight at the Margin

Calories Expended > Calories Consumed => Lose Weight at the Margin

Calories Consumed = Calories Expended => Maintain Weight

About this time, I read about something called the Basil Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is defined at www.Calculator.net as:

“the amount of energy expended while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment, and in a post-absorptive state (meaning that the digestive system is inactive, which requires about 12 hours of fasting)”

Said another way, the BMR measures the calories one would consume while acting like a slug.  The same link provides what is known as a BMR Calculator, which, given one’s height and weight, calculates one’s BMR.  I calculated my BMR just now and discuss the results below the figure:

The calculator has three choices for underlying formulae for calculating BMR.  I used the first one and my BMR is about 1,650 calories per day, or roughly 70 calories per hour for upkeep alone.  Above the level of our BMRs, each of us has reasonable control over the total calories we actually consume and expend on a given day and over time.

At various levels of activity, my expected daily calorie expenditure ranges from about 2,000 calories per day for little or no exercise (sedentary) to just over 3,100 calories per day with intensive exercise (2 hours per day of elevated heart rate) or a physical job.  My primary takeaway from reading about the BMR is that our level of activity above above slug level determines the amount of calories we can consume to maintain gain, lose, or maintain weight.

It was time to begin to monitor my caloric expenditure over time.  Fortunately, my Fitbit Sense 2 watch estimates daily caloric expenditure based on its algorithm using my basic information.

I have never actually counted calories consumed for anything more than a day or so.  However, from a beginning weight of 212 pounds (December 15, 2019), my weight had dropped 16 pounds to 196 pounds by year-end 2020.

My average daily expenditure during 2020 was 3,286 calories per day according to calculations made based on Fitbit’s recordings each day.  As my weight began to drop, I became pretty good at guesstimating my caloric consumption, which was clearly less than 3,286 calories per day.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a pound of body fat is roughly the equivalent of 3,500 calories, so to lose a pound of body weight, one must consume, over some time, 3,500 calories less than one expends.

My 16 pound loss in 2020 meant that I consumed about 56,000 fewer calories (16 x 3,500) than I expended (1.2 million in the leap year).  Simplistically, I consumed about 4.7% less calories than I expended, or about 150 calories per day, on average.

Did I starve?  No.  The calculation is that I consumed about 3,133 calories per day on average during 2020.  No normal “diet” will allow one to eat and drink that much.

However, the combination of exercise (4.7 million steps and 2,236 miles during 2020) and eating and drinking reasonably well allowed for a significant weight loss in the first year of my walking program.  My doctor was pleased with other aspects of my health, including lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, lower resting heart rate, and more.

The Real Program

The program that has worked for me is more than a walking program, although that is what I have called it.  The program is a combination of exercise (walking and other, including pickleball) and diet that, working together, have enabled me to get to more realistic weight and health levels than when it began in late 2019.

I have tried to keep a reasonable relationship between activity and diet during the more than five years since I consciously decided to walk 10,000 steps (or 5 miles) per day.  If my weight goes up a bit, I focus on exercise and diet to bring it back down.  The five year history includes first quarter of 2025 and is summarized here:

At some point, I realized that circumstances, sick days, and other interruptions occasionally made it impracticable to achieve my daily goal.  After some reflection, I accepted that there would be a few of those days along the way.  So I adjusted the goal to a minimum of 35 miles per week.  If I fall short on a given day, there are six other days in every week to make things up.

After such success during 2020, I got ahead of myself in 2021.  Although I expended 3,138 calories per day, I consumed more than that and gained five pounds.  I had averaged more than 6 miles per day in both 2020 and 2021 and knew that I would not reasonably be able to get back on track with more walking.  At that point, I realized that I would have to adjust my diet somewhat in order to get back on track.

I did that in 2022 and 2023, and my weight dropped from 201 pounds at the end of 2021 to 197 pounds at the end of 2022 and farther to 195 pounds at the end of 2023 (on somewhat lower mileage).

Unfortunately, I experienced a couple of injuries in 2024 that slowed my walking program a bit.  I did not adjust my caloric intake sufficiently to account for the reduction in activity, and my weight rose a bit to 197 at the end of that year. My walking dropped to 4.7 miles per day during 2024.  While that might not seem like a lot relative to a goal of 5 miles per day, the difference came in the mix of my activity.  Post-Covid shutdown during 2020, and during 2021, 2022, and 2023, a significant number of my steps came while playing pickleball and other exercising.  I was pretty much shut out of pickleball for a good bit of 2024, so the intensity of my activity was lower.  And I kept consuming calories at the pre-injury rate.

By late 2024, my injuries were healed and my pickleball and walking picked up.  Over the first quarter of 2025, my weight dropped to 193 pounds, or to a point I had not seen over any period of time — and not at my year-end measurement dates.  To lose that weight, I have had to adjust my caloric consumption a bit relative to my activity level.  There is no “diet,” but I do maintain my one plate per meal rule for the most part.  I often eat an appetizer and small salad when dining out, and I am aware of other sources of calories, including alcohol.

The great weight equations of life noted above hold true for me as is evidenced by the history shown in this post.  They may well hold true forIs you.

I0,000 Steps (or 5 Miles) Too Much?

According to the Mayo Clinic, a regular walking program can reduce the health risks associated with:

• Heart disease
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Depression

But a number of studies indicate that walking about 7,000 steps per day, give or take, will provide all the benefits that walking 10,000 steps per day.  However, there is one benefit to walking the extra 3,000 steps per day — one will expend more calories than at 7,000 steps per day.  To me, that means I have a bigger and better dietary budget than I would have at lower step levels.  That’s important to me.  Walking alone does help to lose weight unless combined with a diet that balances with or is less than our activity levels in terms of calories.

If you are thinking about a walking/exercise program and are willing focus on diet as well, then my recommendations include:

• Obtain a smart watch that measures walking and other physical activities — and use it.  If you already have an Apple watch or another smart watch, then figure out where to look to see your daily results.
• Weigh yourself on a set of scales, preferably smart scales that will sync with your phone.  That’s your base weight.  Try to weigh at the same time each day.  For me, that is after getting up, walking the dog, and before any breakfast.
• Don’t try to think about a diet, but begin to become conscious of your dietary and liquid choices.
• Initially, spend two weeks wearing your watch every day and determine what your mileage (or daily step count) is before starting to focus on walking.  Assume, for example, your daily average is 4,100 steps, or just under two miles based on my personal stride (your stride may vary).  The average person walks about 1 to 2 miles per day (according to the Mayo Clinic) as a point of reference.
• From that base, set an interim goal — say 5,500 steps per day for a month.  I used to think that my goal had to be met every single day.  I now know better and seek to meet the goal on average over each week and month.
• At the end of a month, get on the scales and weigh again.  Your weight will be up a bit, down a bit, or about the same as your base weight.
• Based on the information you learn about your body in the first month, you can begin to adjust your walking goal and/or your consumption of food and drink.
• If you like your program, continue with it at the level that is comfortable for you.  But I do recommend weighing daily.  A little plus or minus on a given day or two or three can provide the incentive to make adjustments as you see fit.

Is there anything magic about 10,000 steps (or 5 miles)?  No, but my walking a five-year plus average of 11,880 steps per day (5.6 miles per day) has certainly helped me, and without injury from walking.  The injuries I mentioned earlier came while playing pickleball.

Wrapping Up

Why have I written about my walking/exercise and caloric intake watching program over the last five years?  First, it is helpful to me to talk about the results of this long-term program.  It helps to keep me motivated.  Second, a significant number of people have responded to my blog posts, the postings on LinkedIn and my speaking about walking from time-to-time.  Quite a few folks have said that reading or hearing about this program has been helpful and motivating to them on their personal journeys to fitness and better health.  That is a wonderful side-benefit.

What does the future hold?  I don’t know, but, as they say, “If the Good Lord’s willing, and the creek don’t rise,” I’ll keep on walking and exercising and watching what I eat and drink to maintain a healthy balance.

What I do know is that the Good Lord is willing.  He is willing, I hope, to allow me the opportunity to continue this journey for many more years.  But I have to maintain the program on my own.  As do we all.