New Delhi, May 10 (IANS) Doing around 8,500 steps a day can help people keep weight off after dieting, according to new research.

To be presented at the ‘European Congress on Obesity’ (ECO 2026) in Istanbul, Turkey, from May 12-15, the study showed that there was a clear link between increasing step count and preventing weight regain.

Specifically, it was important to increase step count during the weight loss phase and maintain this increase during the weight maintenance phase. Patients who did so regained less weight, said the study published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

“The most important – and greatest – challenge when treating obesity is preventing weight regain,” explains Professor Marwan El Ghoch from University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.

Around 80 per cent of people with overweight or obesity who initially lose weight tend to put some or all of it back on again within three to five years.

“The identification of a strategy that would solve this problem and help people maintain their new weight would be of huge clinical value,” he said

Professor El Ghoch and researchers from Italy and Lebanon conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing research to find out more.

Daily number of steps was measured at the start of the trials, at the end of the weight loss phase (average duration of 7.9 months) and at the end of the weight maintenance phase (average duration of 10.3 months).

Both groups of patients had a similar number of steps per day at the start of the trials (7,280 in LSM group vs. 7,180 in control group) indicating that they had similar lifestyles at baseline.

The control group did not increase their number of steps and did not lose weight at any time.

In contrast, the LSM group increased their step count to 8,454 a day by the end of the weight loss phase. They also lost a significant amount of their body weight (4.39% on average, around 4 kg)

They maintained this higher step count and, at the end of the weight maintenance phase, they were doing 8,241 steps daily. They also kept off most of the weight they had lost (average weight loss at end of trials of 3.28 per cent, around 3 kg).

Professor El Ghosh said that lifestyle modification programmes can lead to a meaningful amount of weight loss long term.

—IANS

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