Why steps are as important as exercise
Steps matter—so WHOOP recently caved and added step counts to their activity trackers.
Post summary:
Steps are critical for your health—step more, die later.
But until now, some popular activity tracking companies like WHOOP have resisted counting steps and proudly proclaimed they don’t count steps.
Yet WHOOP recently caved and started counting steps as of 10/10.
We’ll cover why steps are uniquely valuable and different from exercise—and why knowing your step counts can be like gasoline for:
Overall health, wellness, metabolic health, and calorie burn.
Avoiding weight loss plateaus.
Building killer endurance and avoiding a strange and troubling problem that is uniquely American.
We’ll also cover early data on WHOOP’s step count accuracy and the step accuracy of six other fitness tracker brands.
Housekeeping:
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ICYMI:
Last Wednesday, we covered more on walking: Why humankind’s simplest activity might be its best for recovery, health, and mindset.
Friday’s Gear Not Stuff post revealed the top 8 pieces of gear that will help you avoid microplastics.
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The post
About a year ago, I wrote about why knowing your step count matters.
It all started when I was talking some sh*t on the internet (to the extent that I do anything of the sort).
I posted why it’s essential for activity trackers to measure steps, and why I thought made-up metrics (like WHOOP’s Strain count) had downsides. For context, the popular activity tracker WHOOP didn’t count steps and instead only measured Strain.
After my Twitter sh*t talking, a WHOOP representative contacted me and asked me to speak with WHOOP’s Principal Scientist. I was happy to.
We had a fun, respectful, agree-to-disagree type of conversation.
But since that conversation, WHOOP has caved. The company just announced they’re adding step counts to their activity tracker bands as of 10/10. My WHOOP contact sent me the following press release:
Historically, WHOOP did not prioritize step tracking, as it was considered a less precise measure of overall health. However, recent studies have shown that daily step counts are closely linked to reduced risks of illnesses such as heart disease, obesity, and depression. In response to new scientific evidence and feedback from members, WHOOP is introducing Steps to offer a more holistic view of daily movement within its health-tracking ecosystem.
And I’m here for it. I commend WHOOP for adding steps.
Because steps matter. Big time.
Today’s post is an update on steps and why you should know how many steps you take daily. We’re covering:
Why knowing your steps is so important.
Why I view steps differently than exercise.
Why steps are critical when you’re trying to lose weight.
Why steps solve a uniquely American problem around endurance.
Early data on how accurate WHOOP’s step counter is.
Step count accuracy of six other fitness tracker brands.
How to learn your true step count.
Let’s roll …
Step counts capture a powerful type of activity, called NEAT
Section summary: Step counts track and reinforce movement that isn’t our workout—which is often the most powerful type of movement we do.
When I spoke with WHOOP’s Chief Scientist, she told me that WHOOP didn’t count steps because “not all steps are created equal. It’s really hard to understand your overall health when you don’t understand how hard your heart is working.”
For example, 100 steps on a leisurely stroll are different from 100 “steps” while sprinting. They impact your heart and entire body differently.
This is true! But it doesn’t mean step counts aren’t valuable.
I believe we need to see steps as something totally different from our workout. Steps are useful for monitoring all the movement that isn’t our workout—the movement that’s part of living daily life.
Scientists call this type of “not a workout” movement “Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis,” or NEAT. Scientists define NEAT like this:
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) refers to that portion of daily energy expenditure resulting from spontaneous physical activity that is not specially the result of voluntary exercise.
It’s taking the stairs, walking to the mailbox or during a work call, fidgeting, going for a leisurely walk, etc.
We often shrug off this activity. We think we’re “fine” if we just get our 30 minutes of exercise in.
But NEAT is arguably more potent than our workouts—it’s like gasoline for health and wellbeing.
For example:
Scientists at the Mayo Clinic found that people can burn an extra 800 calories a day due to NEAT. That’s roughly equivalent to an eight-mile run.
Researchers in Finland discovered that people who get more NEAT are often better off than people who “exercise.”
The study participants who exercised for 30 minutes a day but spent the rest of the day relatively inactive had higher blood sugar, cholesterol, and body fat than those who didn’t exercise but moved more throughout the day.
The healthiest group in the study were those who had the most NEAT.
A Harvard study tracked 1,500 women for 30 years. They discovered that NEAT provided the biggest protection from heart disease. The women who got the most NEAT had the healthiest hearts—NEAT beat out planned sports and workouts.
This is why I blabber on so much about being a Two Percenter. Two Percent stuff is often more powerful than dedicated exercise. Read The Two Percent Manifesto here.
NEAT burns more calories than exercise
Surprisingly, NEAT burns far more calories than exercise for most people. Here’s how calorie burn shakes out for the average person across a day:
70 percent of the calories you burn every day go to essential functions that keep you alive at rest. Think: breathing, pumping blood, and maintaining your body temperature.
15 percent of your daily calorie burn goes to NEAT, the activity required for daily living.
10 percent of your daily calorie burn goes to digesting, absorbing, and metabolizing the food you eat.
5 percent of your daily calorie burn goes to exercise.
Which is to say, NEAT burns about 300 percent more calories than exercise for the average person.1
The takeaway: You should exercise. But, perhaps more importantly, you should also move as much as you can throughout the day.
Enter steps. Steps are a straightforward way to measure and modify NEAT to live better.
Step counts are critical for weight loss
Section summary: When you start to lose weight, evolutionary mechanisms kick in to stop your weight loss. Tracking steps can help you avoid weight loss stalls.
When a person exercises more or loses weight, their NEAT tends to decrease, according to researchers at the Mayo Clinic.
This weight-loss-induced decrease in NEAT happens unconsciously. We don’t even realize it’s going on. But it occurs in many ways:
We fidget less.
We get up and down from our desks and walk around the office and house less.
We’re less likely to do anything spontaneous and physically active, like going for a walk or playing with our kids or dog. (For example, I see this in myself: After a 10-mile desert run, I’m more likely to sit on the couch and read rather than, say, go clean the garage).
Your body, the calorie-saving machine
When you lose weight, it’s like your body reacts by firing on a weigh-maintenance machine.
Your body is highly sensitive to weight loss and finely tuned to prevent it. This is an ancient survival mechanism.
In the past, weight loss often meant that a famine was occurring—and that you probably weren’t going to get much food for a while. So our bodies evolved some elegant mechanisms that lead us to hold onto weight.
Weight loss signals your body to get lazy. Real lazy.
Your body unconsciously reduces your NEAT to save precious energy and keep your weight stable. Here’s an example of how it works:
Let’s say you start a new diet where you eat 250 fewer calories a day than you burn. And it’s working—you start losing weight.
Eventually, your body will pick up on this weight loss and reduce your daily movement (NEAT)—causing you to burn 250 fewer calories per day.
This balances the books: You’re still eating 250 calories less, but now also burning 250 calories less without realizing it. This pulls you out of a deficit—and that stalls your weight loss.2
So what the hell should you do? Easy …