Estimation of the energy cost of walking 10,000 steps

There is a strong campaign underway to promote increased physical activity among the U.S. population. The U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Dietary Guidelines have presented physical activity recommendations in terms of the amount of time accumulated in physical activity and/or in terms of energy expenditure over the course of a day. Another approach that has been widely promoted is the goal of accumulating 10,000 steps a day, as monitored by a pedometer. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the estimated energy expenditure of walking 10,000 steps, and to determine the distance covered and time required to do so, as extrapolated from a 30-minute walk test. The current study also compared males and females on these variables to determine if gender differences were present. Energy expenditure was determined by indirect calorimetry from steady-state oxygen consumption during 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill at a self-selected pace whe wearing Yamax Digiwalker DW-201 pedometers at the hip. The subjects consisted of 18 males and 20 females who averaged 22.3 years of age and a BMI of 25.5. A one-way analysis of variance was used to test for any gender differences in relation to walking pace, step count, steps per kilometer, and energy expenditure expressed as: kilocalories per kilometer per kilogram body weight, kilocalories per minute per kilogram body weight, and kilocalories per 10,000 steps. The self-selected walking pace of the subjects averaged 76.8 rn/mm, and they averaged 3191 steps in the 30-minute session. At that rate, it would require 94 minutes to complete 10,000 steps. There were no significant differences in levels of energy expenditure between males and females when expressed per minute, per distance, or per 10,000 steps. The males and females averaged 507±235 kcal/10,000 steps across all subjects. The distance covered in 10,000 steps averaged 7.2±2.0 kilometers for all subjects, with no differences between males and females. The current study demonstrates that the recommendation to achieve 10,000 steps per day would exceed the minimum recommendation for physical activity given by the U.S. Surgeon General, while achieving the level of physical activity recommended for reducing body weight by the latest U.S. Dietary Guidelines