Featured Image Credit: André Norrils / YouTube
Integrating lengthy walks into your daily routine is a tried and tested way to improve your health, and one 'overweight' YouTuber put that goal to the test by challenging himself to 10,000 steps every day for a whole month.
An alarming number of people live sedentary lives in the modern world, and while doctors have suggested implementing push-ups into your routine, something as simple and easy as going for a walk is known to make a huge difference with scientific evidence backing it up.
Walking isn't just a great way to lose weight, but it's also a vital tool for improving your mental health, and can make a massive difference to your life as you age too.
YouTuber André Norrils, who by his own admission is overweight, wanted to make a change in his life. He admitted that there are plenty of days where he barely makes it over 2,000 steps, and that shows when he steps on the scales.
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Taking on the 30 day walking challenge was his way of turning his life around though – especially after learning about the alarming number of people dying each year from sedentary lives – and it had a surprising impact on his body and health.
It initially started off harder than he thought, as while his first day saw him complete a 10,000-step hike, taking in the gorgeous natural landscapes of his local environment, it wasn't something that he could do every day.
Instead, he discovered that laps around his apartment area were roughly three quarters of a mile each time, and adding two of these in the morning would give him a great head start for the day with half the challenge completed.
After that, he employed the use of a treadmill to fill in the rest — which was especially helpful as he could use it while working at his desk.
André did have to change things up after a few days of the same routine, as he admitted that it did get a bit repetitive, but he began to question whether it was really having an impact despite it being better than the little exercise he was doing before.
Speaking to an Dr. Katherine Quarles Stephens – an old friend of André's and a resident E.R. physician – she illustrated that while you're not wasting your time walking 10,000 steps each day, there is broadly a 'misconception' around its effectiveness as a benchmark of sorts.
"I think for people trying to get active, trying to improve their health, any amount of physical activity is very beneficial to your overall health in so many different ways," she indicates.
André revealed that both his energy levels and overall mood had noticeably improved by the end of the 30-day challenge, despite drops at the end of the first week due to the transition from no exercise.
"I would say my productivity also increased, considering I had to make sure I got up and did those laps every day, including on weekends," he added.
Addressing the question of weight loss, however, André revealed that he had lost 'just' four pounds across the course of the challenge, dropping from 249 lbs to 245 lbs by the fourth week.
He admitted that his diet hadn't changed at all, so the decrease was solely down to the exercise he implemented into his daily routine, but it might not necessarily be as much as you might have expected.
Regardless of this, André indicated that it was absolutely a worthwhile change in his life, as it provided a platform towards a more active lifestyle that he could then build from, as the hardest part is always getting started.
