Walking for Weight Loss: Exactly How Many Steps Do You Need Daily

Walking might be the most underrated exercise for weight loss. It’s something most of us do every day without even thinking about it, yet when approached with intention, those simple steps can transform your body and health. If you’ve ever wondered if your daily movement is enough to shed pounds, you’re not alone! The question of “how many steps do I really need?” haunted me for years before I finally cracked the code to sustainable weight loss.

The 10,000-step benchmark has become deeply ingrained in our fitness culture, appearing on everything from fitness trackers to wellness apps. But is this magic number actually backed by science, or is it simply a convenient marketing tool? I spent months researching this question during my own weight loss journey, discovering that the answer isn’t one-size-fits-all. The right step count depends on your current fitness level, overall lifestyle, and specific weight loss targets—something I wish I’d known before spending weeks chasing an arbitrary number!

Throughout this article, we’ll break down the science behind walking for weight loss, debunk common myths, and provide you with actionable strategies to determine your personal step goal. Whether you’re just beginning your fitness journey or looking to optimize your current routine, you’ll discover exactly how to use walking as an effective tool for sustainable weight management. Ready to put your best foot forward? Let’s walk through the facts together!

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This post may contain some affiliate links. I only recommend products and services I genuinely believe in. Additionally, some content on this website may have been created with the assistance of AI. 

What You Might Need

• A reliable step counter or fitness tracker
• Comfortable, supportive walking shoes
• A water bottle to stay hydrated
• A journal to track progress
• Weather-appropriate walking clothes
• A walking buddy or podcast for motivation
• A planned walking route or treadmill access

1. The Science Behind Walking for Weight Loss

Would you believe that the solution to sustainable weight loss has been literally under your feet this whole time? I certainly didn’t! For years, I chased high-intensity workouts that left me exhausted, sore, and honestly, ready to quit after a few weeks. The turning point came during a recovery period from a minor injury when walking became my only exercise option. To my absolute shock, I began losing weight more consistently than I had with my previous intense workout regimen. This accidental discovery sent me down a rabbit hole of research into exactly how something so simple could be so powerfully effective.

The science behind walking for weight loss is beautifully straightforward yet profound. Walking creates a caloric deficit—the fundamental requirement for weight loss—while being gentle enough on your body to maintain day after day. Unlike those brutal HIIT workouts that had me reaching for the ice pack and ibuprofen, walking became something I genuinely looked forward to, making it sustainable in a way no other exercise had been before. The magic isn’t in the intensity but in the consistency that walking makes possible.

The Caloric Math Behind Step Counts

Walking burns approximately 0.04-0.05 calories per step for an average-weight person. This means a 10,000-step walk might burn between 400-500 calories, depending on your weight, walking speed, and terrain.

How Walking Transforms Your Metabolism

Regular walking can increase your metabolic rate not just during exercise but throughout the day. Studies show daily walkers have higher resting metabolic rates, meaning they burn more calories even when sitting still.

Walking vs. Other Exercises for Weight Loss

While running or HIIT might burn more calories per minute, walking has higher adherence rates and lower injury risks. Research shows consistent walkers often achieve better long-term weight loss results than those who attempt more intensive but less sustainable exercise programs.

Steps to Harness Walking for Weight Loss

• Start by establishing your current baseline step count before setting new goals
• Gradually increase your daily steps by 500-1,000 each week
• Focus on consistency rather than occasional high-step days
• Wear proper footwear to prevent injury and discomfort
• Add hills or intervals once you’ve established a regular walking habit
• Track your progress with both step counts and how your clothes fit

Picture This

You lace up your walking shoes and head out the door for your morning walk. The sun is just rising, casting a golden glow across your neighborhood as you begin moving. With each step, you can almost visualize the calories being burned, your metabolism revving up, and your muscles strengthening. After just 20 minutes, your mind feels clearer, your body more energized, and you return home knowing you’ve done something powerful for your weight loss journey. This simple daily habit, repeated consistently, becomes the foundation of your transformation—not through extreme measures, but through the gentle, sustainable power of walking.

2. Is 10,000 Steps the Magic Number for Weight Loss?

Ever feel like that 10,000-step target on your fitness tracker is mocking you by the end of a busy day? I sure did! For months, I beat myself up whenever I fell short of this seemingly magical number, convinced I was failing at my weight loss goals. Then one rainy afternoon, while stuck inside and feeling guilty about my step count, I decided to research where this 10,000-step recommendation actually came from. What I discovered left me both laughing and rethinking my entire approach to walking for weight loss.

Surprisingly, this ubiquitous number wasn’t derived from extensive scientific research but originated in 1965 as a marketing campaign for a Japanese pedometer called “Manpo-kei,” which literally translates to “10,000 steps meter.” This catchy, round number stuck in our collective consciousness and eventually became the default goal on most fitness trackers. Learning this was liberating! I stopped viewing 10,000 as the magic threshold between success and failure and started focusing on what actually worked for my body and lifestyle.

What Research Really Says About Step Counts

Recent studies suggest health benefits begin at around 7,000 steps daily, with diminishing returns after 8,000-12,000 steps for most adults. Weight loss specifically correlates more with consistency than with hitting an arbitrary number.

Caloric Impact of Different Step Counts

For someone weighing 170 pounds, walking 10,000 steps burns approximately 400-500 calories, while 7,500 steps burns around 300-375 calories, and 5,000 steps approximately 200-250 calories.

Personalization Factors to Consider

Your current weight, height, age, walking speed, and terrain all impact calorie burn per step. A heavier person will burn more calories for the same number of steps than a lighter person.

Steps to Determine Your Personal Magic Number

• Track your steps for one week without changing habits to establish your baseline
• Identify your current weight loss goals (timeframe and amount)
• Calculate your daily caloric deficit needed to meet these goals
• Convert this into an appropriate step target based on your personal metrics
• Adjust based on how your body responds over 2-3 weeks
• Remember that consistency trumps occasional high step days

Picture This

You’ve hit your personalized step goal for the day—8,500 steps that work perfectly with your schedule and fitness level. Your fitness tracker vibrates in celebration, but the real victory is how you feel. Your clothes are fitting better after six weeks of consistent walking, and you’ve lost seven pounds without the extreme hunger or fatigue that accompanied past diet attempts. The sustainable nature of your walking routine means you’re not dreading tomorrow’s movement—you’re actually looking forward to it. This isn’t about chasing an arbitrary number but finding your personal “magic number” that delivers results while fitting seamlessly into your life.

3. How Many Daily Steps You Actually Need Based on Your Weight Loss Goals

When I work with new clients, the question of exact step count always comes up early in our consultation. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all answer, I help them understand how to calculate their personalized step target based on their specific weight loss goals and current fitness level. For sustainable weight loss, creating a caloric deficit of 500-1000 calories per day can lead to 1-2 pounds of weight loss weekly—considered a healthy and maintainable rate by most health professionals.

This translates differently to steps depending on your starting point. If you’re currently averaging just 3,000 steps daily, jumping straight to 10,000 might be unrealistic and potentially discouraging. Instead, I recommend gradually increasing your baseline by 500-1,000 steps each week, which builds sustainable habits and reduces injury risk. Your ultimate target should align with your weight loss timeline—someone looking to lose 30 pounds over six months will need a different approach than someone aiming to lose 10 pounds for an upcoming event.

Beginner Step Goals (Under 5,000 Current Daily Steps)

For those currently walking less than 5,000 steps daily, aim to increase by 500 steps weekly until reaching 7,000-8,000 steps. This gradual approach builds consistency and prevents overexertion while still creating enough caloric deficit for noticeable weight loss.

Intermediate Step Goals (5,000-7,500 Current Daily Steps)

If you’re already walking 5,000-7,500 steps daily, focus on increasing to 8,500-10,000 steps and adding intensity through faster walking intervals or including hills in your route to enhance calorie burn without necessarily increasing step count.

Advanced Step Goals (Over 7,500 Current Daily Steps)

For those already achieving 7,500+ steps daily who want to accelerate weight loss, consider increasing to 12,000-15,000 steps or incorporating high-intensity interval walking to maximize caloric burn and metabolic impact.

Steps to Create Your Personalized Step Plan

• Calculate your daily caloric needs using an online TDEE calculator
• Determine your target caloric deficit (typically 500-1000 calories per day for 1-2 pounds weekly loss)
• Monitor your current daily step average for one week
• Gradually increase by 500-1,000 steps weekly until reaching your target
• Adjust based on results every 2-3 weeks, considering both scale weight and measurements
• Include 1-2 lower step days weekly for recovery and sustainability

Picture This

You glance at your step counter at day’s end and see you’ve reached 8,750 steps—your personalized target based on your specific weight loss goals. This number wasn’t chosen randomly but calculated specifically for your body, lifestyle, and objectives. Over the past month, you’ve gradually increased from your previous 5,200 daily average, and your body has responded with 6 pounds of weight loss. Your energy levels are improving rather than decreasing because you’ve built up slowly, allowing your body to adapt. Tomorrow you might hit 9,000, or maybe just 8,000—but you know both are victories because they’re significantly higher than where you started and are tailored specifically to your weight loss journey.

4. Beyond Counting Steps: The Importance of Walking Intensity

During my years as a fitness coach, I’ve seen clients plateau despite hitting their step goals consistently. That’s when I introduce the concept that not all steps are created equal. Walking at a leisurely pace to the mailbox engages your body differently than power walking uphill with purpose. The intensity of your walking dramatically impacts calorie burn and weight loss results, sometimes making 7,000 higher-intensity steps more effective than 10,000 casual ones.

Intensity transforms walking from a purely low-impact exercise into a serious weight loss tool. When you increase your walking pace to the point where conversation becomes slightly challenging but still possible (the “talk test”), you enter the moderate-intensity zone where fat burning becomes more efficient. Adding hills, stairs, or interval patterns to your routes can further enhance this effect, turning a simple walk into a comprehensive weight loss workout that challenges different muscle groups and energy systems.

The Heart Rate Connection to Fat Burning

For optimal fat burning, aim to walk at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate (roughly calculated as 220 minus your age). This moderate-intensity zone maximizes fat utilization while remaining sustainable for longer durations.

Power Walking vs. Casual Strolling

Power walking (maintaining 3-5 mph with purposeful arm movements) can burn 20-30% more calories than casual walking at the same step count. The increased muscle engagement and cardiovascular demand make each step work harder for your weight loss goals.

Interval Walking for Maximum Results

Alternating between 1-3 minutes of brisk walking and 1-2 minutes of recovery-paced walking can increase calorie burn by up to 20% compared to steady-state walking at the same overall duration.

Steps to Increase Your Walking Intensity

• Start by timing your normal walking pace for a quarter mile
• Gradually increase your speed while maintaining proper form
• Add incline walking once or twice weekly (either hills outdoors or treadmill incline)
• Incorporate interval patterns, alternating 2 minutes of fast walking with 1 minute moderate pace
• Use the “talk test” to gauge intensity—you should be able to speak but not sing
• Consider weighted vests or hand weights after establishing consistent walking habits

Picture This

You’re halfway through your morning walk, and your breathing has deepened as you power up the hill in your neighborhood. Your arms are pumping purposefully, and you can feel your heart rate elevated in that sweet spot where fat burning thrives. Though your step counter might only register 7,500 steps by the end of this walk, the intensity means you’re burning significantly more calories than if you’d taken 10,000 leisurely steps around a flat mall. Your smartwatch confirms you’ve maintained your target heart rate zone for 22 minutes now. Sweat beads on your forehead despite the cool morning—tangible evidence that you’re not just moving, but moving with purpose. This is walking transformed into a true weight loss powerhouse.

5. Combining Step Goals with Other Weight Loss Strategies

When I first started helping clients with weight loss, I quickly realized that steps alone weren’t the complete picture. Even the most dedicated walkers would hit plateaus if they didn’t address their overall lifestyle. Walking creates the foundation for weight loss, but combining your step goals with complementary strategies magnifies results dramatically. I’ve seen clients break through stubborn weight loss plateaus not by walking more, but by optimizing their nutrition alongside their consistent walking routine.

The synergistic effect of proper nutrition and hydration with your walking routine cannot be overstated. Walking increases your metabolic rate and creates a caloric deficit, but fueling your body appropriately ensures you have the energy to maintain your walking routine while preserving lean muscle mass. Think of walking as opening the door to weight loss, while your nutritional choices determine how far and how quickly you can walk through that doorway.

Nutritional Considerations for Walking-Based Weight Loss

Focus on protein intake of 0.7-1g per pound of body weight to preserve muscle mass during weight loss. Time your largest meals around your walking sessions to maximize energy utilization, and consider a small protein-carb snack before longer walks.

Strength Training Complements to Enhance Results

Adding just 2-3 short strength training sessions weekly can increase your resting metabolic rate, making your daily steps more effective for weight loss. Focus on compound movements like squats, lunges, and push-ups that engage multiple muscle groups.

Hydration’s Impact on Walking Performance

Proper hydration improves walking performance by up to 25% and enhances fat metabolism. Aim for half your body weight in ounces daily, plus 8 additional ounces for every 30 minutes of walking.

Steps to Create a Holistic Weight Loss Approach

• Track both your steps and caloric intake for two weeks to establish baselines
• Create a slight caloric deficit (300-500 calories) on most days while maintaining adequate protein
• Schedule 2-3 short strength workouts weekly focusing on major muscle groups
• Prepare healthy snacks to fuel longer walks or recovery after walking
• Prioritize sleep quality to enhance recovery and hunger hormone regulation
• Adjust your hydration based on walking duration and weather conditions
• Consider intermittent fasting approaches that align with your walking schedule

Picture This

It’s 7:30 AM, and you’ve just returned from your morning walk, having logged 6,500 steps before most people have finished their coffee. You refuel with a balanced breakfast of protein and complex carbohydrates, knowing this meal will help your muscles recover while keeping you satisfied until lunch. Later today, you’ll do a quick 15-minute strength routine focusing on your legs and core, complementing your walking routine perfectly. Your water bottle remains by your side throughout the day, helping you maintain optimal hydration. This integrated approach—where your steps, nutrition, strength training, and recovery all work together—is transforming your body more efficiently than any single strategy could alone. The scale shows steady progress, but more importantly, your energy levels and mood have never been better.

6. Creating a Sustainable Step Plan That Fits Your Lifestyle

Let me share my biggest walking disaster story: After reading a motivational fitness article, I decided that 15,000 steps daily was my path to weight loss success. I mapped out hour-long morning and evening walks, bought expensive new shoes, and was determined to transform my body through sheer willpower. Three weeks later, I’d abandoned the plan entirely, overwhelmed by the time commitment and exhaustion. Sound familiar? This early failure taught me the most valuable lesson of my fitness journey—the most effective weight loss strategy isn’t the most extreme, it’s the one you can actually maintain.

Your perfect step plan should bend around your life rather than forcing your life to bend around it. When I finally found sustainable success, it came through looking realistically at my daily schedule, identifying natural opportunities for movement, and creating systems that made walking automatic rather than requiring constant willpower. For me, this meant walking during phone calls with friends, listening to a favorite podcast, or having walking meetings with colleagues, and establishing a non-negotiable 15-minute post-dinner neighborhood stroll. These small, integrated changes ultimately accumulated more steps than my ambitious but unsustainable previous plan.

Making Steps Automatic in Your Day

Look for “trigger habits” where you can attach walking—like a post-lunch stroll, walking during phone calls, or a family walk after dinner. Creating these automatic associations removes the decision-making barrier that often prevents consistency.

Adapting Step Goals to Changing Circumstances

Develop different step targets for different types of days (work days vs. weekends, travel days, high-stress periods). Having pre-planned adjustments prevents all-or-nothing thinking when life inevitably changes.

Accountability Systems That Actually Work

Research shows that social accountability increases walking consistency by up to 78%. Consider walking buddies, group challenges, or public step goals with friends to leverage this powerful psychological mechanism.

Steps to Build Your Personalized Walking Lifestyle

• Conduct a “step audit” noting times during your day where walking could naturally fit
• Identify at least one “non-negotiable” walking session for each day of the week
• Create environmental triggers (like leaving walking shoes by the door)
• Set calendar reminders for walking breaks during sedentary periods
• Find podcasts, audiobooks, or phone calls that can make walking time dual-purpose
• Develop contingency plans for weather, travel, and schedule disruptions
• Celebrate consistency milestones rather than just step count achievements

Picture This

Your alarm chimes at 6:30 AM, and your walking shoes are already by the bed—part of the evening routine you established to make morning movement automatic. During your workday, your phone reminds you to take walking breaks at strategic intervals, and your afternoon conference call has become a walking meeting that you actually look forward to. Your family expects the after-dinner neighborhood stroll that’s become part of your household rhythm. Without heroic effort or dramatic lifestyle changes, you’ve integrated nearly 9,000 daily steps into the natural flow of your life. Six months from now, when the initial motivation has faded, these ingrained habits will continue carrying you toward your weight loss goals, one sustainable step at a time.

7. Common Mistakes People Make When Walking for Weight Loss

I’ve watched many clients transform their bodies through walking, but I’ve also seen many make preventable mistakes that stalled their progress, the same ones I made in the beginning. The most frustrating pattern I observe is when someone is putting in genuine effort with their steps but unknowingly sabotaging their results through common missteps. Walking seems so natural that we often overlook the details that transform it from basic movement into effective exercise.

One of the most prevalent issues I address with new walking enthusiasts is maintaining the same routine for months without progression. Your body is remarkably adaptable, which is both a blessing and a challenge for weight loss. The walking routine that initially helped you lose five pounds will eventually become your body’s new normal, requiring either increased volume, intensity, or complementary strategies to continue seeing results. This adaptability is why thoughtful progression in your walking program is essential for ongoing weight loss.

Walking with Poor Form

Proper walking posture—head up, shoulders relaxed, core engaged, heel-to-toe foot strike—increases calorie burn by up to 10% compared to slouched walking. Poor form also leads to discomfort that discourages consistency.

Compensatory Eating After Walking

Many people unconsciously increase their food intake after walking, often consuming more calories than they burned. Research shows we typically overestimate walking calories by 30-40% and underestimate food calories by a similar margin.

Relying on Step Count Without Intensity Progression

Walking the same route at the same pace for months leads to diminishing returns as your body adapts. Without occasionally increasing pace, adding hills, or incorporating intervals, weight loss results will plateau despite maintaining step count.

Steps to Avoid Common Walking Pitfalls

• Take a video of yourself walking to check posture and form
• Track your food intake on walking days to identify compensatory eating
• Schedule monthly “progression checks” to evaluate and update your walking routine
• Rotate between different walking routes to challenge different muscle groups
• Monitor other health markers beyond weight (energy levels, sleep quality, mood)
• Separate hunger from habit by drinking water first when post-walk cravings hit
• Address any discomfort immediately before it becomes an excuse to stop walking

Picture This

You catch your reflection in a storefront window during your evening walk and notice your walking posture—shoulders back, head aligned, arms swinging purposefully. Unlike six weeks ago, you’re not reaching for a sugary post-walk reward but sipping water from the bottle you now carry. Today’s route includes the steep hill you once avoided, and you’ll pick up the pace for the final quarter-mile as part of your interval progression. Your fitness tracker shows the same 8,500 steps you’ve been averaging, but your heart rate data reveals you’re working significantly harder than when you started. These small, thoughtful adjustments—avoiding the common mistakes that derail progress—are why your weight continues dropping while your friend who started walking the same time has plateaued. The difference isn’t luck or genetics, but attention to the details that transform walking from movement into effective weight loss exercise.

8. Real Success Stories: How Daily Step Goals Changed Lives

Throughout my years in the health and fitness space, I’ve collected countless stories of walking transformations that inspire me daily. One of my favorite stories belongs to a woman named Maria, a 42-year-old working mother who started with just 2,300 daily steps and initially thought 10,000 steps was an impossible target. By gradually increasing her count by just 500 steps weekly and finding creative ways to move more during her workday, Maria eventually built up to a consistent 8,500 daily steps. Over 14 months, she lost 68 pounds without extreme dieting, restored her energy levels, and reversed her pre-diabetic status.

What strikes me about successful walking weight loss stories is their remarkable similarity despite coming from people with different backgrounds, starting weights, and daily schedules. The common thread is consistency over intensity, gradual progression rather than dramatic changes, and finding personal meaning in the activity beyond just burning calories. These elements create sustainable results that quick-fix approaches simply cannot match, transforming walking from a weight loss strategy into a lifelong health practice.

Steps to Create Your Own Success Story

• Document your starting point with photos and measurements beyond just weight
• Identify your “why” that goes deeper than appearance
• Find role models with similar starting points to yours who succeeded with walking
• Create a visual progress tracker in a prominent location
• Plan rewards at milestone achievements that don’t involve food
• Share your journey selectively with supportive people
• Prepare responses for plateaus and setbacks before they happen

Picture This

One year from today, you’re looking at side-by-side photos documenting your walking journey. The physical transformation is obvious—clothes sizes dropped, face slimmer, posture improved—but the changes run deeper. Your daily step routine has become as automatic as brushing your teeth, integrated seamlessly into a life that now contains more energy and less medication. The walking habit expanded into other healthy choices—more water, mindful eating, better sleep—creating a cascade of positive changes. What started as a weight loss strategy has become your anchor habit, the daily practice that grounds you regardless of life’s chaos. Your success didn’t come from heroic effort but from patient consistency, gradually increasing from your starting point to a sustainable routine that worked specifically for your body and life. This vision isn’t fantasy—it’s the predictable result of the path you’re starting today.

Final Thoughts

The question of how many steps you need for weight loss doesn’t have a universal answer—and that’s actually good news! Your perfect step count is personal, based on your current fitness level, weight loss goals, and lifestyle realities. The journey begins wherever you are today, whether that’s 2,000 steps or 8,000. What matters most isn’t reaching an arbitrary number but creating a sustainable pattern of increased movement that fits your life.

Throughout this article, we’ve explored the science behind walking for weight loss, debunked the 10,000-step myth, examined how to calculate your personal step needs, and discovered the critical importance of intensity and progression. We’ve looked at how to combine walking with complementary strategies, build sustainable habits, avoid common pitfalls, and found inspiration in real success stories. The common thread through all these aspects is sustainability and personalization—finding the approach that works specifically for you.

If you take just one thing from this guide, let it be this: consistency trumps perfection every time. The perfect walking plan isn’t the one that burns the most calories in a single day—it’s the one you’ll actually follow tomorrow, next week, and six months from now. Start where you are, progress gradually, and celebrate every step that takes you closer to your goals.

Walking for weight loss isn’t just about the pounds you’ll lose—it’s about the health you’ll gain, the habits you’ll build, and the sustainable relationship with movement you’ll develop. Your journey begins with a single step, quite literally. Where will you walk today?

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This post may contain some affiliate links. I only recommend products and services I genuinely believe in. Additionally, some content on this website may have been created with the assistance of AI. 

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to see weight loss results from increased walking?

Most people begin to notice subtle changes after 2-3 weeks of consistent increased walking, with more substantial results appearing around the 6-8 week mark. Your initial fitness level, dietary habits, and the extent of your walking increase all influence this timeline. For someone increasing from 3,000 to 7,000 daily steps while maintaining a moderate caloric deficit, a weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week is reasonable to expect after the initial adjustment period.

Can I split my walking into multiple shorter sessions throughout the day?

Absolutely! Research actually suggests that multiple shorter walking sessions might be more beneficial for weight loss than a single longer walk. Breaking your walking into 3-4 sessions of 10-15 minutes each helps prevent compensatory eating that sometimes follows longer exercise sessions and keeps your metabolism elevated throughout the day. The key is ensuring each session is long enough (at least 10 minutes) to provide cardiovascular benefits.

Do I need to count steps every day for the rest of my life to maintain weight loss?

While consistent tracking helps establish habits, many successful maintainers eventually transition from strict step counting to a more intuitive approach. After 4-6 months of consistent step tracking, you’ll develop a strong sense of what your target activity level feels like. Many people then shift to occasional check-ins with their step counter rather than daily monitoring, using it as a tool to prevent gradual activity decline rather than a daily requirement.

What if I have joint pain that makes walking difficult?

Joint pain doesn’t mean walking for weight loss is impossible, but it does require modifications. Consider walking in water (pool walking provides resistance with minimal joint impact), using trekking poles to reduce lower body load, trying cushioned treadmills, or exploring specialized footwear designed for your specific joint issues. Start with very short sessions (5-10 minutes) and gradually build duration before increasing intensity. Always consult with a physical therapist or physician for personalized guidance if pain persists.

Is it better to walk before or after eating for maximum weight loss?

The ideal timing depends partly on your personal preferences and schedule sustainability. Walking before breakfast in a fasted state may increase fat utilization by 20-30% according to some studies, making it theoretically advantageous for weight loss. However, walking after meals (particularly dinner) helps regulate blood sugar and can reduce late-day snacking. The most important factor is consistency—schedule your walking when you’re most likely to actually do it rather than when it’s theoretically optimal.