Is 10,000 steps a day based on science?

Nikkiey explains that the number was never a research finding. In 1965, a Japanese company needed a catchy, round number to sell a pedometer, and the product's name translated to "10,000 steps meter." The goal came from the name, not a study. Sixty years later, women are still chasing it on their watches as if it were medical advice. And when it doesn't deliver, many decide they must have a slow metabolism. Nikkiey's point is that they are blaming themselves for a strategy that was never designed to do what they needed.

That doesn't make walking a bad idea. Nikkiey tells every WarriorBabe to walk. She says it improves insulin sensitivity, lowers blood pressure, and helps with mood and sleep. She also says a 10-minute walk after a meal can lower your blood sugar response by up to 30%. Her suggested range is 7,000 to 10,000 steps for general health and insulin sensitivity. The problem was never walking. It's treating a step count as your whole fat loss plan.

She shares one client who walked 12,000 to 15,000 steps a day while eating 1,200 calories, with nothing changing for over a year. Her coaches cut her steps to 8,000 and added three days of lifting. Within two months, her body composition started changing. Nikkiey says that happened not because she moved less, but because she was finally doing the kind of movement that builds muscle.