Here's What Happened When I Walked 20,000 Steps Every Day For 2 Weeks

Like Ken's job in the recent Barbie movie was simply to "beach," my job for the last couple of weeks has been "walk." Inspired by all the research on the health benefits of walking, I strolled at least 20,000 steps every day for two weeks to see what it would do to my mood and overall well-being.

I've always liked walking a lot. Like so many others, I find it to be a meditative practice that helps me work through my thoughts. (Not to mention, it's a great time to listen to music and podcasts.)

Before this experiment, I'd already been walking 10,000 on most days. Hitting this threshold was pretty easy to do: I'd usually reach it just by walking to a distant cafe for coffee, walking to digest my dinner, and going on occasional hikes.

But I started to wonder what would happen if I walked significantly more. How long would it take? How would it feel? If regular walking is associated with reduced heart disease risk, lower blood pressure, and a decreased mortality rate—what could super-walking do? 

To find out, I reached out to mobility expert Kelly Starrett, DPT, for some guidance. Starrett is a coach, physical therapist, and author who champions walking as a restorative daily practice.

"[I] want walking to be viewed as a necessary biological process, like sleeping, drinking water, or eating food," Starrett says. "That's how important walking is to the system."

Starrett notes that walking 8,000 steps a day is an attainable goal for most people—but there's no reason to stop there if you want to do more. The more the merrier as long as you gradually increase your steps over time to ensure your body can handle the extra activity, he says.

As a remote freelance journalist, I'm used to carving out time for walking breaks during the day, and I usually walk to run errands and meet up with friends (as long as the requisite sensible shoes don't ruin my outfit). But even with all this walking, I didn't get much more than 10,000 steps a day.

This challenge showed me that one's job and location play a big role in how much walking they can do.

Walking isn't exactly running or HIIT, and I was curious if it would impact my weight or muscle definition. I don't own a scale, so I'm not sure how much weight I lost during the two weeks, but my clothes certainly fit looser and my body (especially my calves and thighs) became visibly more toned. More importantly, I felt fit and had more energy throughout the day.

Whenever I needed a boost of energy, I'd walk. By spending so much of my free time walking, there were fewer opportunities to mindlessly snack when I was bored at home. The steps also gave me a sense of healthy accomplishment, so I felt more inclined to ride that momentum and whip up healthy, satisfying meals rather than opt for less nutritious snacks.

A lot of ink has been spilled by and about famous writers who loved to stroll in their free time. I now better understand this universal truth: Walking helps us think. As someone who struggles with anxiety and racing thoughts, my long walks were soothing backgrounds for contemplation. I listened to music when I wanted to brainstorm and podcasts when I wanted to quiet my own thoughts and hear from others.

On Day 7, I walked all 20,000 steps in one fell swoop in the morning so I could spend the rest of the day as I pleased, with no obligation to walk. Then 6:30 p.m. rolled around, and I felt a bizarre desire to…walk. I labeled my Strava activity "Stockholm syndrome" because I was so surprised that I wanted to walk an additional 4,000 steps just to stretch my legs and get some air.