The 10 & 2 Method For Serious Weight Loss

If you’ve packed on a few pandemic pounds in the past few years, you’re not alone. Since 2020, close to 45% percent of people have gained weight, averaging an additional 29 pounds!

While some folks used the disruption in their schedules to start new healthy habits, many of us discovered being stuck in the house with hoarded snacks and a lot of stress isn’t great for weight and overall fitness.

Now many people are looking down and thinking 2023 might be a good time to recommit to a healthy lifestyle. If that’s you – and particularly if you’re more likely to meet the idea of returning to the gym with groans than cheers – this is an article you really need to read.

It’s called “10,000 and 2,000” Or the 10 & 2 Method

10 & 2 was written by Graham Isador for GQ, it basically tells the tale of a group of his friends who banded together to tackle their post-pandemic pounds with a simple commitment:

Each member agreed to a simple plan: (1) walk 10,000 steps and (2) eat no more than 2,000 calories a day.

So how did they do??

A lot better than you’d probably predict. “less than four months of following those guidelines, people in the group dropped as much as 43 pounds! That’s more than 10 lbs. a month, and all by doing two simple things: 1. walking about 10K steps and 2. eating around 2K calories a day.

This is such a great experiment because it shows people that are stuck in a rut, that weight loss, and better fitness are actually quite easily achievable.

Think about it:

You don’t really need to think about what you eat, & you don’t need to do any hardcore exercises.
It’s 2 simple things: move around more, and simply understand what you’re eating daily. That’s it!

Now, a reality check…

You May Not End Up Looking Like This…

But This Is Totally Reasonable…

But all that being said, experts agree that just walking around 10,000 steps a day and eating around 2,000 calories a day will get you a whole lot further toward basic health and fitness than you probably think.

“Walking is probably the single most underutilized tool in health and wellness,” states personal trainer Jeremy Fernandes. “Most people want to believe that working out and fat loss needs to be hard… but a basic program performed consistently- even a half-assed effort done consistently – can bring you a really long way.”

So if you want to get back to your old energy levels and into last year’s pants, consider a simple 10 & 2 method for 2 – 3 months and you will see results.

So What Does 10,000 Steps Really Look Like?

A lot of people hear about 10k steps and freak out. It’s actually not that much.

Here are some basic stats on walking and steps:

Here’s a simple chart showing the number of steps in terms of time and miles

At a decent pace, it means that 10k steps takes about 1.5 hours a day. Remember you don’t need to do it all it once, just throughout the day.

No Step Tracker? No Problem!

Using time and keeping up a decent pace allows you to gauge steps per day without the need for a FitBit or similar tool.

Note, if you want to track steps but don’t have the money for a tracker, you can also find phone apps that are free that will count steps as long as your phone is with you.

Again if you don’t have (or want) a FitBit style tracker, you don’t need one, as time spent walking will allow you to gauge approximates. The golden rule again is that 1.5 – 1.75 hours a day is all you need to get to 10K.

Simple Ways To Get To 10K a Day…

Another stumbling block people may have is understanding how to get to 10k steps without the need for a gym or a track. It’s actually very easy to get to 10K steps with some very simple adjustments.

6 Easy Ways To Get To 10K

1. Find a “loop” in your house. Yes, this is very goofy, but it’s effective. Find a place where you could walk around in a loop (the larger the better) for an extended period of time. I have a “loop” from our kitchen to our front door, and another one in our hallway. If I have a few minutes to get some steps in, I walk the loop. If I take a call and walk the loop, I can easily add 1000 steps in 15 – 18 mins just by doing this little loop.

2. Walk in place while watching a show. Turn binge-watching into binge walking. Even 15 mins of a 1-hour show add up!

3. Take calls while walking your indoor (or backyard) loop. From calls with family & friends, to work calls, even Zoom calls can be done while on the move. On hold with customer service? Walk and wait… Again, a 20 min call can lead to over 1600+ steps at a medium pace. That’s almost 20% of your daily need.

3. Take a walk with your favorite podcast or YouTube / TikTok vids. I love listening to podcasts, and watching video’s on health & wellness so if I’m able to go for a walk outside the home, or in my loop, I listen to one as I walk. It makes the time go by quickly, and I’m either entertained or learning something new as I walk.

4. For those of you dealing with cold winters, walk a mall or a Costco. See the new styles and trends, while burning easy cals. You don’t need to actually buy anything to mall walk, so wallets are optional. 2 loops around the avg. mall can add anywhere between 1500 – 3000 steps in 30 to 40 mins.

5. If you have a pet, take them on a good brisk walk, or if you have a good sized yard, do the loop with them or throw a ball for them and walk around with them.

6. Take a walk as a family, it may be easier to stand the people you’ve been locked up with for over a year, whilst on a walk… I find my significant other talks less while walking, and that bodes well for us both :).

There are simply lots of ways to get steps in, from housework to yard work, the biggest part is adding walk time into what would be sitting time… Easy.

The only real thing you need is commitment.

There Are Many Other Benefits Related To Walking

Walking may be the most underrated health tool we have. It’s so simple and provides so much!

In fact, every single study on the benefits of walking has shown clearly that the benefits of walking are real and vast.

Now Let’s Look At 2000 Calories

When we talk about eating and exercise, we often talk in terms of calories. Menus at chain restaurants quote the number of calories in every dish. Treadmills tell you the number of calories burned. Dieters count calories religiously at each meal; other people joyfully declare that calories don’t count on the weekend.

But what exactly is a calorie, anyway?

A calorie is nothing more than a measurement, just like inches or kilowatts, it just represents how much energy it takes to increase the temperature of water by 1 degree. Or for our purposes, it’s the amount of energy contained in the food or how much energy is used by the body.

Foods deliver calories in the form of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Carbohydrates, which include sugars, often come from fruits, vegetables, and grain products.

Protein can be found in nuts, beans and legumes, and animal meat. And healthy fats often come from plant-based oils, some fruits and vegetables, and fatty fish.

Proteins and carbs each contain 4 calories per gram, and fats contain 9 calories per gram.

To create energy, our bodies convert these nutrients into glucose, which is the baseline simple sugar molecule that fuels all the processes within the body.

Not all energy from these nutrients is of the same quality (more on that below).

Our bodies were designed to use either carbohydrates (converted to base line glucose) or fat (converted to baseline ketones) for energy.

But our bodies find it easier to use carbs (glucose) for energy versus ketones, yet some feel ketones are preferred, but that’s a whole other article.

For now, let’s just look at food based on calories regardless of food type.

What Does 2000 Calories Daily Look Like?

To start there are a million possible variations of what 2000 calories look like.

This is a great example of how enjoyable 2000 calories can be:

As you can see, 2000 cals can be very satisfying and not very restrictive at all.

The key is whole foods versus fast, processed foods.

Here’s a long look at how easy it is to rack up 1500 cals at some of the most popular fast-food joints.

What you’ll see is that these high density fast foods add up super fast, and come with a lot of negatives.

Not only calories, but the inflammatory madness that follows the meal, and sugar crashes which rob you of energy.

If you can follow a menu of foods made at home, baked or cooked in limited oils, guess what you can eat very well and still lose weight.

Some Keys To Success With Food

1. Drink more water and less sugary drinks.

2. Don’t over do it with alcohol, but some daily can be ok.

3. Make smart swaps where you can to help reduce cals but keep you fully satisfied and happy.

Bottom Line

Humans have a propensity to overthink and make things too complex.

Don’t overthink food, just be more aware. Don’t sit when you can move, and if you can choose whole foods over junk food you are 90% there. Yes, it really can be that simple!