Take The Stairs and Lose Weight

A few weeks ago I offered 4 Ways to Lose Weight Now. The second item on that list was “Take The Stairs” so I thought I would expand on that idea a bit and share how you can use this to lose weight and stay healthy.

As an example, I currently live on the 5th floor of my building. Between the lobby and the 5th floor, there are 80 stairs. Looking from a practical view, my elevator isn’t particularly fast, so I won’t lose much time if I take the stairs. If I go outside once per workday and take the stairs every time, I will be walking approximately 400 steps per week; 20,000 steps per year; Compare that to the person who does not take the stairs, and you are getting quite a bit more exercise without having to think about it.

I’m not a health expert and it seems that your calories burned depends on many factors including your current weight, but a good estimate seems to be that you burn .11 calories per stair that you climb without using the banister or other support. If you do it fast, I’m guessing you’ll burn more calories once you get your heart pumping. As an added bonus, you can burn .5 calories for each step that you go down, so you can try that too.

Taking my 400 steps per week estimate, that means I can burn an extra 44 calories per week - or about 2,200 calories per year. That’s like running for an extra 3.5 minutes per week, or an extra 180 minutes per year.

While none of these numbers may seem exceptional, taking the stairs can be a piece of your plan for healthy living. If you aren’t in good shape, it is a great way to start losing weight. If you are already in shape, taking the stairs is just another piece that you can add to your already healthy lifestyle.

Do you take the stairs? Tell us about it.