Energy balance
A small change approach (SCA) consisting of a 2000-step daily increase and 100 kcal daily reduction does not prevent long-term weight gain in adults with overweight or obesity compared to monitoring alone over 2-3 years.
If you have overweight or obesity, simply adding 2000 steps and cutting 100 calories a day is unlikely to keep your weight off in the long run (2+ years). While you might see some benefit for the first year, it eventually fades to being no better than just having your weight checked regularly. For long-term management, you likely need more than just these small, isolated changes.
The SCA did not prevent weight gain compared with monitoring alone at 2 or 3 years in adults with overweight or obesity.
Why this rating
Randomized controlled trial with 320 participants, though it was stopped early due to funding cuts, reducing power slightly.
Source
A small change approach to prevent long-term weight gain in adults with overweight and obesity: a randomized controlled trial
Robert Ross et al. · Canadian Medical Association Journal · 2022
DOI 10.1503/cmaj.211041
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