Walking a certain amount of steps a day has a lot of benefits according to health experts (Picture: Getty Images)
A man who walked 250,000 steps over seven days has revealed the impact it had on his body.
YouTuber Jack Massey Welsh, 28, documented the experience on his channel that saw him walk on average 35,700 steps a day.
It wasn’t without its challenges and he revealed afterwards that he developed swollen ankles, painful feet and a black toenail.
But Jack was left surprised by the physical changes to his belly, arms and legs – something he didn’t realise could be achieved from walking.
He made no changes to his diet prior to the challenge – except including more protein in a bid to lose belly fat.
Before and after the challenge, he measured parts of his body like his torso and legs to compare and contrast.
On the first day of the challenge, he said: ‘I am tired, but I am fine. It’s just one step in front of the other.’
But these words came back to haunt him when on the second day he revealed: ‘I was already reflecting on how overly confident I was on day one. When I confidently said, “It’s just putting one step in front of the other isn’t it?” because now putting one step in front of the other is no easy task at all,’ he said.
‘Literally every single step hurts and is a chore.’
On day four while his leg pain subsided, he started experiencing other physical problems.
He said: ‘It feels like now the only limiting factor in this challenge is just physical joint pain in my feet.
‘Because even though I in myself have the energy to do 30,000 steps easily today, each step just hurts quite a bit and I am starting to blister up in a few places, so that’s kind of what’s slowing me down.’
On day five he needed painkillers to help with the blisters and then on day six developed swollen ankles.
Jack noticed a difference to parts of his body after taking part in the challenge (Picture: YouTube/JackSucksAtLife)
But it was all worth it in the end and he said: ‘What an amazing feeling of accomplishment this was. One quarter-of-a-million steps in one week. For me it was worth it for the experience alone.’
He also compared his pictures before and after and said: ‘I seem to be narrower than when I first started, which I didn’t really expect. Does this mean I’ve lost a bit of muscle mass maybe?’.
Jack added that he lost 2lbs in belly fat and said this could be noticed in his side profile.
It was also revealed that the circumference of his arms and torso had shrunk slightly apart from his thighs which had grown 0.5cm.
The big question is whether he would do it again and he revealed: ‘Do I recommend walking 250,000 steps in a week? Absolutely not.
‘My joints just couldn’t keep up, it’s two days later and I’m still waiting for the swelling around my ankles to reduce.’
A study showed that walking 6,000 steps a day halves the risk of an early death in over-60s and that walking 8,000+ steps won’t offer much benefit.
The 10,000 steps a day is a marketing ploy by a Japanese firm who tried to sell pedometers in the wake of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
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