A step counter will not do the hard part of dieting for you. But new research suggests it may help with the part many people struggle with most, keeping the weight off once it is gone. That point sits at the center of a new systematic review and meta-analysis presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul and published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The analysis found that adults with overweight or obesity who raised their daily walking to roughly 8,500 steps during a weight-loss program, and then kept that level up, were less likely to regain weight later. That matters because weight regain remains one of the most stubborn problems in obesity care. Professor Marwan El Ghoch of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, one of the researchers behind the review, put it bluntly: “The most important, and greatest, challenge when treating obesity is preventing weight regain.” Around 80% of people with overweight or obesity who lose weight at first regain some or all of it within …