You hit your 10,000 steps, try to eat healthy and still find yourself running out of energy by 4 pm. Sound familiar? Maybe your waistline hasn’t changed in months, either, despite trying to do all the right things. Before you blame yourself, there’s something worth knowing: walking every day is great, but it may not be the whole picture when it comes to metabolic health.
“Look at what a ‘healthy’ day actually is in many homes. Poha or upma in the morning, two rotis and sabzi at lunch, maybe idli at night, some fruit in between. Good food, all of it. Put it on one sheet, though, and it’s mostly carbohydrate, with protein turning up as a small katori of dal. Some days not even that. Govind recommends adding resistance exercises to your weekly routine, with options such as squats, push-ups and resistance-band workouts . “Squats, push-ups, a resistance band at home, two or three times a week, the kind of sets where the last few reps feel properly hard.
For most people we see, I’d take that over an extra 3,000 steps.”
Maintaining a consistent sleep schedule and allowing enough time for rest can therefore be an important part of supporting metabolic health. “Sleep is the one nobody wants to talk about. Six hours, the phone in bed, a long commute on top. Even one short night can make the body handle sugar less well the next day, so some of the good work gets quietly undone. Research has linked insufficient sleep with changes in glucose regulation and insulin sensitivity. An early morning walk is a good habit, but it may not fully offset spending the rest of the day sitting at a desk or travelling. If you’re feeling unusually tired or struggling despite making consistent lifestyle changes, it may be worth looking beyond your routine. Not at all. Walking remains a valuable habit, but the step count is not a universal medical requirement or a guarantee of good metabolic health. What matters is the bigger picture: balanced nutrition, strength training, sufficient sleep, regular movement throughout the day and medical advice when something doesn’t feel right. Govind’s advice is simple: “Keep the walk, by the way. Nobody’s asking you to stop.”
