Forget impossible health goals like 10,000 steps – set these achievable targets instead

The Proclaimers, as they famously and tunefully pronounced, were happy to walk 500 miles. Whether the Scottish singers would have been so blasé about taking 10,000 steps seems less certain. Despite having been told, endlessly, that we should hit that target daily in order to keep healthy and fit, the vast majority of us (71 per cent, according to one survey) are failing. 

So should we give up? Hang up our walking boots and resign ourselves to a rounder, more diseased destiny? Not necessarily. Earlier this month, new research from the London School of Economics found that getting inactive people to walk just 5,000 steps three times a week would make a significant difference to the nation’s health, reducing rates of Type 2 diabetes, adding two and a half years to men’s life expectancy, and three to women’s. 

“I always advise my patients, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” says Dr Saira Hameed, consultant endocrinologist at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and author of The Full Diet. “If a health practice appears unrealistic, rather than abandoning the whole plan, see if you can adopt the lifestyle change in your own way.” Which begs the question: what other daunting health diktats could we scale back to create more achievable targets and – by remotivating the currently demoralised – reap real improvements to our health? 

Build up from 5,000 steps (instead of 10,000)

“Ten thousand steps a day has long been considered the magic number you need to stay fit and healthy,” says consultant cardiologist, Dr Neil Srinivasan. “But the idea actually comes from a marketing campaign launched ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The number was chosen because the Japanese character for 10,000 resembles a person walking, and the idea caught on.”

This latest study is not the first to suggest that significantly fewer steps can result in serious health improvements. Last year, he points out, research from Poland proved that 3,967 daily steps reduces an inactive person’s risk of dying from a range of causes. Every extra 1,000 steps reduced that risk still further. So in essence, says Srinivasan, “aim to do as many steps as you can, with 5,000 being the minimum. The more steps, the greater the benefit.”

Fast for 12 hours a day (not 16)

Intermittent fasting – altering your eating patterns to incorporate regular periods of fasting – is one of the biggest weight-loss trends of the past decade. By 2022, a global survey found, 80.1 per cent of us had heard of it. Which is distinct, of course, from actually putting it into practice.  

“Intermittent fasting is often perceived as extreme and very difficult, and it can be if people choose to fast for a very long time,” says Hameed. “But you don’t need to do that in order to get the weight loss and metabolic advantages of fasting.” She suggests starting with not eating for 12 hours, including those in which you are asleep. “You can still drink water, tea and coffee,” she says. “If you find that manageable, you can always increase to 14 or 16 hours and see how you feel. The point is, start with what you can do and then build up if you are able to.”

Walk, don’t run

NHS guidelines suggest that adults under 65 should engage in a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity weekly. “But that doesn’t have to be running or fast sports,” says Srinivasan. In fact, brisk walking will raise your heart rate and benefit your health, he says: “it promotes a healthy cardiovascular system, keeps you active and burns calories.”

Climb the stairs (instead of lifting weights)

While only around two-thirds of us hit this 150-minute target, even fewer – less than one third – achieve the NHS’s suggestion to engage in strengthening activities at least two days a week. This is bad news, suggests Srinivasan: “It’s important to add some resistance exercise to prevent muscle loss with age.” Those who break into a cold sweat at the mere thought of lifting weights in a gym need not fear, however. 

It is more than possible to start small: carrying heavy shopping or intensive gardening sessions will count for the inactive. In fact, a study published last year suggested that climbing five flights of stairs every day could reduce your risk of cardiovascular diseases by 20 per cent. It also engages every major muscle group in your legs.

Give up white bread (not all carbs)

In the weight-loss world, carbs have historically been a dirty word. Yet: “there’s no need to give up carbs,” says nutritional therapist Lucy Miller. “Carbohydrates are a macronutrient (the other two are protein and fat) needed to fuel our body for energy.” Not all carbs, however, are created equal. 

“Refined carbs aren’t particularly healthy for us,” says Miller. “They are likely to be stripped of fibre as well as most vitamins and minerals – and are also easy to digest, so can cause a rapid blood sugar spike after meals, followed by a sugar crash. This can lead to hunger, anxiety, irritability and, in the long-term, contribute to insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes.”

So instead of going cold turkey on sarnies: “swap the white or refined carbs for a complex carb alternative like wholegrain bread or pasta and brown rice. These contain fibre and are more nutrient dense and unlikely to cause a blood sugar spike. Plus, they’ll feed the gut microbiome and so support immunity, digestion, metabolism and brain health.”

Go part-time teetotal

Last year, the World Health Organisation published a statement announcing that “when it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health”.

Going teetotal is the gold standard of goals. But in the words of the NHS: “You do not necessarily need to go teetotal to feel the benefits of drinking less.”

For the heaviest of drinkers, “having days when you don’t drink alcohol essentially allows your body to flush out these toxic chemicals and get a bit of a break from their harmful effects,” explains Colin Angus, senior research fellow with the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group at the University of Sheffield. For the rest of us, as long as we do not binge when we do drink, then: “keeping a few days a week where you don’t drink helps to ensure that drinking doesn’t just become a force of habit.” 

It may also deepen your sleep, boost your gut microbiome and slim your waistline. (There are 131 calories in a typical 175ml glass of white wine – slightly more than you would find in a bag of ready salted crisps).

... And a part-time vegetarian

In 2022, an Oxford University study concluded that the risk of developing cancer was lower in pescatarians, vegetarians and vegans than it was in meat eaters. But what if you find it impossible to resist a roast? Well, it is not an all-or-nothing game. Eating meat fewer than five times a week was associated with a nine per cent lower risk of bowel cancer than consuming it regularly. So cutting back counts. 

Eat the rainbow, the easy way 

“Now that we know how important plant diversity is to the microbiome, the new rule of eating 30 plants per week has become incredibly popular, but for some, it’s also incredibly daunting,” says Rhian Stephenson, nutritional therapist and founder of Artah nutrition company. “When we think of eating 30 plants, most automatically assume that they need to be vegetables, but the category is far broader than that,” she explains. In fact, it includes nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, herbs, healthy grains and roots like ginger too. Look at it like this and: “it’s far more achievable than you’d think,” says Stephenson. Still daunted? Stephenson suggests keeping a jar of nuts and seeds in the cupboard. Sprinkle it over meals to immediately boost your score (extra points if it’s a salad). 

Set a consistent bedtime, and stop chasing eight uninterrupted hours

“I find the mythical ‘eight hours of uninterrupted sleep’ a very unhelpful concept,” says Dr Lindsay Browning, author of Navigating Sleeplessness and a sleep expert with a doctorate in insomnia from the University of Oxford. The truth is that everyone’s sleep needs are different, she explains. “If you try to force yourself to get eight hours, but you only need seven, then you are going to spend at least an hour every night lying awake. You may even start to become anxious.” 

By contrast: “we do fall asleep more easily, and wake up feeling more refreshed, if we go to bed at a fairly consistent time and wake up at a similar time each morning,” says Browning, pointing to the findings of a recent study from King’s College London. People who went to bed at one time during weekends and another during the working week appeared to have a worse diet (more sugary drinks, less fruit and nuts) and more harmful gut bacteria that are associated with obesity and higher levels of inflammation and stroke risk. So, stop obsessing over the hours you sleep, and instead set a different, more doable goal – to get into bed, and get out of it, at the same time each day.