97.1kg: Is It Good to Walk After Eating? What Meal Prep and 15 Minutes Taught Me

Is it good to walk after eating? After a week of meal prep, laundry runs, and balcony staring after every meal, the scale finally moved in the right direction again.

97.1.

Down 1.6 kilos from my last entry about comfort eating.

I climbed back on the wagon. It turns out the wagon has a washing machine on the fifth floor.

Let me explain.

No dramatic transformation happened this week. I just went back to the boring stuff. My routine. My meal prep. My steps. About 7,000 a day on average. 

The meal prep that keeps me sane

I’ll be honest, I don’t like cooking right before I eat. By the time I’m hungry, I’m also lazy, and a hungry, lazy Charlotte is exactly how ShopeeFood wins.

So I cook days ahead. Four servings at a time, stored in the fridge, reheated when I need them.

My rotation is very Filipino and very soupy. Nilagang baka. Fish tinola. Pork munggo. Chicken breast curry.

It’s comfort food, just the kind that doesn’t come with guilt.

I also swapped my rice for sweet potato. As a Filipina, I know how that sounds. But I genuinely feel lighter after meals now, and not just on the scale.

I eat twice a day, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., with a fruit snack in between. That snack is non-negotiable. Some days I start feeling dizzy, and that’s my signal to eat, not to push through.

Does it get boring? Yes. Sometimes I stare at the same pot of tinola and wish it were a pizza. But meal prep means I don’t have to think. And when you’re trying to change your relationship with food, not having to think about it every few hours is a gift.

Is it good to walk after eating?

Yes. A 2022 meta-analysis found that light walking after meals lowered blood sugar more than standing or sitting, and breaks of just 2 to 5 minutes made a difference (Buffey et al., 2022). For someone with insulin resistance like me, that’s reason enough to get up after every meal.

Here’s the habit that changed the most this week.

After every meal, I don’t sit down. For at least 15 minutes, I stand, walk, or move.

Sometimes I load my clothes into the washing machine. Sometimes I wash the plates, vacuum, or clean whatever needs cleaning. And sometimes I just stand on my balcony and stare outside, which I’m counting, because standing still beats sitting still.

My building also has a secret weapon. I live on the second floor, and the laundry area is on the fifth. There’s an elevator, but there are also stairs. Guess which one I’ve been taking.

I didn’t make this up, by the way. There’s research behind it.

That 2022 meta-analysis compared what happens to blood sugar when people sit for long stretches versus when they break it up. Compared to prolonged sitting, standing breaks reduced glucose by an average of 9.51%, while light-intensity walking breaks reduced it by an average of 17.01% (Buffey et al., 2022).

Another study hit even closer to home, because it used my exact number. Researchers compared three 15-minute walks after meals with a single 45-minute walk at the same easy-to-moderate pace. Both improved blood sugar over 24 hours, but the post-meal walks were significantly better at lowering blood sugar in the three hours after dinner (DiPietro et al., 2013). The researchers concluded that short bouts of walking after meals appear to be an effective way to control blood sugar spikes (DiPietro et al., 2013).

To be fair, it was a small study with only 10 older adults, and the lead researcher was clear that this kind of walking is about blood sugar control, not weight loss. Which is exactly why I pair it with meal prep.

For someone with PCOS (officially renamed PMOS, or polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, in May 2026 following a global consensus published in The Lancet (Teede et al., 2026)), insulin resistance, and fatty liver, that matters. What happens to my blood sugar after a meal isn’t just a number. It’s the whole game.

So yes, even my balcony staring sessions count. Standing is good. Walking is better. Climbing three flights of stairs with a laundry basket is apparently my version of cardio.

What’s different this time

Last entry, I fell. In this entry, I didn’t do anything heroic. I just did the small things again, on purpose.

Cook ahead. Eat on schedule. Snack before the dizziness wins. Get up after every meal.

Small things got me into this. Small things are getting me out.

So, is it good to walk after eating? For me, it’s the easiest habit I’ve ever kept.

The luggage is 1.6 kilos lighter than last week. And for once, I’m carrying the laundry basket up the stairs instead of guilt.

Entry #4

Baseline weight: 100 kg
Current weight: 97.1 kg
Lost so far: 2.9 kg
To go: 42.1 kg
Goal: 55 kg
Emotional Temp: Steady, back in routine, and a little proud

This is my personal journey, not medical or nutritional advice. Please talk to a healthcare professional before making changes to your diet or exercise.