In my opinion what matters is regular exercise. Every day unless something really, really makes it impossible.
I have never been a complete "couch potato" and have always been quite active. For decades, I have been the kind of person who parks the car several blocks away from the shops, to force me to walk. I have also taken public transport as often as possible. At weekends and on holiday, I have been hiking many miles for decades.
But that probably turned out not to be enough. You see, because of my job, I alternated this "good exercise" with long periods (it could be several weeks) when I was just sitting in front of a computer for hours on end, taking no exercise at all.
I don't know whether the lack of exercise helped cause my T2 diabetes, but it cannot have helped. So this is what I changed: every day I now walk at least three miles, sometimes five, at a brisk pace. I do this even if is is pouring rain, and even if the outside temperature is sub-freezing here in the northeastern USA.
The medical advice seems to be: regular exercise (as little as 90 or 150 minutes per week) is more important than the total quantity of exercise.
