By Ginger Vieira

1. Make It a Priority, Baby!

 “I don’t have time.” I hear this a lot, but all I really want to ask in response to this is, “How many hours of TV do you watch each day?” Sure, it’s possible that some people really have crazy, busy schedules, but for most of us, there is at least 30 minutes we could create for ourselves by getting out of bed 30 minutes earlier or spending 30 minutes less watching TV every day. Roll out of bed and go for a walk—you don’t even have to get in your car!

Getting out of bed 30 minutes earlier (with an alarm clock, or even more than one, that force you out of bed to turn them off) or ensuring that the moment you get out of work you can easily pop into your gym clothes and head to the gym are decisions that only you, and you alone, can make.

If you want to let the excuse that you “don’t have time to exercise” rule your life, that’s your choice, but I guarantee there are some very busy people in the world who still make exercise a major priority. Whether it means recording your favorite TV show for later, getting a friend to meet you at the gym or a yoga class, or simply deciding that the 30 minutes you spend vegged-out on the couch each night could be 30 minutes you actually spend at the gym ... pick a time of day, and make it happen!

2. It Doesn’t Have to Be Every Single Day!

Sure, exercising every day would be awesome, but if you’re working on making this a bigger priority, don’t over-commit and find yourself burned out barely two weeks into your new regimen.

If you really haven’t been exercising at all lately, then pick just two or three days of the week that you will commit to exercising. And guess what? It doesn’t have to be for 60 minutes or more in order to count. If your 30 minutes of strength-training are serious and intense, that’s awesome, and that’s plenty!

In fact, maybe you could even start with a goal of just one day of exercise per week. For example, “Today, I’m going to go for a walk.” Take away the expectation of having to do it again and again and again, and just create a goal for that one specific day. Give yourself the chance to enjoy the time you spend walking. Think of it as your time.

After several years of training for two hours every day, I have found awesome joy out of giving just 30 minutes of energy to intense bodyweight strength-training (plus a variety of dog walks), and have had awesome results. Neither way is necessarily wrong or right—they each have different goals and purposes. But both are great. Ease in gradually based on your personal level of fitness.

3. Learn More so You Don’t Waste Your Time!

Wasting your time in the gym is a really easy thing to do if you haven’t taken the time to educate yourself about good-quality exercise. You don’t need to research very deeply in order to learn that jogging for 30 minutes every day is actually not the best way to lose weight, or to learn that weightlifting with 5- to 8-pound dumbbells for 50 or more reps, is also not a very effective way to build any strength! The knowledge is out there, but you have to go seek it!

Quality is much more important than quantity.

Two suggestions to maximize your time at the gym:

• Try using dumbbells that are heavy enough for you to hit “failure” after 12 to 15 repetitions. Don’t be afraid to increase the weight when it’s appropriate.

• Instead of jogging at the same pace (which burns far more glucose than fat), try doing intervals of sprinting (whatever a “sprint” is for your level of fitness) on a treadmill or any cardio equipment for 60 seconds, followed by 60 seconds of walking for 20 to 30 minutes. If 60 seconds feels too long or too short, adjust the time as you need to in order to fit your fitness level, but do not cross the two-minute threshold, especially for your sprinting interval, because that will cause you to start burning more glucose than body fat.

4. Getting Started

You need to try new things in order to find the right type of exercise for your mind and your body! I recently even tried a dance class called “Nia dancing” which I never expected to like (because I’m a horrible dancer), but it turned out to be really fun and different. Meanwhile, I tried a tai-chi class and was surprised that I really didn’t like it at all.

Consider making a list of a variety of exercises you’ve never tried and commit to trying each one at least once.

Remember, everybody has to start somewhere. Get over your fears of being the new person in the class or looking foolish—everybody was a new- bie at some point. I can guarantee that most people in the gym or a fitness class are far more worried about how they look and far less concerned with what you’re doing. (We’re a self-absorbed species, what can I say?) So leave your inhibitions at the door and just focus on the experience. And hey, a great way to feel more comfortable is to bring a friend along with you!

5. Balancing Your Blood Sugars

“My blood sugar always drops too low or goes too high.” This is a legitimate frustration, but it’s not an excuse. If it was impossible to keep our blood sugar in range more often, then there wouldn’t be a single famous athlete with diabetes, but there are plenty of such incredible role models! The only difference between such athletes and the person who might give this excuse is that the athletes took the time to learn what their bodies needed during different types of exercise. They saw every blood sugar as information, not a reason to give up.

Excerpt from Ginger Vieira's latest book, Dealing With Diabetes Burnout. Purchase a copy today!

Ginger is an esteemed faculty member to the DiabetesSisters' Weekend for Women Conference Series and has lived with diabetes for 15 years.