Posted on by exercisehelps

Yes, your camera can help blast you out of lethargy

I saw a photo of myself taken years ago and was aghast at how out of shape I looked. I mean, it stopped me in my tracks.

Honestly, I looked swollen and hideous.

If you’re not where you want to be physically and you’re a diabetic, take a picture of yourself. I don’t even have to explain how motivational this is to simply gaze upon a picture of yourself.

Chances are you’re not where you want to be.

Exercise is a way to change that picture. Oh by the way, you will be improving your diabetic condition immensely while you do this.

I know I know, you don’t want to do this. It’s just too painful. There is not enough time. It’s WAY too inconvenient.

All of the above is why you have to do it. But I thought this was a blog about managing diabetes through exercise and not about weight loss, you might say. You’re right it is. However the magic is that they both often move together.

So, either look back at an old photo for motivation or snap a new pic – either way, now your camera is part of your health team. Who would have thought??!!

(Author’s note: Share my book with friends! https://www.amazon.com/Motivate-Sedentary-Diabetic-Actually-Exercise/dp/1692830473/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 )

Posted on by exercisehelps

When you absolutely, positively, totally do not want to move

Recently, I had a day where I simply did not want to go to the gym, walk on my street, or do anything at all. I was frozen, like an iceberg.

All of this despite my being an exercise blogger who has written a book on the criticality of getting off our collective rumps and moving (ahem, exercising).

On this day, this un-moving day, my brain just simply could not process doing anything other than sitting in my recliner. It was simply a bridge too far for me to conceptualize. It was a thought that could find no place in my menu of activities for that day.

Trying to combat this dreadful turn of events, I reminded myself of the enormous benefits that diabetics enjoy when they exercise. And then I reminded myself again. And again. Nothing worked. I was still in the clutches of inertia … let me capitalize that, I was still in the clutches of INERTIA.

I’m confident that I’m not the only one who has ever found themselves in this sorry situation, right?

So what did I do?

I got out my self-winch and winched myself out the front door. There, I got that far. Let’s see if I have enough motivation to make it to the street. OK, I found a couple of cracks in inertia’s wall, giving me a few ounces of motivation to actually walk to the street (the self-winch is straining, straining, straining against the force of inactivity). OK, now I’m standing on the street, motionless. So I will myself to walk 100 steps on the street. By step 10, inertia conceded that it is defeated today and I end up walking a mile, which isn’t that much but is much better than the day started out, which found me lacking the will to get out of the recliner. Yep, my battle with inertia is that deep, folks.

Inertia flees in the face of action.

Inactivity retreats whenever we engage even in modest activity.

Even one step on these very difficult days is a victory.

Our daily iceberg can be melted, one day at a time. (But it can be hard, as evidenced by my account above).

Let me encourage us, when we are in the throes of a ‘cannot do anything’ day, take one step. It will lead to two, which will lead to three.

And our diabetes will thank us.

Posted on by exercisehelps

The wrestling match in my head today

We are in the midst of another #covid lockdown, this time much more restrictive.

Somehow the thought has gotten into my head that exercise (walking, running, whatever) is going to be tougher for me during this season. Somehow, I have begun thinking “oh no! I am going to just shut down my physical movement!”

Keep in mind that my #diabetes is saying “Please get off your butt and get out the front door and move!!! We need this!” Actually my #diabetes is not just saying this, it is SCREAMING this!

In my mind, I see #inertia and #diabetes wrestling each other. One is going to win, trust me.

This is the point of this blog, to make sure #inertia does not win.

To make sure #ExerciseAndDiabetes walks away with the trophy.

As I write this today, I am in the middle of this internal wrestling match.

But I am here to say, once this piece is completed, I am going to get off the couch and out the front door.

I promise.

How about you?

Posted on by exercisehelps

Inertia, inertia, how do I loathe thee, let me count the ways

The dictionary defines #inertia as ‘the tendency to do nothing or remain unchanged’.

OUCH!

It’s funny how inertia sticks to #type2 diabetics like super glue. It’s interesting how inertia always shadows us, even on days when shadows don’t normally appear.

Inertia keeps us from exercising.

Inertia keeps us from even putting on our walking (or running) shoes. Actually it keeps us from even looking from them in the first place.

Inertia keeps us on the couch.

Inertia makes sure that the only thing about our bodies that moves is our thumb as it scrolls mindlessly through our phone, reading yet another useless article on absolutely nothing.

Inertia ensures that exercise remains a theory only, not a practice.

Inertia guarantees that we talk a lot about exercise and how it helps our diabetes but not ever moving beyond talk. (to actual movement … gasp!)

Inertia places all its bets on our remaining stationary.

Stationary means ‘not moving’.

Stationary means ‘going nowhere’.

Inertia is the enemy of health.

Inertia is the foe of diabetes.

This entire blog is dedicated to those of us who hate to exercise.

We can take that first step!

We will take that first step!

Take that, inertia!

[Author’s note, if you enjoy this blog, please share it!! If you would like to support this blog through the purchase of my book on exercise motivation, please click HERE, thank you!!]

#covid #covid19 #diabetes #type2diabetics #diabetics #walking #exercise

Posted on by exercisehelps

Rut alert!! Rut alert!!

#Covid has put a big dent in my exercise, for a number of reasons. You may have found this also.

Exercising is hard enough without ANY additional headwinds. And when we encounter a new obstacle or setback, well … you know the rest of the story.

Often our motivation goes into the toilet.

Soooo, long story short, this outhouse experience happened to me, yours truly.

Before I knew it, inertia had sneaked up on me, motivation went out the door and it was three weeks before I realized I had done NOTHING insofar as exercise was concerned. Let me repeat … NOTHING. Zip. Zero. Nada.

How did I get out of this?

It was hard. It was brutal. I was extremely inconsistent. I kept trying to establish a pattern of exercise. I kept failing. It was weird, quite frankly.

I just couldn’t get it going. At all.

So I finally, after a gazillion failures, made it out the door for a great walk one day. Then the next. Then the next. And suddenly my routine was going again.

I do this for a number of reasons … my #diabetes improves with every little bit of exercise that I do. Exercise is also a wonderful mood-elevator.

Mark Twain said the only difference between a rut and a grave is its depth.

Are you in the kind of rut that I fell into? I wish I had a magic key to give you so you could unlock this conundrum but persistence is the only thing I can offer up.

Just keep trying, don’t give up.

Giving up is not what we are about, is it?

[Author’s note: if you enjoy this writing, consider purchasing my book! “42 Ways to Motivate the Sedentary Diabetic to Actually Exercise” – here is the LINK ]

#covid #covid19 #walking #diabetes #diabetic #type2

Posted on by exercisehelps

When your calendar becomes your workout buddy … huh???

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Let’s face it, there is something compelling when we schedule something on our calendar. We are more apt to follow through and keep a commitment that is on our calendar than one that is not.

It always helps me personally to proactively plan my exercise in the future by committing it to my calendar. If you use a paper calendar, pencil it in. If you use an electronic/phone calendar, then schedule it and you will have an automatic reminder.

I hate to work out, you might also but we know our #diabetes will thank us for getting out the door and into some activity, right?

There is something about human nature that simply makes this work. Let’s make it work on our behalf to help us manage our #diabetes better.

Thank you Mr Calendar!

(Author’s note: I have published a book for diabetics who hate to exercise, ’42 Ways to Motivate the Sedentary Diabetic to Actually Exercise’ … written primarily for my always inactive self … click HERE to purchase on Amazon, purchase and give away to friends and family who need it … purchase and send to your local diabetes society for distribution and if you cannot afford it, let me know)

Posted on by exercisehelps

What you FEEL will make you ill, but what you KNOW will make you go!

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Early in my career, I was a church worker. As such, I had the benefit of exceptional motivational teachings that I would listen to as various teachers came through my territory.

One teacher stressed the importance of not allowing our feelings to dictate our actions inordinately. He focused on the fact that if we allow our feelings to rule our lives, we would never amount to much of anything or accomplish anything significant.

He stressed that we should operate a great deal out of what we knew as fact that we needed to do as opposed to what we felt. He had a great motto for this… “What you FEEL will make you ill, but what you KNOW will make you go.”

Throughout my years, I have always marveled at the wisdom in this saying.

In many ways it applies to motivating us to get out the front door and get exercising.

With that in mind, I think it is vital to reflect on why we are exercising at all. In short, exercising benefits our #diabetic condition in so many ways it is impossible to list.

For starters, if you have insulin resistance which most #type2 diabetics do, exercise will lessen that resistance. Exercise will open the receptivity of your cells for blood glucose to enter them. That way it’s not in your bloodstream and your blood glucose levels of your blood will fall. That’s a good thing.

#Diabetes can contribute to a person being depressed.

Studies show that walking 20 minutes a day is as therapeutic as most medications or talk therapy. Can you believe that? Well you should because it’s true.

Exercise can increase a person’s overall fitness level which lessens the co-morbidities that can spring up when you deal with #diabetes in a person’s life.

This alone makes exercise a fabulous, fabulous option for a #diabetic.

So think about those mornings when you absolutely do not want to exercise. Your feelings are screaming “do not exercise at all because I do not feel like it”. It is mornings like this that what you feel is making you ILL but what you know has got to make you GO. Because you know you need to exercise, you put your feelings up on a shelf and get out the door and get to the business of exercising. Because your intellect is making the smart choice and the smart decision here.

We can do this!

Posted on by exercisehelps

Just moving your clothes will benefit your diabetes enormously … wait, say that again!

PHOTO BY NATHAN FRIED-LIPSKI

In the business world, especially in those parts where efficiency in movement is crucial, efficiency is often achieved by moving things around to make the movement easier. For example, in a warehouse, the most frequently used items will be stacked the closest to the loading dock in order to save time. And it does save an ENORMOUS amount of time.

There is a principle here that you can leverage in becoming more motivated to exercise…make it easy on yourself.

Here is a quick tip:

Put your exercise clothes at the foot of your bed or somewhere where you can easily reach them. Make it easy to find your exercise clothes. If you are a walker, this might pertain only to your walking shoes. If you are a runner, this would pertain to your running clothes plus your running shoes. If you are doing yoga, this is your mat plus your yoga clothes.

It is all meant to remove a hurdle standing in the way of exercise and make it easier to move into it. Believe it or not, I find this to be motivational in itself… you might not but I do. If I have to run all over the house looking for my clothes, somehow I lose a little bit of motivation and find something else to do.

It is too important for me to exercise to allow this to occur so I see this as a very small step that can yield very large dividends for our diabetes for those of us who hate to exercise.

JUST MOVE YOUR CLOTHES! LOL!

#diabetes #diabetic #exercise #YoungerNextYear

 

Posted on by exercisehelps

Write your way out of lethargy and fatigue … A1C numbers just might drop!!

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We are here to help you explode your inertia and get you off the couch to actually exercise! (and your #diabetes numbers will thank you)

Believe it or not, studies have shown that if you keep an exercise journal daily, this by itself will give you motivation to get out the front door.

Studies have also shown that as you record your obstacles, challenges, dead zones as well as your successes, you will exercise at a more consistent pace than the person who does not do this.

As I have alluded to before, the toughest step to take in any exercise program is the first step. Any advantage that we can get on our side to get us exercising and keep us exercising, we should take and embrace it enthusiastically.

This really, REALLY helps me. Seriously. It REALLY helps me!

So go buy a small notebook that you can write in and start today. If you have an iPhone, droid etc that you can keep a journal on, by all means do that!

The manner of journaling does not matter… that you do it is the only thing that does matter.

#covid #diabetes #diabetics #exercisejournal

Posted on by exercisehelps

Spin your way to lower blood glucose numbers, seriously!

spinning

Spinning is basically riding a stationary bicycle. A spin class however, takes a rather boring activity and throws fun and sparkle all over it.

Most YMCAs and other fitness centers, have spin classes, even during covid. You will be socially distanced and maintain all the proper health precautions but spinning is still occurring, trust me!

Typically these are 20 or more stationary bicycles in a large room, that are utilized for a group activity lasting from 45 minutes to an hour with an instructor leading it to the melodies of great music.

To say that this is fun is a huge understatement. It is incredibly fun!

And it is low impact and high aerobic. Almost a perfect exercise. And since you are spinning with other people, the added benefit of socialization is baked right into this.

So many people in spin classes make friends with each other and this serves to motivate each other to higher fitness goals.

It is not uncommon to see people of all ages in spin classes. I’m talking about from teenagers to young adults to middle-age to senior citizens. The spin class I go to has a fellow by the name of Ollie who sits in the corner and participates enthusiastically. He has been doing this for at least 10 to 15years. Ollie is 80 years old. He is in great shape. I do not know if he has diabetes or not but that is beside the point, isn’t it? He may not have diabetes because his fitness level may have been forestalled. Or if he does, he is helping manage it well.

I challenge you to go to your local YMCA or fitness center and see if there is a spin class. The instructors are extremely sympathetic to beginners and you can get in a spin class and going slowly for the entire period of time and no one will say a word because they understand you’re starting out.

Who could ask for more than that?

#covid19 #covid #spinclass #diabetes #diabetics