The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies (119 page)

Exercise takes up more time than is realistic for your life.

You don't enjoy the activity you're doing, and it becomes less interesting the next time around.

The idea of exercising becomes overwhelming because you're doing too much too soon.

If you're an exercising newbie, the better approach is to start small. Doing so gives you time to ease your body into the activity, especially if you were living a sedentary lifestyle before. You may not get the most amazing results right away, but by starting small and building on your exercise, you'll be more likely to stick with it.

Taking baby steps when it comes to exercising also helps you find a realistic schedule that works in your day-to-day life. Exercising four hours a day probably won't work in the real world, but maybe squeezing in 15 minutes two or three times a day will.

Making exercise a priority

Exercising requires some focus and rearranging of your priorities. It's easy to want the numerous health benefits that come with exercise (all of which
are described earlier in this chapter), but managing your time isn't quite as easy. That takes a little planning, and people often don't make a plan for how they'll incorporate new changes into their lives.

As I'm sure you know, you can read all the information you want, but if you don't give yourself a plan and time to do the activities necessary, you won't see a whole lot of results from your exercising efforts. The next sections help you figure out how to prioritize exercise.

Developing a plan that's practical for you

If you're like most folks, your days are probably so packed that health goals such as "exercise more" are the things you squeeze in if and when you have the time. For many individuals, exercise is the first thing to put off until another day. Yet it doesn't have to be that way.

Following are a few strategies to help you create a plan that prioritizes exercise in a realic, manageable way:

Find some time.
One of the biggest hurdles of starting an exercise program is finding the time to do it. After all, your days are already filled up, right? Take a few minutes to examine your schedule. Look for 20- to 30-minute time increments (or possibly more depending on the type of exercise you enjoy). Think about when your exercise will work best. Can you squeeze in a swim on your lunch break? Hit the gym in the morning? Go for a walk in the evening?

Schedule it.
Even when you find the time to exercise, you can still put it off all too easily or just let something else take priority. But what if you treated exercise like a hair appointment? Make that appointment with yourself and keep it just like you would if it were a hair appointment.

Track it.
Keep track of your exercise so you can see just how much you're doing and make sure you're fitting it in. Take a wall calendar and simply mark an
S
for weight-bearing activity (also known as
strength training
) and a
C
for cardio activity, followed by the amount of time you spent doing the activity. If you're not seeing results, this log gives you a useful tool for gauging how to change your routine; if you're reaching your goals, then it gives you something to celebrate.

Committing to a minimum amount of exercise each day

Sometimes you'll have troubles prioritizing exercise, or else you'll find that no matter how hard you try, you just can't keep that appointment with yourself. So you start missing a day here and there. Pretty soon that one day turns into a week. Before you know it, you haven't done any exercise for three to four weeks!

Although there will always be times in your life when you miss out on exercise, the key is to not let one skipped day turn into a week (or more!).

One way to guarantee you don't skip too many days is to make a deal with yourself to commit to your personal "minimum required exercise plan." Think about some kind of activity that's really easy for you to do each day, even if it's just for ten minutes. It can be going for a walk or doing some stretching exercises. Whatever you choose, the activity needs to be the one that offers the least resistance for you. Make a plan that on the days you can't exercise (or the days you just don't want to) you agree to do your minimum required exercise. Even if it doesn't bring you major results, it'll keep your mind and body in forward motion, helping to make activity a daily habit in your life.

Here are some ideas of activities that may fit the bill for you:

Yoga