Little Steps Turn Into Big Strides

New year, new goals - some can seem easy, others seem damn near impossible. Here are some tips to turn small healthy steps into bigger ones! 

Track your daily steps

Many of us are already wearing accessories like watches, bracelets, or phone apps with step tracking capabilities (and yes, smartphones track your steps. Explore the health app on your smartphone). Trackers make us aware of how much we move on a daily basis and allow us to become more cognizant of the times we are falling behind and need to "step-up" our steps!

By providing your email address, you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

100 extra steps a day can quickly morph into 1,000. Sidebar: If you don't want to wear/use fancy trackers, clip-on pedometers do the job too. So clip a pedometer to your hip and start walking!

Set realistic goals

Start by setting realistic and achievable walking goals instead of immediately committing to running the New York Marathon next year! Start by committing to 2 laps around the block/the hallways at work, every day for a week and see how it goes. The following week, increase your daily laps to 3 and see what happens. And if you don't feel ready to walk three laps a day, that’s okay - stick with 2 and keep walking

Other healthy tips

Other "little steps" in our daily lives have the ability to turn into big healthy strides!

  • Check your blood sugar 5 times a day instead of 3.
  • Drink 2, 8 ounce glasses of water first thing in the morning, every morning while your coffee is brewing.
  • Incorporate 3 healthy plant-based meals (including this chickpea salad) into your diet, per week, and see how you feel.
  • Bring a snack pack of 1 - 2 servings of veggies with you to work, every day and make a point to eat them.

 

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The Type2Diabetes.com team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

Join the conversation

Please read our rules before commenting.