Session 6:
How to Be More Active
Welcome back!
In our last session you created a goal and action plan for physical activity. Hopefully it went well and you accomplished what you set out to do. In this week’s session, we’re going to talk about tracking your activity to prevent or delay Type 2 diabetes.
Keeping track of activity
The purpose of tracking your minutes of activity each day is to help you work toward your six-month activity goal—to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-pace activity each week. And why? To lower your risk of Type 2 diabetes. Also, studies show that people who track their activity do more of it and stick with it longer than people who don’t keep track.
You can see how active you’ve been on the Progress and Logs page in the app. Be sure to look at which days of the week you’re achieving your physical activity goals in terms of steps you’ve taken or minutes you’ve been active. Are there certain days of the week where you’re having trouble being active? Sometimes it’s helpful to look at the app charts showing your physical activity throughout the day. Apart from when you’re sleeping, what stretches of time are you least active? Can you start building walking breaks into that part of your day? Or can you take the stairs rather than the elevator at work?
Raising your energy
Being physically active has many excellent benefits in addition to helping with weight loss and preventing Type 2 diabetes. We talked about some of these last week. Being active can increase your energy levels, improve mood and positive feelings, and reduce the risk of heart disease. Let’s focus on the energy and mood part – who doesn’t want to have more energy and feel better? But the reason it’s extra important now is that it takes energy to lose weight. You probably use more energy now than you did before you knew you were at risk for Type 2 diabetes because fitting these new behaviors and healthy habits into your life takes energy!
So we want you to have the energy you need and getting enough sleep and moving your body definitely helps with this. Also, research also shows that when your mood is positive you are much more likely to be motivated and interested in making new habits and taking care of yourself.
Reviewed by Emily Matson, MS, RDN
on June 30, 2020. Emily is a Registered Dietitian with her Master's degree in Nutrition from Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA, and is one of our Brook Experts.