10 Small Diet and Exercise Tricks That Get Big Results

When it comes to type 2 diabetes, you need diet and exercise goals that encourage you to succeed—not ones that set you up to fail, says Ann Goebel-Fabbri, PhD, a psychologist and investigator at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

"I think goals have to be small and incredibly well spelled out for people. Everyone has the experience of going to a health practitioner and being told something very vague: 'You know, you really ought to lose weight.' What does that mean? How do I lose weight, how many pounds, using what tools? Goals need to be broken down into small nuts and bolts," she says.

First step is to see where you stand now
Margaret Savoca, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, suggests that you stop and look at your eating and exercise habits, and figure out what will be the easiest changes to make, rather than making huge changes that are tough to sustain.

"You have to come up with a lifestyle you can actually maintain," says Savoca, who has researched food habits among people with type 2 diabetes. "How can you fit eating healthy and getting exercise into your schedule?" she says. "That's really a challenge for people."

"Diabetes is a marathon, not a sprint," says Elizabeth Hardy, 47, a Dallas resident who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2005. For Hardy it was easiest to make changes in her life one step at a time.