Creating an exercise routine can help you stay on track, exercise safely and ensure you reach your activity goals. With a routine that fits your lifestyle, you can enjoy how activity benefits your diabetes without feeling overwhelmed.

If you’re over 45, or haven’t been very active in a long time, meet with your healthcare provider to develop an exercise routine that will meet your goals. He can help you be sure you don’t have any medical problems that could be made worse by activity.

Once your doctor gives you the okay, meet with your diabetes care team to talk about your physical activity plans.

"Have you thought of anything that might be fun for you to do? Interesting for you to do?"

"I have, in talking with friends … martial arts, Tae Kwon Do. I hear not only is it a great workout, but it's a lot of fun."

It is important to choose activities that you enjoy because the more you enjoy it, the easier it will be to make it a routine. Here are some other tips to help keep you on track.

Make physical activity a priority.

"I write it in my daily diary, what time of the day I'm going to do my exercise. I physically write it in, and plan for that allotment of time. If you don't, everything else will come ahead of your exercise."

Make sure you exercise safely. Any injury will get in the way of your exercise routine. Follow these steps to avoid injury:

Warm up doing a low level aerobic activity. Aerobic activity is any activity that raises your heart rate. Try walking. Then stretch to get your muscles ready for the exercise you are about to do. Do your aerobic exercise. Cool down by slowing down, then stretch again.

To create an exercise routine that both meets your diabetes goals and fits into your lifestyle, set goals for yourself. Make sure they're realistic and achievable.

At first, your goal may be to walk just ten minutes a day. When you can do that, make your goal 15 minutes a day. Steadily increase the amount of activity you do.

"When I started out, it was only ten minutes, fifteen minutes of walking. And now I'm up to sixty five minutes, which is a little over four miles."

Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic activity on most days of the week. For weight loss, you may need more.

To ensure you stick to your exercise routine, try enlisting the help of a friend when you can.

"I have a friend, and every morning during the week she comes over. And I know every morning I say, ‘Please don’t come, please don’t come!’ But she’s on a weight loss program, too. She says, ‘Well, I’m here.’ And I say ‘Oh man, we got to do it again.’ But once we’re out there, and we get to walking and talking, and it really helps to have her because it makes you do it."

Each of you can encourage the other, and as you stick to your routine, reward yourself. Perhaps your reward can be a new book; even browsing in the mall after you've gone walking there.

Keep track of how well you're doing by keeping a log. Write down when you were active, what you did, for how long, how you felt afterward, and your blood glucose results before and after physical activity. This log will help you see your progress, and will be important when you meet with your diabetes care team.

And finally, find ways to add physical activity into your daily routine.

"With the kids and stuff, it’s hard to find time between you know, youth events and sports meetings and swimming teams, and stuff like that … and your own job, and your husband’s job. When do you find the time to exercise? You’ve gotta make time. You know, it’s walking around the neighborhood or walking the kids to the park. That’s still exercising."

Sometimes the hardest part of exercise is to stop thinking about it and just go ahead and do it. Start gradually, build up the amount of exercise you do, and have fun. By creating an exercise routine that fits your lifestyle, you will be taking the steps you need to manage your diabetes and your health.