4. Set goals. Set short-term and long-term goals. A short-term goal may be to walk 5 minutes at least 3 days for 1 week. A long-term goal may be to walk 30 minutes most days of week by end of 6 months.

5. Track progress. Keep a journal of your activity. You may not feel like you are making progress but when you look back at where you started, you may be pleasantly surprised!

6. Fit activity into your daily life. Plan ahead and try to be active when it works best for you.

7. Get support. Get a family member or friend to be active with you. It may be more fun, and an exercise buddy can cheer you on.

8. Have fun. Try different activities to find ones you really enjoy.

"If you can’t do an activity, don’t be hard on yourself," NIDDK suggests. "Feel good about what you can do. Be proud of pushing yourself up out of a chair or walking a short distance. Pat yourself on back for trying even if you can’t do it first time. It may be easier next time."

You can see an online copy of "Active at Any Size" booklet at:

http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/nutrit/activeatanysize/active.html

While author does a very good job of raising important issues of power which relate to race, class, and gender, as well as sexual orientation, he seems to have little ability to rise above immediate issue to give that promised "big picture." Instead of giving us a broader perspective on controversies and crises that he presents so well, he tends to focus on condemning shortsightedness, inflexibility, or selfishness of one or more of adversary parties. The fact that he often has blame aplenty for all sides to a conflict shows evenhandedness but adds little perspective. This focus on conflict is also reflected in profusion of war metaphors in this volume, with chapter titles of "Rallying Troops," "The Making of Soldiers," and "War Bonds." The inutility of such "war on disease" metaphors was ably expressed by Sontag in her brilliant monograph Illness as a Metaphor.

Despite these criticisms of Victory Deferred as an integrative work, it is well worth price for its profusion of anecdotal details and important issues it raises and provides a degree of insight into. Even more than that, it preserves some element of experience and wisdom of many persons interviewed for this book who are no longer with us.