Putting Exercise into Everyday Events Exercise is important at every stage of life. It makes you stronger and helps battle high blood pressure, heart disease, and osteoporosis. But as you get older, exercise takes on a much more important role in your weight loss/weight control regimen. Exercise not only helps you lose weight but also helps you keep it off Studies have shown that women who continue to exercise regularly are more successful at maintaining weight loss than those who do not, Dr. Foster says. Aerobic exercise also gets rid of abdominal fat, which causes more health problems than extra pounds on any other part of the body, Dr. Fried says. Experts now say that making movement part of your everyday life is just as effective as going to a gym a couple of times a week, Dr. Fried says. "A lot of people think, 'If I am not out there running 5 miles a day, I am not exercising.' Now we are recommending 15 to 20 minutes of some activity no matter how simple every day," Dr. Kanaley adds. A study at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas revealed that lifestyle physical activity like taking a brisk walk or raking leaves was as effective as a structured exercise program in improving physical activity, heart and respiratory fitness, blood pressure, and body fat on healthy but sedentary adults. Whether you already have an exercise program or you're just starting out, read the following to learn how easy it is to mix physical activity into everyday tasks. Walk this way. Exercise trends may come and go (remember Jazzercise?), but walking is still the cheapest and easiest exercise you can do. A 1/2 hour walk a day is a good way to start. If you can't do it in one chunk, take several shorter walks throughout the day. If you can, make walking your primary mode of transportation, Dr. Fried says. If you can walk to the store instead of driving, do so. Count your steps. According to Dr. Hamilton, you should take at least 10,000 steps a day. Instead of boggling your mind counting each step in your head, you can track your daily physical activity with a pedometer. Dr. Hamilton wears his, which cost him about $24, on his belt or underwear. It measures every step you take so that you can make sure you reach your 10,000 steps a day, he says. If Dr. Hamilton comes up short some days, he knows he needs to take a walk or make it up the next day. "I had to drive someplace one day, so I only made 6,000 steps. But the next day, I took a 2 mile walk and registered 13,000," he says. Get down in the dirt. Whether you get dirty in your garden or clean your house, both activities burn off calories. "Spending a day in your garden is a great workout," Dr. Kanaley says. And although cleaning may not sound like fun, think of it as a weight loss exercise instead of housework. Become a fidget. Don't think that finger tapping and stretching at your desk help you lose weight? Guess again. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, fed an extra 1,000 calories a day to 16 volunteers for 8 weeks. The volunteers also wore instruments that measured their energy output. The study found that those who fidgeted stayed slim Small movements such as finger and toe tapping, maintaining good posture, stretching, and standing up often burned calories that would have been stored as fat. You too can become a fidget. Get up and walk around every 15 minutes or so, stretch, and just keep moving during the day. Count the little things. By taking an extra few steps, you burn off a few more calories and get a little more exercise into your day. "Be as inefficient as possible," Dr. Hamilton says. He suggests some simple yet worthwhile things to do. Park your car a few blocks away and walk. Avoid revolving doors. Open the door yourself Carry your own bags. Never use the wheels on luggage. Use the stairs whenever possible. Make several trips when taking out the trash, carrying in the dishes, doing the laundry. Make the most of litter. When you see it, squat down, pick it up, and throw it away. 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