This is a very common question from people who want to lose weight but just do not enjoy exercise. If aerobic dancing is a living hell and the treadmill is a bloody climb uphill on raw knees, you are not alone. Many people hate exercise-or at least they start out believing they do. Unfortunately, the answer to the question is yes. You really do need to exercise. Extensive research has proven that people who lose weight by diet alone almost always gain it back. Those who incorporate an exercise routine into their daily life have a much higher chance of actually keeping it off for years to come.

The problem is many of us think of exercise as a chore, and we think it has to be some big drawn out plan where we sweat buckets by the minute. It doesn’t have to be! When starting out, adding more movement than you currently do will lead to some weight loss. Success builds upon success and each week you do a little more than the week before and it isn’t long until you are doing more exercise than you ever thought possible.

There are two reasons that exercise is absolutely necessary:

1. While you are losing weight, exercise will increase the amount of fat you burn every day, which in turn accelerates the pace of your weight loss.
2. After you reach your final goal weight, exercise is what will keep that fat from coming right back.
   That means you need to exercise not only while you are losing weight, but for the rest of your life. So, how do you get started?

How much exercise is really necessary? Take the following tips into consideration:

• Experiment. There are so many ways to exercise these days that it is almost ridiculous. There are thousands of exercise DVDs that can be done in your own living room. You can go out and walk. Start a training program for a 5K or half marathon supporting a cause you really believe in. Join a gym or sign up for a dance class. Purchase a treadmill, recumbent bike, or incline trainer. Learn kickboxing. Right now you may think you hate every form of deliberate movement, but you may really surprise yourself if you try some things out. The library is a good place to rent DVDs for trials.
• Get creative. If walking circles around the block or around a track bore you to death, then find a local high school football field and walk up and down all the stairs in the stands. Get a few co-workers to go out walking during your lunch break. If you have access to a swimming pool, start swimming laps. Anything that gets your heart rate up for a half hour or more will do you good, so think outside the box and find something that isn’t so boring.
• Shake it up. If you do the same thing all the time not only will it become deathly boring but your body will get used to that activity and start burning less calories. When an activity becomes rather easy to do and you no longer have to put out an effort to complete the workout, then congrats! That means your fitness level has improved, but it also means your body has become rather efficient at that activity. Either take the intensity up a notch or mix in some other forms of exercise to keep the fat burning high.
• Entertain yourself. One good thing about exercising at home is you can do it while watching TV or listening to the radio. Make it a habit to jog in place, lift weights, perform yoga moves, or bounce on a mini trampoline while watching television and you will hardly notice the sweat.

Exercise is necessary, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. You can start by simply adding in more movement to your day. Go get a $5 pedometer from Wal-Mart and aim for 10,000 steps a day. It may actually shock you how far below that mark you are right now, but it really doesn’t take much movement to get up there. This is the minimum amount of steps you should be taking over the course of a day if you really want to lose the weight.

The important thing is that you start on your current level and increase your activity with time. If you can only walk around the block one time right now or climbing the steps at the local football field is more than you can handle, then start there. Next week you can go around the block twice or up the steps for an extra few minutes. Just imagine what you will be doing a month, or even a year from now! You will totally blow yourself away, if you just commit and let it happen.

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