by Lisa Beach

Created on: July 21, 2008   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

In today's hectic world, most of us have very little time to exercise. There's the husband,[or wife] the kids, the job, and the countless chores that pile up each day who has time? That's where losing weight naturally comes in to play, you don't have to change up what you do just enhance it. Of course there's the old "take the stairs; park further from your place of work, and walk" etc., etc., but how many of us actually DO those things? When I see those ads, I think of getting all hot and sweaty before I reach my building, or getting rained on.

What I mean about losing it naturally is simply this: Do MORE than you would normally do for any given chore. For example, let's say you usually let your husband [or wife] bring in the mail while you slouch on the couch. From now on YOU walk to the end of your driveway, or down a couple flights of an apartment building, it's just a tiny chore, but if it's not something you would normally do, you will burn more calories than sitting around, and that's what weight loss is all about.

When I decided to lose weight, about 40 pounds ago, I started by walking the 70 feet or so to OUR mailbox. I have asthma with attacks that came and went at whim back then, and finally got fed up. I was tired of carrying THREE aspirators missing out on summer fun because of humidity that made me wheeze, and tired of having to stay indoors.

So one day I made up my mind to change things. Or at least, TRY. That mailbox seemed miles away. I'd oscillate between listening to my brain saying "no, don't do it" and then 2 seconds later "go for it". I'd simply walk toward the box, get the mail, and surprise the arguing into submission. I prided myself on the fact that I waited till the heat of the day was almost gone [to avoid asthma attacks] before setting off for the mail. I lost 5 pounds that way.

And I didn't tell my husband, cause I didn't want to hear the old "Yeah, well, you'll gain it back". I was sick to death of hearing it.

And, on the heels of losing 5 pounds, I immediately wanted more: the mailbox thing was easy, after I got used to it. So I decided my next goal would be to answer the phone when it rang. I would walk up those 13 steps as briskly as possible, by the time I got there, I was wheezing and out of breath, so I walked normally back DOWN the stairs. Then one day I realized I didn't wheeze anymore while taking those steps. AND I hadn't had an asthma attack in over a week!

On the scale, I had lost another 2 pounds. Encouraged, I set a third

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