by Phylis Cox

Created on: November 26, 2008

I'm excited! I'm inspired! This time I'm going to lose weight and keep it off!

I have fought a losing battle my whole life, or in my case a gaining battle, since I now weigh more than I dare tell anyone. It seems I know exactly what needs to be done since I have had short term success on so many different diets. In fact, I could probably be a diet consultant when it comes to methods for losing weight. Unfortunately, my problem comes with keeping the weight off; and, what's even worse, after every diet, I regain more weight than I lost. This is the problem many dieters battle. Most of us are excellent at losing weight, but terrible at maintaining.

It's not that dieters have no self control. In fact, I've noticed over the years that many of us actually have more control than a lot of thinner people who eat fattening, unhealthy food in large quantities. These metabolic wonders were lucky enough to be born with a metabolism that seems to work like a fat-burning machine.

I, on the other hand, squirrel away my calories as though I'm saving them for a long, hard winter when food is scarce. I know I need to find ways to wake up my metabolism. It's not enough for me to lose weight; I need to make lifestyle changes that will turn my body into a fat-burning machine. I need to stop thinking "diet" and start thinking "healthy." If I do that, my focus will no longer be on food. It will be on the way I live.

In case you're wondering what got me so fired up, I just finished reading an article called "The Real-Life Way to Lose." "John Levine, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, has spent a decade studying the role that everyday movement, or NEAT, (nonexercise activity thermogenesis) plays on metabolism."

Because of Dr. Levine's findings, Chris Freytag, a fitness expert, selected five busy women to test a list of ways to raise their NEAT level. None of the list involved strenuous or time-consuming exercise. The idea seems to be to find ways to make movement a part of our daily routine.

Here are some of the suggestions:

Draw your knees toward your chest 25 to 50 times while still in bed. This activity burns up twenty calories in less than five minutes and also tones your stomach.

Put on some music and dance while getting dressed. Not only are you burning calories, but dancing should help wake you up and put you in a good mood.

Laugh for 10 to 15 minutes and you will burn about 40 calories according to this article. (Finally, I have an excuse to watch sitcoms.)

Take short walks any chance you get. For example, one of the ladies in the group always took the stairs to a restroom on another floor whenever she was at work. I remember when I attended Weight Watchers, the leader often suggested we park our cars farther away from the door when shopping.

Spend more time on your feet. One of the ladies burned 120 calories by standing during her daughter's dance class.

By the way, the ladies in the study lost up to 7 pounds in a two week period and burned up to 500 extra calories a day.

So, tomorrow I'm heading to water aerobics class because it's fun. I'm taking some close friends who make me laugh, although my friends don't know it yet, I'm parking several blocks away. If you happen to see me dancing down the block, keep in mind that I'm inspired once more to lose weight. This time, though, it sounds like fun. It sounds easy to do. More importantly, it doesn't sound like a diet. Plus, this time the weight will stay off.

Lauren A. Greene "The Real-Life Way to Lose" http://health.msn.com/fitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-do cumentid=100203747

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