by Leann Zotis

Created on: November 03, 2009   Last Updated: November 20, 2010

The premise behind the Weight Watchers program is based on the idea of a complete lifestyle change. The idea of being on a diet should be the furthest thing from your mind.  Food choices are made, not out of a sense of deprivation and denial, but rather, out of a conscious decision to create a healthy, fit body for ourselves. A critical part of that overall lifestyle change is incorporating exercise into your daily life.

Through an easy to understand system, points are assigned to foods to help us gauge our daily food intake. Part of a complete lifestyle change incorporates the need to develop a workable exercise program into our lives as well. It's not enough to simply learn to regulate our food choices and eating patterns. Of course this will lead to weight loss, but the end result will still be an out-of-shape body. Exercise is the key element tying the whole program together.

If exercise wasn't a part of your daily routine before beginning the Weight Watchers program, you may want to start slow. Just adding 20 or 30 minutes of walking to your daily routine will start to show results. Consistency is more important than intensity, espeically in the beginning. The Weight Watchers program will reward you for your efforts to incorporate exercise into your new lifestyle. As you add exercise to your day, you can add additional points to your daily food allotment if you so desire and just use that exercise for burning bonus calories.

Not quite sure where to begin your exercise program? Check out http://www.weightwatchers.com/ and click on the fitness and health tab at the top of the page. There you will be introduced to a variety of exercise options to get you started as well as tips and encouragement to keep you on track. There are even some online demos to watch to start you on your way to the proper way to exercise.

Exercise can make all the difference between success and failure on the Weight Watchers program. Physical activity is the key to jump-starting your metabolism and it will be an important factor when you hit those inevitable plateaus in your weight loss that happen to nearly everyone.  In addition to the weight loss benefits, exercise will make you feel better overall.  It will increase your stamina, improve the quality of your sleep and increase your resistance to illness and disease.

Weight Watchers will encourage your exercise program every step of the way, offering new and unusual ways to incorporate physical activity into your daily routine to the point where you may not even realize you're actually exercising. Weight Watchers believes there is an exercise program to suit every need, regardless of whether you've been an athlete or a couch potato throughout your life. And, of course, don't forget that added bonus! You can earn an extra point or two just for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway.

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