Glitzy advertisements will tell you that the most effective path to losing weight is to diet, and there are loads of fad diets to choose from that each claim to be the simplest, fastest, easiest, tastiest way to lose weight. But stop for a moment and think: if you "go on a diet" the implication is that you will, sooner or later, "go OFF the diet". It's a temporary solution! I'll show you how you can make tiny and incremental changes to your lifestyle that, taken together, will leave you feeling great and give you a set of tools that you can use to lose unwanted fat and keep it off.

Revving up your resting metabolic rate is a proven method for losing extra body fat and keeping it off. By increasing your resting metabolic rate (the rate at which your body burns calories while at rest, also known as your RMR) you can lose extra pounds and keep them off. Since muscle burns calories, adding muscle to your body will raise your RMR - you'll feel better, have more energy, and you will maintain your weight loss as your body burns more calories even when you are not exercising.

Loss of muscle mass is one of the most well documented problems that comes with aging, and it has major healthcare implications. After age fourty men and women both begin to lose between 1/2 and 1 pound of muscle mass per year. Over the years that decline in muscle mass can result in a significant decline in strength. This is called Sarcopenia (loss of muscle strength and mass due to aging) and it is estimated to account for over $18.5 billion in health care costs. As people age and become less active they feel worse and are more susceptible to disease including heart disease, one of the top killers globally. And as for appearance, the loss of muscle mass results in a reduced number of calories that your body metabolizes while at rest, so the calories you eat turn into fat! So loss of muscles leads to an increase in FAT!

The temporary nature of diets don't address the long-term issue of losing fat and keeping it off, and the gradual loss of muscle mass over time accelerates the rate at which you put on fat. The best approach to losing fat and keeping it off, then, is to find an acceptable level of exercise that will keep you fit, strong and lean. Here are a few guidelines that will help you develop just such a plan:

1) Start slow and keep it simple. Particularly if you are new to exercise, it doesn't have to be hard at all in the beginning to really make a difference in how you feel. You can begin by simply changing your every day activities. Take stairs when you have the option rather than an elevator or escalator. Whether at work or at home, walking even for a short distance is both a good form of exercise and a way to break up the day.

2) Set a goal and keep it. And don't make this a difficult goal. Set a goal for yourself that is easy to reach and simple to understand and explain. For example, you could start with a goal of just five minutes of exercise per day, and then you can grow this to 10 or 15 minutes at the end of a month. The key is keep it easy, especially in the beginning! You don't want to set an initial goal that is hard to reach - it's a recipe for failure.

3) Write down your progress against your goal, and share it with your friends. If you have chosen a good goal and written down what you've done to reach it every day, you'll see progress and changes in the way you feel in very little time. This is a gigantic point, and a key to success. And another thing: if you share your progress toward meeting your goal with other people such as your friends and family, you'll discover that you feel more motivated - you don't want to let them down - and you will be more honest and faithful in sticking to your goal.

4) Grow your goal. As time goes by you can gradually increase your goal, adding increments of time and then perhaps by adding more strenuous exercise.

The initial steps described above are designed for people who are new to exercise as a way of losing weight - if you follow these steps for several months you'll find that you feel better and are in better shape. In time you will exhaust your personal knowledge and ability to determine the next best approach for growing your exercise program. By the way, this happens frequently with those who are very familiar with exercise and its benefits - the pros who still need guidance in growing or aligning their exercise routine to fit their goals. (Even Tiger Woods has a coach!) You could build in new and fun additions to your workout such as jogging, swimming or weight training. These are just a few examples of exercise that all will permit you to place dramatic increases on the demands that you place upon your body (gradually!), and will result in an increase in the returns that you gather - returns such as improvements in your sense of well-being, your appearance and weight loss. When you're ready for more action, there are wonderful written training guides and professional advice available that can lead you to a stronger, leaner you.