-By Sushma Amatya

Not the shopping extravaganza at the airport counter but the result of indulgence in food and not being active enough. Now, the good news is, you need not set aside an hour extra for a daily rigorous workouts anymore. Brisk walking 45 minutes a day everyday is enough to make you lose weight slow and steady and keep it off. You can easily lose your extra fat and keep it off, if you make a habit of it and pay attention to what you eat.

It takes a combination of regular exercise and a sensible diet to rev up your metabolism and burn off the unwanted fat on your body. If you only control your diet, it may work for sometime but what you lose could be more muscle than fat and the fat will come bouncing back as soon as you give up your strict diet. The body has a mechanism that holds on to its fat reserves as soon as it notices any sign of want, its way of preserving itself against starvation.

If you  hope to gain that svelte figure by exercise alone and continue to over eat or eat all wrong foods, the exercise may make you  feel better but it alone can not make a difference to your waist line or the unsightly deposits on your hips and thighs.

A sensible approach is to start slow and build up steadily on any activity that you may like and at the same time develop a habit of eating right. Working out an hour in morning does no good if after that you laze around the whole day munching on cheese and chocolates. Being active is important. So is learning to avoid empty calorie-rich foods, foods laden with calories but with little or no nutritional value.

If walking is not your idea, just buy   workout cassettes by Karen Voight, Jane Fonda, Cindy Crawford or one of those Australian exercise video cassettes that are available in our market now. You can alternate the videos to prevent monotony. If you are one of the rich with plenty of time kinds, just join up one of the health clubs. Aerobics, weight training, using the machines at the gymn do go a long way in shaping and toning your contours. The possibilities are endless, you just have to find an activity that works for you.

Once you build up your activity level and keep a check on your intake level, fat has to burn and it will burn depending on your age and your fitness level. It is better not to jump on  scales everyday, because if it is fat you are losing and muscles that you are gaining,  remember that muscles weigh more than fat. Measuring the inches or how easily you fit into that old pair of jeans would be a better way.

The old adage remains true, no pain, no gain. But take care to not to over do it. Learning the correct way to use a machine or an exercise routine is the second. It is no use blaming the video or others for the results of overlooking these basic steps. Find an instructor, or someone who already has a long experience in working out and get their advice. Getting it right is important.

At first the lazy body will come up with a variety of symptoms just to not to let you go for that another bout of sweating and stretching. So, your first battle will be to win your mind over your body. Once you throw yourself into a sensible regimen of re-creating a new you, you will gradually begin to enjoy it and soon form a habit of it. Sweat out the flab and build strong muscles. Muscles mean power, strength, vigour. Or, if you already have a lean mean body, start maintaining it. We can aspire to be the best that we can be taking all other factors like body type, genes etc into consideration. Let’s get started!