Copyright 2004, Jim Bolding

When I was a teenager in high school I was a lean mean calorie burning machine. I actually wanted to gain weight for the advantage it would give me in athletics, but it just wouldn't happen. I burned up everything I ate and my weight just stayed the same. And I ate all the time!

Then came my first year in college. Balloon city. For whatever reason I chose not to participate in athletics. (Girls maybe? Or more likely the level of competition.) In that short first year I went from 160 pounds to 210 pounds.

In retrospect I know exactly why this happened to me. A total lack of physical activity and a diet consisting of burgers and fries and cherry pies. Lack of physical activity causes muscles to get soft, and if food intake is not decreased, added body weight is almost always fat. Once-active people, who continue to eat as they always have after settling into sedentary lifestyles, tend to suffer from "creeping obesity."

That first year in college I was eating approximately 500 calories per day more than my body needed. Gaining 50 pounds in one year is not exactly "creeping", but just 100 extra calories per day will add 10 pounds per year. The key to weight control is keeping energy intake (food) and energy output (physical activity) in balance. When you consume only as many calories as your body needs, your weight will usually remain constant. If you take in more calories than your body needs, you will put on excess fat. If you expend more energy than you take in you will burn excess fat.

Exercise plays an important role in weight control by increasing energy output, calling on stored calories for extra fuel. Not only that, but exercising also increases your resting metabolism which means you'll burn more calories even when you're on the couch. How much exercise is needed to make a difference in your weight depends on the amount and type of activity, and on how much you eat.

Walking is a good aerobic exercise that burns body fat. Walking 30 minutes per day at 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate will burn about 1/2 pound per week. Lowering your food intake by 250 calories per day will reduce you another 1/2 pound.

If you have been victimized by "creeping obesity" your solution should be obvious to you. Get off the couch and get moving!

Jim Bolding is the publisher of Diet and Fitness News e-zine and the Author of Desserts For Dieters. http://www.dessertsfordieters.com