Plus, exercise can counteract any fat-guarding legacy you have inherited. A recent study showed the power of this 1-2 punch. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory analyzed 35 pairs of identical twins of whom one was a long-distance runner and the other was sedentary. You can break it up. If your schedule is too hectic for an uninterrupted workout, try mini-workouts dotted throughout the day.
Any exercise is healthful.
And when you get a chance, lift weights. Mayo Clinic researchers deliberately overfed volunteers by 1,000 calories a day. Predictably, some gained lots of pounds, but some gained hardly any. It turned out the latter group fidgeted away up to 850 calories a day, equivalent to an 8.5-mile walk. If you're not a natural fidgeter, look for ways to foster it.