Hot Stove League

The secret to losing or maintaining weight is out of the bag. Exercise hard six days a week. That's all there is to it. Do that and you can boost your resting metabolism by 50 percent. You'll be burning more calories than the sedentary guy even if you're just sitting on the couch talking on the phone. You'll be burning more calories while you sleep.

Of course, most Americans will instead jump in with both feet to the diet pool, hoping, wishing, praying the latest fad diet will help them lose 20 pounds in a week. Seems easier than exercise. After all, who wants to sweat and burn? Some 95 percent of these people will gain back the 20 pounds and more. They'll continue on the diet roller coaster, frustrated, wondering why nothing seems to work, mystified.

Something will work. It's called motion. Exercise hard, six days a week — an hour a day of aerobics four times a week and an hour a day of weights two days a week. Dance. Jog. Bike. Swim. Walk. Do whatever activities are most fun for you. Before long you too will be losing or maintaining weight as the newest member of the Hot Stove League.