Exercise is one of the major components of this lifestyle. Regular daily physical activity is at the base of the Mediterranean Food Guide Pyramid, visually depicting the importance of this lifestyle component. Regular physical activity has many benefits, including burning unwanted calories, keeping bones healthy, improving muscle mass, cardiovascular function, digestion, sleep, and enhancing emotional well-being. In order to provide the greatest benefits, exercise should take place on most days, meaning six to seven days per week. The duration of exercise should be thirty to forty-five minutes per day. (This need not be consecutive.) For example, you could start the day with a fifteen-minute walk, then do another fifteen minutes at lunchtime, and conclude the day with a fifteen-minute stroll after dinner.

Exercise increases muscle mass, which is very important when trying to manage your weight. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue; fat is a relatively inactive tissue. What this means in terms of weight management is that the more muscle you have, the more calories you get to eat to maintain that muscle. That is why someone with a good amount of muscle mass can eat a lot and still maintain his or her weight.

You should check with your health care provider before starting any type of exercise program.

Types of Physical Activity

There are two types of physical activity — conventional exercise and functional exercise. Conventional exercise includes activities that are typical sports. For example, walking, running, swimming, golf, and tennis are all types of conventional exercise. Functional exercise includes activities such as mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, running after children, and climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator. The type of activity is not as important as the fact that one must do some sort of activity daily. One way to boost activity level is to try to increase both conventional exercise and functional exercise in your daily life. For example, start by jogging fifteen minutes per day, and then try to increase activity further by parking as far away as possible when shopping or getting off the bus or train one stop earlier when taking public transport. Whatever you can do to increase the amount of energy that your body expends is positive.

Tips to Help You Stick to It

Many people start exercise programs and stop one or two weeks later. This is usually for a variety of reasons: There are not enough hours in the day; the gym is too far away; and so on. Here are some tips to help you stick with an exercise program.

• Set the alarm thirty minutes earlier in the morning, every morning. When the alarm goes off, get up; don't think about it, just do it! You'll find that if you stick with this long enough it will become a routine.

• Get all the necessary clothes and equipment out the night before. Make it easy for yourself in the morning.

• Choose an activity that is within your ability level and fits in to your routine without too much difficulty.

• Choose an activity that you enjoy.

• Try alternating activities so as to eliminate boredom.

• Make workout dates with friends. You'll not want to disappoint them by not showing up. This works particularly well for early morning workouts!

• Use positive reinforcement to help you continue. Examples of positive reinforcement include giving yourself non-food-related rewards, such as treating yourself to a massage or going to a movie when a weekly workout goal is met.

• Remember that exercise is part of your daily life, not something that is done on an occasional basis.