Use Your Computer to Fight Flab

Clearly, too many hours sitting at the computer can be a recipe for jiggly hips and thighs.

But here's a computer pastime that fights desk-chair flab: interactive exercise programs. In a study, people who enrolled in a personalized Internet-based exercise program reported a significant bump in their activity levels at the end of a year.

Fitness at Your Fingertips
There are lots of free online options for exercise tracking, so get Googling! Here's what you want in an online exercise program: educational and motivational materials (think fitness how-to's and success stories), goal-setting options, a physical activity log where you can track your workouts, and an occasional e-mail that prompts you to use the program. People who joined an online group with these elements reported 90 minutes of physical activity per week at the 1-year mark. (Use RealAge Smart Search to find expert-selected online fitness resources.)

Get Together
Need more motivation? Find a buddy. Reporting to your buddy every day on what exercises you tackled is a surprisingly motivational way to keep yourself focused on your goal.

If you can't figure out what to do, start with walking. Here's how 30 minutes a day could save your life.

A comparison of Internet and print-based physical activity interventions. Marcus, B. H., Lewis, B. A., Williams, D. M., Dunsiger, S., Jakicic, J. M., Whiteley, J. A., Albrecht, A. E., Napolitano, M. A., Bock, B. C., Tate, D. F., Sciamanna, C. N., Parisi, A. F., Archives of Internal Medicine 2007 May 14;167(9):944-949.