Get the balance right.

(from WH Smith Health magazine).

Once you start regular exercise, the key to looking and feeling good is to mix cardiovascular exercise with toning, such as weight training, while increasing flexibility.
By far the quickest – and least boring – way to turn your body from a slab of flab into a lean machine is to combine some sweaty stuff with regular toning. Anyone who wants to lose weight and shape up (and doesn’t want to take all day about it) needs to burn calories quickly. The best way to speed up your metabolic rate – the rate at which your body burns calories – and muscle is the king of calories.

“Lean, toned muscle tissue has a higher metabolic rate than fatty tissue, “says Personal Trainer Adam Riccio of AMR Personal Training. “Increase your muscle tissue and you’ll automatically find you burn more calories when you exercise, which means you’ll shed more fat quickly. People panic when I mention weight training, especially women. But this isn’t about bulking up muscles – it’s about firming up your body. Well-toned muscle is much more compact than fat, so working with weights can improve your body shape quite dramatically. The big bonus is weight training actually encourages your body to lose fat faster.”