Summer is right around the corner, so if you need to start working on your summer bod, it is probably best to start working on it now. Yet, how do you get fit and stay fit? Though the answer to this question has become overly dilute, the mission is still the same: eat well and stay active. A recent study reaffirms the latter.

Conducted by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, the study highlights how exercise can not only help you lose weight but in the long term but hitting the gym can help you keep that weight off.

Maintaining Your Summer Body

So, you work hard for the next couple of weeks and eat right and by July 4th you have the perfect summer body. However, if you want to avoid the “summer body” rush next year you are going to have to learn to maintain that body and consistent exercise could be the key.

According to the study published in the March issue of Obesity, researchers examined those who consistently demonstrated the ability to keep the weight off. To no surprise, findings in the study reveal that successful weight-loss maintainers rely on physical activity to remain in energy balance.

Even more so the findings reveal that staying active is more effective than consistently reducing your dietary intake.

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"This study addresses the difficult question of why so many people struggle to keep weight off over a long period,” says Danielle Ostendorf, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the CU Anschutz Health and Wellness Center.

“By providing evidence that a group of successful weight-loss maintainers engages in high levels of physical activity to prevent weight regain -- rather than chronically restricting their energy intake -- is a step forward to clarifying the relationship between exercise and weight-loss maintenance”

The Study

The study conducted was one of the few studies to measure total daily energy expenditure in weight-reduced individuals using the gold standard doubly labeled water method. This specific method allowed researchers to measure subjects energy expenditure through urine samples.

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Researchers also reviewed the Body Mass Index of weight-loss maintainers compared to individuals struggling to maintain their weight loss.

"Our findings suggest that this group of successful weight-loss maintainers are consuming a similar number of calories per day as individuals with overweight and obesity but appear to avoid weight regain by compensating for this with high levels of physical activity," says Victoria A. Catenacci, MD, a weight management physician and researcher at CU Anschutz Medical Campus.

When it comes down to it, the best thing for you to do is to stay active. Avoid trendy diets and unnecessary products. Just get up and get out.