Exercise is important at every stage of life. It makes you stronger and helps battle high blood pressure, heart disease and more. But as you get older, exercise takes on a much more important role in your weight-loss/weight-control regimen.

Exercise not only helps you lose weight but helps you keep it off. People who continue to exercise regularly are more successful at maintaining weight loss than those do not. Aerobic exercise also gets rid of abdominal fat, which causes more health problems than extra pounds on any other part of the body.

Exercise trends may come and go, but brisk walking is still the cheapest and easiest exercise you can do. A half an hour walk a day is a good way to start. If you can’t do it, take several shorter walks throughout the day. If you can, make walking your primary mode of transportation, if it is not that far.