By Craig Ballantyne

In a world where there is an overwhelming amount of fat-loss information available, it is still the little things that can mean a lot to a beginner.

Australian researchers confirmed what almost everyone has known all along: To lose weight, you must get moving (keeping in mind that "getting moving" doesn't require you to run marathons). By monitoring a group of sedentary individuals, they found that when those folks simply added 2,000 steps to the number of steps they normally took each day (about 2,000), they could lose just over an inch from their waistlines.

At the rate of one to two steps per second, that extra 2,000 steps will take you only 17 to 34 minutes of walking per day. If you're relatively inactive, that will make a big difference. But take it easy. If you try to do too much too fast or are very overweight, even walking can lead to overuse injuries.

By the way, the researchers also found that if you're already active (meaning you walk more than 10,000 steps a day), adding an extra 2,000 steps won't do much for you. To shed that excess weight, you'll need to increase the intensity of your workout by adding interval training and resistance training to your program.

[Ed. Note: Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne is the creator of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss system. If you want a free online source of information, motivation, and social support to help you improve your health, lose weight, and get fit, sign up for ETR's free natural health e-letter.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.