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We've heard repeatedly that regular exercise is good for us.

It helps prevent weight gain, heart attack, Type 2 diabetes, even depression. Yet if you're like the majority of Canadians - 64 per cent - you're not active enough to reap health benefits.

Too little time, deadlines at work, and lack of motivation prevent many people from sticking to an exercise program.

According to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the solution may be as simple as using a pedometer - a small device that counts and displays the number of steps you walk each day. Wearing a pedometer on your hip can boost your level of physical activity, promote weight loss and reduce blood pressure.

In the report, researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine in California pooled the results of 26 studies involving 2,767 participants, including eight randomized controlled trials, that evaluated pedometer use and physical activity.

Over all, pedometer users increased physical activity by 27 per cent from baseline, an amount equivalent to an additional 2,000 steps - or one mile - per day. Over time, those extra calories you burn add up.

Consider that a one-mile brisk walk burns about 100 calories for a 150-pound person. Do the math and you'll see that over the course of one year those extra 2,000 steps per day translate into 36,500 calories and - providing you don't justify your daily efforts with a chocolate chip cookie - a 10-pound loss on the bathroom scale.

Indeed, pedometer users did lose weight. In the studies, participants given pedometers significantly lowered their body mass index. (BMI is calculated as your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height in metres. For adults, a BMI of 25 or more signals overweight; 30 or more indicates obesity.)

The decrease in BMI was not related to the number of steps per day or the change in steps per day, suggesting that wearing a pedometer makes you more likely to increase other types of exercise (activities not measured by a pedometer).

It's also possible that pedometer users lost weight by consuming fewer calories. I observe the powerful link between exercise and diet in my private practice every day.

People who work out regularly are more likely to make careful food choices than those who are sedentary. They also tend to return more quickly to their healthy eating plans after a lapse.

Using a pedometer was also linked with a significant drop - almost 4 millimetres of mercury (mm Hg) - in systolic blood pressure. To put this number in perspective, reducing systolic blood pressure by 2 mm Hg is associated with 10 per cent fewer deaths from stroke in middle-aged populations. (Systolic blood pressure is the pressure in your arteries when the heart beats; it's the top number of a blood pressure reading.)

According to the report, simply clipping a pedometer to your belt isn't enough to make a difference. A key factor in participants' ability to boost exercise and lose weight was having a daily step goal and using a step diary.

To reap health benefits such as lower blood pressure and improved blood glucose control, most experts advise using a 10,000-step-per-day goal. If you want to shed excess pounds, aim for 15,000 steps per day. In the studies, pedometer users who were not given a step goal did not increase activity or reduce BMI.

How can such a small device achieve such impressive results? The fact that it monitors your progress - and provides immediate feedback - motivates you to keep going.

Recording how many steps you get in each day will encourage you to find others ways to add in walks or take the stairs. As you notice your fitness level improve and your waistband become looser, exercise and healthy eating will become more important to you.

With the upcoming onslaught of food-laden holiday parties, you'd be smart to buy a pedometer now instead of asking Mr. Claus to bring you one. Of course, there are other tools that can help you eat healthier, exercise more and perhaps even lose a few pounds.

The bathroom scale does wonders to motivate people into action. Stepping on the scale regularly, even daily, allows you to keep yourself in check.

Research shows that daily weigh-ins help people maintain a weight loss. And if you're trying to drop a few pounds, monitoring your progress provides impetus to continue following your fitness and eating plan.

Frequent weighing also provides an early warning system. It allows you to catch small increases in weight very quickly and take corrective action to prevent further weight gain.

If you notice a few extra pounds after a few holiday dinners, you're more likely to forgo dessert or sneak in an extra workout until the needle returns to your usual weight.

A daily food and fitness diary can also prompt behaviour change. Writing down what you eat, how much you eat and how often you exercise provides awareness, focus and motivation.

Tracking your food intake will make you think twice about reaching for that handful of potato chips or second helping of dinner. It will also help you eliminate those extra nibbles you turn a blind eye to.

Research suggests that continuing to record daily food intake and workouts after a weight loss helps keep the pounds from creeping back.

Even if you don't lose weight, these simple tools will help your waistline survive a season of shortbread cookies and high-fat hors d'oeuvres.

Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based dietitian at the Medcan Clinic, is on CTV's Canada AM every Wednesday. Visit her website at lesliebeck.com.

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