I love all kinds of food, never followed a diet, or did exercise since getting married  and becoming a working adult instead of a student in graduate school from 1960. As a result my body weight slowly but surely increased over a period of 65 years from 130 lbs to 182 lbs. Two and half years ago we moved to a Continuous Care Retirement Community (CCRC) in the same town, Lexington, where we have lived since 1966. Because of available time, I joined an exercise class three days a week and on other three days I did physical and mental exercises on my own at home. The advantage of an exercise class is that it provides some discipline and you do not have to think about what you do. You can simply follow what the instructor tells you to do. On the other hand exercising on your own, excuses come easy and interruptions can be frequent.

In any case, the other day I weighed  myself and found that in the past 2.5 years I actually shed 4 lbs of body weight without  changing my life style about food intake and diet. This has to be attributed undisputedly to the regular physical exercise routine I have followed. This is of course well known. But now I have personally experienced it. By the way, the exercise class I participated in is the easiest kind , called total fitness level 1 involving gentle movements of every part of your body muscles with frequent sit downs and no strenuous work out for 45 minutes per class. No sweating involved.  I now actually look forwards to the class instead of regarding them as a chore one must do three times a week.  

I am now a true believer and practitioner of physical exercises. It is something everyone should do in retirement.