6 Secrets of Women Who Can Eat Whatever They Want

The gym isn't the only place you can burn calories, so having an active lifestyle can be a big help when you're trying to lose weight. "There's this idea of non-exercise activity and that's anything that's not really exercise," says Marisa Moore, RDN. "It could be that you always take the stairs instead of the elevator, or you get up more frequently to go to the bathroom because you're drinking a lot of water. All those things over time can contribute to you burning significantly more calories throughout the day."

Your takeaway: Getting regular exercise is important, but don't forget about how much you're moving when you're not exercising, per se. (Research suggests that when we focus on exercise as part of a weight loss plan, we may subconsciously move a lot less when we're not exercising, which can actually make it harder to drop pounds because we don't burn as many calories as we could.) Use tried-and-true strategies like parking in the farthest spot in the parking lot, getting off the subway one stop early and walking, and standing and moving around regularly throughout the day.