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The Mayo researchers reported a striking difference in activity

levels between lean persons and overweight ones. Their study did not

involve deliberate exercise; it measured—with the sensors—how

much people moved about naturally and spontaneously.

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The heavier ones tended to sit, while the lean ones were more

restless and spent two more hours a day on their feet—standing or

walking. The difference translated into 350 calories a day, enough for

the heavy people to take off about 14 to 18 kilograms a year, if they

would get moving.

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The researchers believe the tendency to sit still or move around is

biological, governed by genetically determined levels of brain

chemicals. And that tendency influences weight—not the other way

around, they say.

Plenty of experts have been advising people to find small,

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relatively painless ways to burn extra calories, like taking the stairs

instead of the elevators and parking at the far end of the lot to make

themselves walk a bit. As to why the usual weight loss remedies

frequently fail, Dr. Levine said, it is because people have a hard time

sticking with exercise programs and diets. He argues that the very

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number of diet books and weight-loss plans is proof that none of

them work.