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"By taking yourself from a sedentary state, you can, in effect, reduce your biological age by 10 to 20 years" -- Roy Shephar, M.D., Ph.D., from the Department of Preventative Medicine and Biostatistics at the University of Toronto.      In order to achieve total health, one must be physically and mentally fit. Physical health is not only comprised by how much you exercise, but also how much you eat. Although what you eat and how the foods are prepared do decide a large part of your physical health, exercising is vital in maintaining a healthy weight. Not only does exercise burn calories, it also induces the processes of digestion and metabolism. Because your heart is a muscle, over time and exercise, it too will become stronger. Exercise is a great self-esteem builder, promotes metabolism, which in turn causes you to burn more calories when in a sedentary state, and it is a great way to socialize. There are many different types of exercise one can do varying from light exercise to strenuous activity. In the following section, there will be explanations of how to perform various exercises. Also, a section including the number of calories that are burned from doing certain exercises or playing certain sports.       When deciding upon a workout program, or when trying to gain or lose weight, a good way to begin is to set your goals and write them on a piece of paper. When you have the routine written on paper, you can always modify it or check it to give you motivation. Also, a plan will help you a lot more time to the exercise activities or help you stay on track to reach your weight goal.       The basic concept behind exercising and weight control is simple: to lose weight--burn more calories than you eat. To gain weight--eat more calories than you burn. Although this is simply common sense, it is absolutely true. The problem with this concept is what kinds of food you eat.       In order to lose weight, reducing fat intake is vital. Many of the calories you intake are from fat, generally and these calories are the ones you want to avoid. Also, when trying to lose weight, avoid eating "empty calorie" foods which are foods with little to no nutrients. Such foods are doughnuts, candy, and coffee. According to Health (Glencoe textbook) a safe weight loss is from one half pound to one and a half pounds per week. Losing more weight than that could be very harmful if not deadly. When trying to lose weight, try to avoid diet pills, diets composed of shakes or one food. These type of diets usually help lose weight for a short period of time, but once the program is stopped, the person will oftentimes gain the lost weight back. The problem with quick diets is that the person will lose weight, but their eating habits are not changed and therefore they do not keep the weight off.       Gaining weight is also a lengthy process. To gain weight, safely, weight training is one of the best routes. True, someone can easily put on pounds by eating junk food and fatty foods, but eventually it will catch up to them. The person who started eating more to gain weight, could end up trying to lose weight after they accumulated their desired weight and more. When trying to gain weight, keeping up aerobic exercises is very important to weight training. Also, try to eat as many foods loaded with carbohydrates as possible. Eating plenty of proteins is also very important. Without protein, muscles cannot take away the fat tissue and replace it with muscle tissue. When eating meats to get protein, be sure to trim the fat if possible and possibly remove the skin from chicken and other poultry. Other excellent sources of protein are beans and nuts. Choose from one of the main exercise groups: Aerobics Calisthenics/Toning Dancing Running/Walking Sports Swimming Weight Training Read about avoiding Injuries and learn about the more common injuries. Avoiding Injury