Advice from my little brother

My brother Sean in 2005 at 225 lbs and at Christmas this year at 170.

I called my little brother for his 22nd birthday the other day and on the phone we were chatting about this little Treadmillionaires project and about health and fitness in general. Sean just recently experienced some major weight loss himself, going from 6'1" 225 lbs down to a trim 170 lbs.

Now granted, he was younger when he was "chubby" (he really wasn't that chubby, but it definitely wasn't muscle making him weigh 225.) Now he lives a very active lifestyle and his new 32" pant size is a result of that. I asked him his secret and he responded with some profound advice:

"You have to be active every day. You can't just go to the gym once or twice a week and expect to get fit and lose weight. You need to find something you really love doing, too. For me, it's basketball. I try to play basketball every day. I hate going to the gym. It's boring and monotonous."

He's right. Jumping on a treadmill once in a while isn't going to do much; if you really want to get fit and stay fit you have to adjust your lifestyle to be active every day. For the time being I'm doing more than the average joe...meeting with a trainer once a week and going to the gym three times inbetween sessions. But will I still be doing this five years from now?

Sean lives in Florida which means he has many more opportunities to be outdoors in nice, warm weather and do active things. I stay bundled up in my Chicago office for the majority of the year sitting in my chair doing nothing but typing all day.

But I can't get the words "every day" out of my head. I've been trying to think of things I can do to accommodate this philosophy and so far here are some ideas I've come up with:

1. Always take the stairs. Always. And take them as FAST as possible, to get the heart beating.
2. Avoid automatically opening doors. Is it really that hard to just open them yourself and use a little muscle in the process?
3. Get off a stop early and walk. I try to do this when I have time. There used to be posters around Chicago with Magic Johnson's photo on it recommending this. A simple step that makes a world of a difference in your day-to-day.
4. Walk fast. Living in the city means a lot of walking. Why not do it at a pace that'll burn more calories each time?

5. At work, meet in person.  The other day I had the option to discuss something with a colleague over the phone or go to their office one block away.  Meeting in person, even if it's just down the hall to another cubicle, burns a lot more calories than picking up a phone or writing an e-mail.

6. Sleep.  What does this have to do with staying active?  Well, if you're tired all day because you didn't get a good night's sleep, you're a lot less likely to add these little things to your routine and you'll take the easy route more often.  So rest up!  You got a busy and active day ahead of you!

What do you do to be active every day?