Today many of us started on our challenge to lose ten pounds in the next ten weeks as part of the 2012 10 in 10 Challenge. While this is an admirable achievement, even MORE benefits will come after that ten weeks has long passed. The habits and rituals which we need to adopt to be successful in the first ten weeks of the year will make us much, much, much healthier by the end of the year and hopefully far beyond that as well.

Healthy living should be a part of your life like brushing you teeth. Unfortunately healthy living is more like flossing, everyone knows that we should be doing it, we know the negative effects if we don’t, but unlike brushing our teeth, flossing hasn’t become a habit and therefore most people in the US simply don’t do it on a regular basis.

Here’s the good news, a series of studies have shown that by just getting off the couch of doom and making walking around, moving around, and exercising a part of your daily routine you will dramatically increase the years you will live as well as the quality of life in those years that you live.

Check out this great and entertaining video from Dr. Mike Evans that explains all of the scientific details:

That’s it. It’s that simple. Throughout the next ten weeks, many of you will be exploring a variety of behaviors that will help you lose weight in a healthy manner, and in the process you’ll probably also find a few that you thought would work but didn’t. This is the fun part, keep trying. Try a variety of things and use your network to seek out advice until you find what works for you. The thing to remember is that while you are trying all of these things out, keep moving. This alone will help make daily exercise a regular part of your daily routine and once its part of your routine, it’s really hard to strip it out.