Top Activities for Preventing Weight Gain in Women: This Week on AOL Health

Researchers may have found a simple way to help stop weight gain in women: Get moving, even just a little. It may sound like a no brainer, but now there is even more science to back it up.

Harvard researchers found that bicycling and brisk walking lowered the number of added pounds in pre-menopausal women -- especially those who were overweight or obese.

In the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, women aged 25 to 42 who rode their bike for just five minutes a day were less likely to gain weight. And the more they rode the less weight they gained. Similar results were found for those who walked briskly.

"This study tells people to bike or walk briskly, not just walk slowly, and tells city and governmental officials to build comfortable bicycle environments," Anne C. Lusk, a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health and lead author of the study, told AOL Health.

For details on this study and how to prevent weight gain, go to AOL Health.

Looking to switch up your exercise routine to maintain results? That's Fit expert Joe Dowdell tells you how often you need to change it up.