If you have been reading my fitness columns, you are probably surprised by the title of this article.

It may seem that I have been telling you that exercise is a cure-all for everything. It is true that the benefits realized by regular exercise are numerous, but exercise alone without a sensible eating plan won't turn an overweight body into a thin one.

Two occurrences last week prompted me to write about today's topic. First, I read an excellent article in my Personal Trainer magazine about the misconceptions held by the mainstream population about dieting and nutrition.

This was followed by a question from an obviously overweight woman who had just attended one of my Step `n' Sculpt classes. She asked me what exercise she could do to get rid of the "flab" on her inner thighs.

Exercise will not erase excess flab and weight if we don't also eat fewer calories than we have been eating. Yes, exercise will help with weight loss, in that it does burn calories and also keeps our metabolism higher than if we didn't exercise. But, unfortunately, it will not make us lose weight without a cutback on the number of calories consumed.

It is a numbers' game. To gain or lose a pound of fat, we must eat or not eat 3500 extra calories. "Wow!" you say. "That's a lot of calories." Yes, but think of it this way. If every day for a week, you eat 500 less or more calories a day than you have been, by the end of the week that's 3500 calories, or a pound of fat. And, at that rate, you will lose or gain four pounds a month, or close to 50 pounds a year.

If you only cut back 500 calories a day (a piece of cake, in more ways than one), you will not feel terribly hungry and your body and mind will not try to sabotage you. What do I mean by "sabotage?" Read on.

When we cut back drastically on our intake of food, our body and mind go into starvation alert. Our body/mind doesn't realize that we are cutting back for health reasons. Their function (from back in the days when food wasn't as plentiful) is to keep us from starving. So, sensing that we are losing backup fat, the body slows down our metabolism for conservation purposes.

This is why it is important to exercise - it keeps the metabolism from slowing down. And, in the meantime, our body sends messages to the brain about how hungry we are - that's why heavier dieting can result in binging.

The third important factor in slimming is the psychology of a sensible approach to eating. We live in a "quick fix" society. We want everything to happen yesterday. When we are trying to lose weight, we make the mistake of wanting it to happen fast and easily.

So, instead of reprogramming ourselves to get used to a sensible, one-pound-at-a-time method of eating, we embrace the many lose-20-pounds-per-week diet plans that are not only unhealthy and dangerous, but also do not provide a lasting way of eating properly.

Believe me, I know these diets - I have been on many of them and they all were disasters. If you want a lasting plan that combines proper and healthy eating with fitness and exercise, you would benefit from checking into Weight Watchers, Inc.

Another method that worked beautifully for me was a little booklet with a calorie counter dial and a list of how many calories the foods we eat contain. Make it fun by dialing the amounts throughout the day and keeping track. In the beginning you will be amazed at how high the number is by the end of the day.

Once the fat and flab start melting away, then the exercise will not only maintain your metabolism, but it will also build lean muscle mass. I know I have said this before. The more lean muscle mass we have, the more calories we will burn - even when we are asleep.

And, before you know it, there will be no more flab on your inner thighs - or anywhere else, for that matter. And you will also feel terrific! Go to it.