Scientists have discovered a fat-burning enzyme in the body that's triggered by simply getting off the couch.

Stand up to lose weight and sit down to fatten up.

"Spend less time in the chair, get up and move around as much as you can throughout the day," said Fabio Comana, a University of California-San Diego professor and a physiologist with the American Council on Exercise..

"When you're up walking around, standing, puttering around or exercising, that enzyme gets activated," Comana said.

Sitting down shuts off that fat-burning enzyme. "That enzyme really responds to physical activity," Comana said.

You don't have to exercise to make it work. University of Missouri researchers found daily puttering around will drop the pounds.

However to make the most of this fat-burning, you need to exercise and eat a health diet!

Weight loss doesn't happen overnight but it does happen! Give yourself TIME and set REALISTIC goals!

"If I can get a few more calories burned every few minutes, you translate that over a 12-, 14-, 16-hour day, it can make a difference of as little a 100 calories a day," Comana said. "That may not seem like much in one day, but it's a pound a month and 12 pounds a year."

A simple way to stand up more often at work is instead of calling or e-mailing a co-worker, walk over to deliver your message in person.

At home, getting up and doing something every time there's a commercial on TV.

The exception, of course, would be standing up and scanning the inside of the fridge too often.