As someone who has lost 60 pounds, more or less, since September (yes, I'm bragging and it won't be the last time) by doing it the old fashioned way — an hour of treadmill walking nearly every day and making better food choices — I can personally attest to the effectiveness of exercise.

So when I read that medical researchers have found that youngsters with a gene that predisposes them to obesity were able to reduce their weight and waist size by doing moderate to physical exercise at least an hour a day, it just reinforced what I've seen in my own case though I have no idea if I have the gene in question.

What's really exciting about this news is that these are people with what's called the "fatso" gene or, in the more technical terms of scientists, the FTO rs9939609 polymorphism.

But with physical activity they were able to counter that genetic predisposition. Thus biology isn't necessarily destiny. It can be literally reshaped by putting one foot in front of the other. Or as the researchers say in the conclusion of the scientific abstract to their article:

Adolescents meeting the daily physical activity recommendations may overcome the effect of the FTO rs9939609 polymorphism on obesity-related traits.

An hour or more of daily exercise is a lot. But this study is just the latest piece of evidence that it's worth it.