MANILA, Philippines - Five minutes indeed goes a long way in keeping those unwanted pounds off.

A recent study showed that middle-aged women who started biking for just 5 minutes a day gained about 1.5 fewer pounds than those who didn't take up the sport.

The research, led by Dr. Anne Lusk, Ph.D. of the Harvard School of Public Health, was conducted for 16 years on over 18,000 women aged 25 to 42.

Scientists said the findings should encourage women not to give up exercise when they think it's too difficult.

But if biking is not your cup of tea, there are a lot of fitness activities out there that you can try. According to physical conditioning expert EJ Abido, preference alone can help you keep going with any sport or workout.

"If I like badminton, magba-badminton ako. I won't go running. Kasi mahihirapan kang i-push ang sarili mo into doing something you don't actually like," Abido told abs-cbnNEWS.com in an earlier interview. (Read story here.)

Abido said another way of choosing a workout is knowing your physical limits.

"You have to know kung saang level ang kaya mo. Let's say obese ka na tao then you go to an extreme marathon. If you're extremely overweight, you're putting your knees and ankles at risk," he said. -- abs-cbnNEWS.com, with reports from ANC and CNN.com