5 Ways Sex Helps You Lose Weight -- and Keep It Off

Could heart-pounding fun between the sheets help you get slimmer faster? Definitely! But the reasons an active sex life promotes weight loss go beyond its potential to torch calories. They touch the core of this ultimate mind-body-soul experience. What the heck are we talking about? Consider these five ways sex helps get and keep you slim. Some will surprise you, and all will please you.

1. Sex blasts calories. Instead of burning a measly 70 calories per hour lying in bed together watching Letterman, Leno, or HBO reruns, invest in some highly enjoyable exercise. A mere 25 minutes of sex -- we're figuring 10 minutes of foreplay, 15 minutes for the main event -- burns 88 calories if you're a 150-pound woman, 106 calories for a 180-pound guy. That's the same energy you'd expend doing a light workout on a rowing machine or stationary bike. Trying out a fun new position that feels like an adults-only game of Twister will boost the burn rate a little. And going for a second round will, too. Arriving at the Big O gets your heart pounding as much as bounding up a tall flight of stairs.

2. Sex curbs carb and fat cravings. Regular sex can help keep levels of cortisol, the high-anxiety hormone, in check. That's good news, because too much cortisol boosts your appetite for high-fat, high-carb goodies and tells your body to store the extra calories around your midsection. A romp in the hay short-circuits cortisol's ill effects. Turns out sex dampens your body's "fight or flight" response to tension-provoking events. Intercourse, specifically, also calms your blood pressure, even when everything around you is going haywire. You remain serene instead of being possessed by an unstoppable craving for Twinkies. This stress buffer can translate into a slimmer midsection. Wondering exactly how researchers measured the effect of sex on stress?