In 1964, when Robert DeBusk was a young-buck intern at Boston City Hospital, he experienced a small but significant revelation that has stayed with him. Climbing 60 to 90 flights of stairs a day, he lost 12 pounds in two weeks. "I lost that weight without breaking a sweat," he says.

Today, at 56, DeBusk still weighs 185 pounds, from which he hasn't deviated by more than five pounds through the years. He bikes five miles to and from Stanford University, where he's a professor of medicine and cardiology. If he has nearby errands, he gets there by pushing pedals.

His philosophy remains do a little, gain a lot - one that works, studies say, better than a dramatic self-improvement campaign with a strict deadline.

"Major life transformations like losing weight and getting in shape demand lifestyle adjustments that are more ambitious than most people's tolerance for change," says Allen Elkin, director of the Stress Management & Counseling Center in New York City.

The solution? Break goals into manageable pieces, biting off only what you can chew comfortably. "Don't set out to lose 10 pounds," advises Elkin. "That's too daunting. Instead, commit to losing one pound a month. In a year, you're more than 10 pounds lighter."

But how can you lose that one pound? More easily than you might think. We've compiled XXX small changes that can add to your fitness and well-being. Each by itself is no big deal, but that's the point. One small change often leads to another.

------------------------ Exercise Compiled by Gary Legwold ------------------------

1. Divide up your exercise. In one study of men who walked briskly five days a week for 12 weeks, those who split their daily jaunt into three 10-minute sessions experienced the same fitness gains and weight loss (an average of four pounds) as those who walked in straight 30-minute shots.

2. Do three minutes of office calisthenics. Hold each for six seconds, and repeat 10 times: (1) Palm press, for the pecs (force hands together). (2) Desk curl, for biceps (place palms face-up on bottom of desk and press upward). (3) Wall squat, for quads.

3. Exercise after eating. Riding a bike or walking after a meal almost doubles your resting metabolic rate for several hours.

4. Run on sand or grass. Running on softer, uneven surfaces can burn 40 percent more calories than running on hard, even surfaces like asphalt and cement.

5. Set your workout to music. One study's subjects were able to pedal 30 percent longer on stationary bikes while listening to tunes.

6. Meditate before working out. A study found that meditating eight to 15 minutes a day for two weeks lessened the physiological toll of running. Heart rates, for example, dropped 2 to 15 beats per minute at training pace and 4 to 12 at race pace.

7. Pedal in low gear. Cyclists who pedal at 90 rpm in a lower gear burn almost 10 percent more calories than those who cruise at 60 rpm in a higher gear.

8. Swim or use a rowing or cross-country skiing machine. Activities that involve the arms and legs burn about 55 percent more calories.

9. Lay out your workout clothes before going to bed. Put them on first thing in the morning and don't take them off until you do some exercise.

10. Boost your aerobic workout from one to two or more times a week. Among other benefits, it reduces the risk of diabetes by up to 39 percent.

11. Set the treadmill at a 10 percent incline. You'll burn 40 percent more calories.

12. Hit the stairs. You can gain an extra two years of life with just six minutes of stair-climbing a day.

13. Work your heart rate down. Two months of working out on a cross-country skiing machine every day can drop your resting pulse 10 beats per minute.

14. Do compound lifts in the weight room. Exercises that work two or more muscle groups (such as squats, bench presses, lat pulldowns and leg presses) can burn up to 50 percent more calories than ones that work only single groups (such as biceps curls and leg extensions).

15. Walk backward. Retro-walking burns 38 to 119 percent more calories (depending on your speed) than walking forward at the same pace.

16. Do 10 minutes on a treadmill to reduce blood pressure.

17. Exercise between noon and 9 p.m. That's when most people's heart rate, manual dexterity and reaction time are highest.

18. Limber up before breakfast.

19. Warm up to make exercise easier. Five to 10 minutes of light exercise - jogging in place or doing jumping jacks - followed by a few minutes of gentle stretching, improves mechanical efficiency and also increases the flow of blood to muscles. Both of which make exercise easier and reduce the risk of injury.

20. Take a 20-minute swim to help prevent cancer. A quick crawl in the pool stimulates the muscles of the large intestine, shortening the transit time of food and reducing your risk of colon cancer. Regular exercise in general can reduce your risk of developing colon cancer by 30 to 75 percent.

21. Cool down to make the next day easier. Five to 10 minutes of cooling down after you work out - even just slowly marching in place is enough - make a difference in recovery. Lactic acid, which causes muscle fatigue, decreases 50 percent faster when you cool down before you relax.

22. Be a role model. A survey found that a child with one physically active parent is twice as likely to exercise as a child with two sedentary parents. If both parents are exercisers, the child is six times more likely to follow suit.

------------------------ Diet Compiled by Mark Bittman ------------------------

23. Substitute low-fat potato chips or baked tortilla chips for their full-calorie versions. You'll save about 20 calories per serving and cut fat by up to 80 percent.

24. Switch from whole to low-fat milk. The difference in fat between whole (4 percent) and low-fat (1 percent) milk is more than 5 grams a cup. Every two cups substituted eliminates the equivalent of the fat found in a regular serving of fries.

25. Drink espresso instead of cappuccino. A half-cup of whole milk, about the amount in a standard cup of cappuccino, yields 75 calories and 4 grams of fat.

26. Remove the skin from chicken before cooking. White-meat chicken with skin has almost 150 percent more calories than the skinless version, and six times as much fat.

27. Pick roast beef over chef's salad. An extra-lean roast beef sandwich with mustard instead of mayonnaise contains only about 160 calories and 3 grams of fat, while a small chef's salad with ham and cheese contains roughly 320 calories and 28 grams of fat.

28. Make soups and stews a day in advance, chill and skim the fat before reheating. Each tablespoon skimmed saves 120 calories, most of them from fat.

29. Use a nonstick skillet and cooking spray when sauteing meat. Rub chicken breasts with an herb-and-spice mixture, then "dry-saute" them for six to eight minutes, turning once, over medium-high heat. You'll save about 30 grams of fat and 300 calories over cooking with three tablespoons of margarine.

30. Use only one yolk in your weekly three-egg omelet. You'll eliminate more than 3,200 calories during the course of a year, and help keep your cholesterol down.

31. Substitute whole-grain bread and breadsticks for their white-flour cousins. You'll triple the fiber in your diet.

32. Use jam instead of butter. You'll save up to four grams of fat with every teaspoon.

33. Eat more garlic. A half-clove a day cuts your heart-attack risk by about 18 percent by reducing your cholesterol.

34. Dilute fruit juice and flavored drinks to cut calories.

35. Choose the right candy. Chuckles, jelly beans and spice drops all contain around 100 calories and no fat per serving. Just one Reese's Peanut Butter Cup has 120 calories and 7 grams of fat.

36. Have a fajita (with no cheese or sour cream) instead of an enchilada.

37. Start your day with a hearty breakfast. An adequate breakfast (one that equals about 25 percent of your daily caloric intake) raises your metabolism by 20 percent for four to five hours. So think of your eating day as a pyramid: Start big, and eat progressively smaller meals as the day goes on.

38. Substitute turkey for salami or ham and cheese. Three ounces of turkey have about 100 calories and 3 grams of fat, whereas three ounces of salami have more than 350 calories and 30 grams of fat.

39. Forget pie a la mode. Have the pie or the ice cream.

40. Choose the right popcorn. Low-fat microwave varieties contain two-thirds the calories of regular microwave popcorn, and less than half the fat.

41. Pick one food each month and substitute a low-fat version.

42. Eat hamburgers instead of cheeseburgers. There are typically 100 calories and 9 grams of fat in a single slice of American cheese.

43. Substitute a glass of water for a soda once a week. You'll save 7,500 calories over a year, which is the equivalent of more than two pounds.

44. Bring an apple or a carrot to work. If you eat it as a snack instead of a serving of potato chips, you'll save 10 grams of fat, cut calories by 50 percent or more, and boost your intake of nutrients and fiber.

45. Have a piece of fruit with each meal. The National Cancer Institute recommends five servings of fruit and vegetables a day: Have a piece of fruit with every meal and you'll need only a salad and one cooked vegetable to make your daily five.

46. Eat cereal for lunch or dinner once a week.

47. Have low-fat or fat-free frozen yogurt.

48. Drink a glass of cold water before every meal. It reduces your appetite without adding a calorie.

49. Switch to lower-fat mayo.

50. Don't go nuts. The package of peanuts served on airplanes contains up to 15 grams of fat, about a quarter of your daily allotment (67 grams). Don't ask for seconds.

51. Skip the French fries once a week. It will save you at least 520 grams of fat a year - more than a week's recommended intake.

52. Choose lean ham (or Canadian bacon) instead of bacon.

53. Cut meat calories by buying smaller pieces to keep portions modest.

54. Eliminate the butter you use on vegetables by gradually mixing it with increasing amounts of lemon juice.

55. Prepare stir-fries, soups and stews using meat as an ingredient rather than the main attraction.

56. Order thin-crust pizza - two-thirds the calories of thick-crust - and hold the meat. Pepperoni can increase the fat content of pizza by a third.

57. Alternate alcoholic drinks with nonalcoholic ones.

58. Eat white-fleshed fish.

----------------------------- Lifestyle Compiled by Michael Castleman -----------------------------

59. Stand up. Standing an additional hour over the course of a day can burn an extra 10 to 20 calories - that's 3,650 to 7,300 (a pound or two of fat) a year.

60. Pace. About one calorie is burned for every 15 steps paced, which can add up as you yak on the phone, brush your teeth or work on that speech you're giving next week.

61. Park a block or two away from your destination. The extra walk can burn an extra 30 calories a day, or three pounds of fat a year.

62. Spend 15 minutes cleaning up. Straightening up the kitchen, cellar or garage for just 15 minutes burns about 40 calories - four pounds a year if you clean up every day.

63. Do two errands a week on foot.

64. Short-circuit sudden stress. Stress expert Robert Cooper has devised a five-step "instant calming sequence": (1) Keep breathing. Stress often makes people hold their breath, which increases anxiety. (2) Smile. It helps you to relax. (3) Maintain good posture. Stress often causes slumping, which increases tension. (4) Accentuate the positive. Imagine a wave of relaxation washing over you; picture yourself on vacation lying in a hammock. (5) Take control. Even when things seem to be veering out of control, you still have power. Use it.

65. Call a good friend once a week. A nine-year study found that those adults with the most social connections had half the death rate as those with the fewest.

66. Take 100 to 400 iu of vitamin E each day. A recent Harvard study showed that those who took at least 100 iu of vitamin E daily suffered 37 percent fewer heart attacks. There are two types of vitamin E: natural (d-alpha-tocopherol) and synthetic (d,l-alpha-tocopherol). The natural vitamin is better utilized by the body.

67. Check your vitamin label. Look for a statement saying the product passes the dissolution test, which means it will dissolve.

68. Buy the cheapest vitamins you can find. "If you pay more than $10 a month for your supplements," warns the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocate group in Washington, D.C., "you're paying too much."

69. Make an appointment for a checkup on your birthday every year. Women live, on average, seven years longer than men (79 versus 72), partly because they are better about having annual physicals.

70. Cover your ears. Every loud noise damages the microscopic hairs in the ears, which transmit sound impulses to the brain. Once injured, these hairs do not grow back. To hold on to the hearing you have left, buy earplugs.

71. Ask your parents and siblings about their health. Heredity is not destiny, but many serious illnesses run in families.

72. Take a sip when you pass a water fountain. You need more water than your thirst indicates. Metabolized food provides about four cups a day, but breathing, urinating and nonathletic perspiration cost you 10 cups a day. That's a six-cup deficit before you even lace up your running shoes.

73. Get a flu shot every November. It cuts risk by about 80 percent for healthy adults.

74. Don't go barefoot in a health-club shower or locker room.

75. Wash your hands several times a day.

76. Drink to your health. Moderate drinking helps prevent heart disease, according to many studies.

77. Sip teas for indigestion or anxiety. A cup of peppermint or ginger tea can settle an upset stomach, and chamomile can ease anxiety.

78. Laugh as often as possible. One doctor estimates that 100 good laughs provide a muscular workout equivalent to about 10 minutes on a rowing machine. Laughter also increases pain tolerance and bolsters the immune system.

79. Leave the plastic at home. Money troubles are a major cause of stress.

80. Take vitamin C in two doses, morning and night, to keep a steady level in your body.

81. Combat indoor air pollutants with plants. Two plants - Boston fern, English ivy, spider plants and potted palms are best - per 100 square feet of floor space can effectively clean indoor air.

82. Pick a tip a month. Adopt the one tip that would make the most difference to you now. Next month, adopt one more, and add another the month after. In one year, you will have made a dozen changes that add to your health, energy and well-being.

Copyright 1995, Men's Journal. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.