How to Eat, Lose Weight, and Have Fun Doing it

Most of you remember the old days of the Atkins diet, and the South Beach diet, and all the other magical mysterious diets that claim you can lose 500lbs in just one week!! Well, there is science behind some of these diets, and some actually work to an extent. However, there is one key item that gets left out of these diet plans. It's called sustainability. Can you really give up chocolate cake for the rest of your life? No, you can't, there will definitely be an occasion where you will say "one bite wont hurt" and before you know it, you've devoured the entire cake... not to mention the rest of the buffet table filled with carby goodness. So what is a person to do if they want to lose a little weight and make it stick? It's called making a lifestyle change! It's one of the hardest things a person can accomplish. So in order to increase your chances of success you have to take small steps in the right direction, after a while these changes become habituated, and then you can move on to more good habits. I've put a bit of an outline in the following section that helps people come up with a customized plan of attack.

1. Determine body type to increase the efficiency of your workout:
1. Lots a fat and no muscle = 60% muscle building 40% cardio
2. Lots of muscle and lots of fat = 50/50 strength and cardio
3. Skinny (its hard for you to build muscle or gain fat) = 90% strength and 10% cardio
2. Take a look at what you already eat and look to cut out one or two items:
1. Chips, replace these with carrots or celery, the crunchy sensation helps with the craving
2. Sugary things: A lot of "low fat" items have a LOT of sugar added to make them taste better, so look at the labels. Fat isn't necessarily bad, just make sure you aren't eating tubs of butter. You can replace sugar with various substitutes (Stevia, Xylotol, Splenda.... these are the ones that I use) If you crave sweets for desserts, try making fruit based desserts with the above mentioned substitutes (or no added sweetness at all). 
3. Starchy things. Potatoes (use them in moderation), pasta, white bread. Try to find items that are whole grain. Whole grain rice is a good substitute for pasta; and avoid minute white rice. Starch gets converted to sugar in your body, so eating a bunch of pasta is almost the same as eating a couple spoons of white sugar! <== sadface
3. Places where calories hide:
1. Coffee: If you have a coffee with cream and sugar in the morning.... that can be up to 300 extra calories in your diet. Not to mention the amount of fat in the cream, and the sugar content. Try using milk instead of cream and sweetener instead of sugar. It will take a little while to get used to, but just think about the benefits of cutting out 200 calories from your daily intake!
2. Sauces: they can make or break a meal, and also make or break your diet plan. A lot of sauces have high sugar content and are full of preservatives and chemicals. Look for sauces that are vinegar and olive oil based and that use natural ingredients. 
3. Low calorie snacks: They are small, unsatisfying, and you will gorge on them! Get baby carrots and chew on them throughout the day.
4. Make your plan:
1. Start with moderate exercise (2 days a week for an hour each session)
2. Start with one food item to replace. For example, if you love chips, replace them as described above and don't change anything else for a week or so. Then add more and more items to that list of changes.
3. If you don't feel like exercising, just start and say to yourself "I'll just do 15 minutes" chances are... you'll just keep going once you've started. 

Make sure your family is supportive and on board with you. It is always easier to follow a plan if your whole family wants to get involved and follow the plan as well. If they don't want to give up their chips, you will be faced with a craving and the ability to get the item you crave (it's like a cocaine addict, they can't be around cocaine without craving or going after it) Make sure they know that this is something that is important for you and they must treat this change with respect. Communicate with them if they make your choice of eating habits seem stupid. If you have to.... call a family meeting to discuss the plan.

As with any diet and exercise routine, consult your doctor and get a physical to determine your baseline health.

There are lots of great sites that you can visit to find good workout routines based on your body type. I will post some at a later date as I want to review the sites thoroughly before I pass them on to you.

In the meantime, good luck on your weight management endeavors!