We all know it’s important to exercise so I won’t bore you with the same old song and dance about how good it is for a person’s overall well-being. Instead let’s focus on how to make it more fun when the weather is warm and the sun is shining so that you are excited about exercising. Instead of dragging yourself to a gym that only smells like summer grass, flowers and fresh air if an air freshener has been sprayed, enjoy the sight and smell of the real thing while getting in healthy exercise.

While the “fab four” of outdoor activites (walking, running, biking, swimming) are all great, they can sometimes get a little boring. For example, a daily walk in the same neighborhood can become as dull as walking on a treadmill while staring at a white wall. So here are 28 fun ways to get in some healthy exercise:

1) Walk or run but sign up for a 5K and enjoy it in the company of others and while raising funds for a worthwhile cause.

2) Volunteer at a community garden and channel your inner green thumb while working in the dirt. Or offer to plant a flower garden for your neighbor.

3) Go cherry picking! It’s great exercise. There are ladders to climb because the best cherries are always at the top of the trees. After picking them, eat them and have a cherry pit spitting contest.

4) Take a yoga class that meets in the park or on the beach. Imagine how calming and restful it would be to practice yoga moves and meditation while listening to the water lapping on the shore.

5) Wash and wax your vehicle in your yard using good old fashioned “elbow grease,” using eco friendly products.

6) Get in the water and play water tag or water volleyball.

7) Go water skiing.

8 ) Dig out the squirt guns and water balloons, gather friends and family, and have some wet and wild fun.

9) Go for a long walk but do it on the beach.

10) Grab sidewalk chalk and play hopscotch.

11) Go to a summer festival or fair and walk around and look at everything. Last year I wore my pedometer to the state fair to see how much walking I was doing while enjoying myself and taking in the sights. I put on nearly 10 miles!

Playing Beach Volleyball

12) Play in a volleyball tournament or join a league – running around in sand is a great way to tone your legs – want to stay cool in the hot summer sun? Play in a mud volleyball tournament. (even if you don’t like getting dirty, this is super fun)

13) Turn on the water sprinkler and run around laughing and giggling until you fall into an exhausted heap on the ground. Then roll around in the grass.

14) Ask your personal trainer if you can do your workout outside under the summer sun instead of inside under florescent lights.

15) Grab a basketball and play a game of “horse” or “lightning.”

16) Play tennis but instead of keeping score see how long you can keep the ball in play. It’s great cardio activity.

17) Golf, without a golf cart or a caddy.

18) Play jump rope games with your kids or have an “adults only” session. Can you remember the chants and games you knew by heart as a kid?

19) Go for a hike on hilly nature trail.

20) Go mountain biking.

21) Grab a hula hoop and head outside.

22) Jump around on a pogo stick.

23) Play Frisbee golf (many city parks have great courses that can be used free of charge).

24) Play a game of frozen tag. (it’s fun to act like a kid again)

25) Find a viewing tower or lighthouse and use the reward of the awesome view you’ll see to motivate you to walk up all those steps.

26) Give geocaching a try.

27) Join a softball league.

28) Go whitewater rafting. You’ll get a heck of an upper body workout.

Summer goes by in what seems like a “blink of the eye.” Take advantage of every minute of those warm, balmy sun-kissed days that you can by taking as much of your exercise routine outside as possible.

It’s enough to make a person channel their inner teenager and rebel but instead of going out and getting your nose pierced or dying your hair, you flip your diet the bird and eat all the junk food you can find and then some.

So here’s a way to make sticking to you diet infinitely easier.

Take a day off!

You don’t work 7 days a week, do you? No, you get weekends (or at least a day) off, right?

And you don’t exercise 7 days a week either. So why should you be expected to diet 7 days a week? You shouldn’t.

Remember, even God rested on the 7th day when he was creating Earth.

Just like a bridge that doesn’t have any “give” to it, it won’t hold up over time and disaster will happen. The same thing happens to most of us while dieting. We stick to a super healthy and strict diet plan to get the weight off, but at some point we just can’t take it anymore and go off the deep end.

So by building in some “give” to a diet in the form of a day off makes it much easier to stick to the diet the other 6 days of the week.

That way when you’re at a restaurant and the waiter walks by with a delicious looking plate of pasta drenched in Alfredo sauce that’s practically calling your name, you don’t have to sigh and think you can’t ever have it while simultaneously stabbing the lettuce leaves in your salad with a vengeance. Instead you can smile, know that on your day off you can have it if you want, and know that you can stick to your diet for the other 6 days of the week. It’s instant resolve and willpower!

This is how it works:

One day a week you get a break from dieting. That means no weighing or measuring of food.

It means no counting calories, counting carbs, counting fat grams, counting points or counting how many Twinkie wrappers are in the trash can!

It means no writing down what you ate. Your food journal gets decommissioned one day a week.

You eat what you want when you want the entire day.

Want fried chicken? Eat it!

Want an icy cold bottle of sugary Coca-Cola? Drink it!

Drooling over that chocolate cupcake in the bakery window? Buy it and enjoy every last morsel

Then the next day get back on your diet and follow it for 6 days using that upcoming 7th day off as a source of your willpower and resolve because you can do anything for 6 days, right?

One word of caution though. NEVER EVER weight yourself the day after your day off. Wait at least 2 days of being back on your diet to step back on the scale.

My son used this technique with a lot of success. He has followed some very strict vegan, raw food, and juice fasting diets to lose weight, cleanse his body, and feel healthier. While they were tough for him to follow he was able to do it because he never did them more than 6 days in a row. He knew what he was doing wasn’t permanent. There was light (aka – any food he wanted) waiting at the end of the tunnel!

By trying this technique myself I’m finding another bonus to it – it’s keeping my metabolism from tanking which means I’m not having those super frustrating plateaus that make a lot of us give up.

So go ahead, stick to your diet plan by not following it, one day a week!

As the article states, weight loss tips that are easy and quick to implement are more likely to be used by most of us because our lives are so busy and crazy.

The 10 strategies given to burn calories and fat are:

1. Mix a juice spritzer
Combine your favorite juice (half of your usual amount) with plain or sparkling water. You can cut up to 85 calories per glass–and lose 5 pounds or more a year.

Not a bad idea but is watered down juice all that tasty? I think it’s a better idea to just cut down on the amount of juice and have more water instead. Or, switch to a lower calorie juice like my favorite – tomato juice.

2. Walk while you talk
Burn calories while you talk on the phone: Do the laundry (68 calories), set the table (85), or water plants (102).

I’m okay with the idea of walking around while talking on the phone. But isn’t it a little rude to multi-task and do laundry, set the table or water plants while talking to someone? Don’t they deserve our undivided attention?

3. Study the wrapper
At a quick glance, that candy bar appears to contain 220 calories. But a closer look may reveal that it (or a bottle of juice, bag of crackers, or bag of nuts) provides two or more servings–which more than doubles those calories.

This is a big pet peeve of mine. Packages that look like single serve shouldn’t trick us by having multiple servings in a package. It’s a good idea to peruse all labels and wrappers before we purchase although I admit to not doing it all the time. Sometimes I just don’t care!

4. Sip green tea before a walk
The caffeine frees fatty acids so that you burn fat more easily. And the polyphenols (antioxidant compounds) in green tea appear to work with caffeine to increase calorie burn. (If you have high blood pressure, skip this tip.)

I knew green tea was a healthy beverage but didn’t know it freed up fatty acids. I’m not a green tea fan but am finding it’s easier to drink with a little honey stirred into it. And, I never steep it more than 2 minutes – that prevents it from getting too strong and bitter tasting.

5. Pack a lunch
Dining out more than 5 times a week may make you eat more–nearly 300 calories a day–than if you dine out less frequently.

Yeah, it’s a good idea to pack our own lunches, but doing it in a minute or less? Not realistic.

6. Dip your bread
Use olive oil in place of butter. It’s healthier and may also help you eat less. In a recent study, dippers ate a total of 52 fewer calories, on average, than those who used butter.

I love dipping my bread in olive oil but sometimes I really do want butter. I keep whipped butter in my fridge. The air that’s pumped into it helps me use less.

7. Sprinkle flax on cereal
High-fiber ground flaxseed can help curb your appetite and eliminate calories. Add it to yogurt or muffin and bread mixes–it’s available in health food stores.

I’ve started using flaxseed, but have learned to buy the whole seed and not the pre-ground flaxseed because it loses a lot of its nutritional value after being ground.

8. Schedule a blood test
About 1 in every 12 women (most of whom don’t know it) has an underactive thyroid, which can slow down her metabolism.

I can attest to this one. I found my thyroid was underactive. In addition to making it extra hard for me to lose weight, I was tired all the time. The good news about having an underactive thyroid is that the test for it is simple – just a quick blood test. And the medication is reasonable. WalMart sells a 30 day supply of generic thyroid medication for just $4.

9. Supersize your H2O
Buy the big bottle when it comes to good-for-you stuff such as water: You’ll drink more.

We all know drinking water is good for us but I’m one of those people that has a hard time drinking plain water so I use zero or low calorie mix ins for part of my water every day to make it easier for me to get it into my body.

10. Eat a chunky salad
Chop carrots, celery, sweet potatoes, zucchini, or other veggies instead of shredding or slicing. It takes more effort to munch bigger pieces; you’ll do more chewing and eat less during the main course.

This is a good idea but who can cut up (or chunk up) vegetables for a salad in a minute or less? I can’t even select the ingredients from a salad bar where they’re already cut up in less than a minute!

Overall I think all these tips are good and I’m going to do my best to implement ones I haven’t already made a part of my daily life. But, I won’t kid myself and think they’ll all be super easy to do or take a minute or less to do. I may be superwoman in training but I don’t move at the speed of light! (at least not yet).

With those events comes the mountains of food and endless buffets filled with holiday treats like fudge, frosted cookies, eggnog, dips, Chex mix (homemade of course because only loads of real butter in it will do – oh and lots of cashews too), cocktail sausages (wrapped in bacon for extra fatty deliciousness), cheese in cubes and cheese in cheese balls and cheese in fondue and just about any form that can be imagined. And that’s not counting the actual Christmas day meal nor all the temptations we face while holiday shopping (the smell of Cinnabon practically makes me swoon!).

Is it any wonder the average American gains weight over the holidays, and according to WebMD we don’t lose all that weight after the obligatory New Year’s resolutions to join the gym and only eat salads for the entire month of January.  No, we tend to hang on to at least a pound a year, which added up over time leads to lots of extra pudge.

I used to tend to “let loose” over the holidays and ate to the point of bursting (I practically bought Tums by the case and I only thought of that because over the weekend I saw someone at Walmart stocking up on Tums and she literally had her arms full of bottles of Tums – gave me heartburn just thinking about it).

Last year was the first year I made a conscious effort to not overdo it. My goal was to maintain my current weight over the holidays (although secretly I was hoping to lose a couple of pounds because I was really watching what I ate). I ended up gaining a pound which wasn’t my goal but it was a lot better than previous years when I typically gained between five and ten pounds.

This year I truly do hope to be a “loser” during the Christmas holidays, especially since I spent the last 2 months “letting loose” and gaining back 14 pounds (although according to my scale this morning 2 of those stubborn pounds have come off in the last week but I’m not going to celebrate until I get the “official” reading at my Weight Watchers meeting tomorrow morning).

But instead of trying to follow a bunch of “rules” about what to eat and drink I’m keeping it simple with just 3 guidelines that I’m going to follow:

1) half my plate will be filled with fruits and vegetables and I will eat those first so that I’m not so tempted to overdo it on the higher calorie stuff (and 25 percent of it will be filled with cocktail shrimp if they are available – low calorie and super delicious!).

2) I will drink lots of water so I’m not eating when I’m actually thirsty and to help flush the extra sodium out of my body that is going to be in that tasty holiday food

3) I will stop eating when I’m satisfied even if I know I will not be able to have that particular food again until next Christmas.

That’s it – just three guidelines. I’m keeping it simple so I can actually enjoy myself rather than standing by the buffet agonizing over what I’m going to allow myself to eat. 

Because really, the holidays aren’t about stuffing ourselves to oblivion.  It’s about spending time with friends and family and in my house it’s also about celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Twelve hours and several hundred dollars later we both had most of our presents purchased and I even found a way to not wreck my weight loss plans while eating at the food court in the mall (SUCCESS!).

Usually I will pre-plan what I am going to eat before going anywhere but the crazy busy holiday season sometimes makes it hard for me to fit that in. Instead I used all the tips I have learned over the last year since I joined Weight Watchers and ate fairly healthy at the food court without going hungry and without eating too many calories.

I started the morning with a pear (grabbed on the way out of door) and a non-fat latte with an extra shot of expresso (needed that extra boost to power my way though the crowds!).

My lunch choice was Panda Express. Instead of having deep fried and breaded orange chicken swimming in sauce over fried rice I opted for black pepper chicken with steamed rice.

Calorie and fat comparison:
Orange chicken with fried rice: 970 calories, 38 grams of fat
Black pepper chicken with steamed rice: 620 calories, 11 grams of fat (click here to view all the Panda Express Nutritional Info)
Conclusion: did okay, not as great as I thought but still ate 350 calories and 27 grams of fat less than normal and that is comparing the single entrees. I used to always have the 2 entree meal with 2 servings of the orange chicken and the fried rice so I really ate 750 calories and 47 grams of fat than normal.
What I will do different next time. Probably nothing. I really enjoyed it and had a very active day logging almost 11 miles on my pedometer, which helped me burn it off.

My dinner choice was TGI Fridays where I had half a Jack Daniels burger without the cheese, half an order of fries (my friend and I shared the meal), and a house salad with dressing on the side, which I used a quarter of.

Calorie Comparison:
I couldn’t find any nutritional information for TGI Fridays (hate when restaurants don’t supply it) but normally I would have had ordered an appetizer that was deep fried instead of the salad and would have eaten the entire burger and fries by myself.
Conclusion: I think I did pretty well. Yes, I had unhealthy fries but I don’t have them every day and I limited myself to half an order. Plus I resisted the calorie and fat laden green bean fries and had healthy salad instead.

The scale was still my friend this morning so I feel okay about my food choices yesterday. I will focus on very healthy eating today though because I probably ate about a week’s worth of sodium yesterday since restaurant food is almost always heavily laden with it.

Even though I ate more calories yesterday than I do in a normal day I do always allow myself one day a week to eat a little more so yesterday was it.

I’m just really proud of myself for not going overboard and for being able to resist having a Cinnabon, a pretzel from the Pretzelmaker (the really good dipped in butter ones) and a chocolate chip cookie sandwich from the American Cookie Company (the ones with loads of frosting in the middle). Yes, I normally would have indulged in all of those on a long shopping trip along with my regular meals (used to be a fan of treating myself way too much which is evident by looking at the loads of extra pudge on my body).

These are the tips I used to navigate the food court without blowing my diet:
- Did not skip breakfast even though I was eating out for the rest of the day
- Opted for grilled versus fried
- Light on the sauce
- Salad with light dressing on the side to help fill me up without eating too many calories
- Made sure to eat enough at my meal so I wouldn’t be so hungry later on that I could not resist the smells of the cinnamon rolls, the pretzels, and cookies.
- Drank lots of water that I brought with me (could have purchased it throughout the day as well and if you tuck the bottle of water in your purse you don’t need to worry about what to do with it in stores that have signs forbidding food and drink in them).
- Had a small single serving bag of almonds in my purse just in case I got really hungry so that I could have had those instead of aforementioned cookie, pretzel, or cinnamon bun.
- Chose water to drink instead of sugary drinks
- Chose the smallest size meals and said “no” to the so called money saving larger sizes and combo meals

Walking is so normal to our bodies and can be a great aid in our weight loss efforts.  Plus there are tons of free “walking to lose weight” plans available online from reputable sources.  Just Google “walking to lose weight” and you’ll get a bunch of options to choose from.

There’s two big mistakes that many people make when they embark on a “walking to lose weight” plan though.

1)       They don’t walk briskly enough or long enough to effectively zap fat.

2)       They don’t invest in a good pair of walking shoes.

Walking to lose weight is different than taking a leisurely stroll around the block.  Work up a sweat and aim for 60 minutes of walking most days of the week.  It should be hard to talk in full sentences, so if you can carry on a full bore conversation while walking it’s time to step up the intensity.  Do it slowly though, building distance and intensity over time.  Don’t expect to get sixty minutes of brisk walking in most days of the week if you’ve been a dedicated couch potato.  And always talk to your health professional before starting any exercise program.

You say you don’t have a 60 minute segment of time to devote to walking each day?  Then try for 30 minutes or walk in 10 minute increments throughout the day (during a break at work; during your kids soccer practice, after dinner, etc.).   And don’t give up those leisurely strolls.  Every step you take is good for your body and burns calories (and every calorie burned counts!).

Also, take the time to get yourself a good pair of walking shoes.  New Balance and Saucony are my two favorite brands.

To making walking more fun and to help you stick with it, use these tips:

-          Get a walking buddy (being accountable to another person will help you get your butt off the couch on those days that you’re feeling less than energetic).

-          Get a dog, but only if you have the time to take care of and love a dog.  My dog is my best walking buddy because she’s always ready to go for a stroll no matter the time of day or the weather.  Dogs are a big commitment though.  They need to be fed and bathed and loved.

-          Get a pedometer to track your distance and time and to help you build up your speed and endurance.  Optimally, work yourself up to 10,000 steps a day.

-          Listen to music while walking (headphone in just one ear for safety though please).  Good music makes the time fly.

-          Get a change of scenery.  Walk in different places; your neighborhood, a nearby trail, on a park trail, in the woods, and even while power shopping with friends (I racked up 7 miles during a shopping trip a few weeks ago).

-          And, as mentioned above, invest in good walking shoes

Walking is the easiest and cheapest exercise to do because it can be done almost anywhere – no gym memberships required.  All that’s needed are comfortable clothes, a good pair of shoes, and the will to get your butt out the door and do something good for yourself.

You name the diet or diet pill and I’ve probably tried it (the grapefruit diet, Atkins, the popcorn diet, the three day diet, Nutri-System, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, South Beach, Dexatrim, cleansing diets, dieting for dummies, liquid diets, fasting, raw food diet, Cabbage soup diet, Curves diet, LA Weight loss, the Zone diet, the chocolate diet, the apple cider vinegar diet, and many many more that would literally take pages of space to write).

But, to write you a condensed version of what I’ve learned: “the best way to lose weight, keep it off, and be healthy” is to do it the old fashioned way – diet and exercise.”  Yeah, what a bore and what a blow to the multi billion dollar diet industry that little tidbit of news is.

To me, (and please keep in mind that I’m not a nutritionist or medical expert- just someone who has decades of experience trying to lose weight), I think the best diet for women is one that includes everything in moderation.  Banning foods (especially chocolate and carbs) is, IMO (in my own opinion), a certain disaster.  After all, women have that special time of the month (lucky us) and what do most of us crave then?  Yep, it’s huge bars of chocolate and entire loaves of bread.  That means if we are doing our best to follow one of those crazy diets that completely bans carbs or completely bans sugar (get real please) we get to the point when no amount of willpower is going to keep us away from that Hershey bar or delicious soft pretzel.   Then, instead of having a single serving (aka – one normal size candy bar or just one soft pretezel) we typically say “Well I screwed up so I may as well eat the entire bag of chocolate candy or the entire box of pretzels.  Then, the downward spiral to gaining the weight back starts.

Personally, I think us women need to take a look at guys to help us understand weight loss better because a guy typically can lose weight so much easier.  Why?  It’s a well established fact that men’s bodies have more muscle than women’s bodies and, pound for pound, muscle burns more calories than fat.

But I’ve also noticed that, given a choice, most guys at a buffet head right for the proteins while women give the bread and dessert sections longing stares before heading over to the salad bar for some greens and fat free dressing.  A perfect meal to a lot of guys is a steak with a side of steak.  For a lot of women the perfect meal is warm crusty bread with a side of warm crusty bread and a little chocolate for a sweet ending.

While both men’s and women’s bodies need both protein and carbs for good health (the chocolate is healthy too as long as it’s dark chocolate), protein is a building block for muscle and helps to muscle that’s been stressed (from working out) to repair and build itself.

Plus, protein is satisfying and helps us feel full longer (and who wants to go hungry and feel like they’re starving when they are dieting?).

So, doesn’t it stand to reason that a diet that includes generous amounts of protein would be perfect for women (okay not steak with a side of steak though).  That doesn’t eating protein and excluding other food groups like the Atkins diet promotes.  I’m talking about a diet that includes a broad range of healthy foods from every food group: proteins, fruits, vegetables, low fat dairy, whole grains, small amounts of healthy fat like olive and grapeseed oils; and treats here and there because everybody needs some wiggle room in their diet.

I’ve also noticed guys tend to never feel guilty if they eat something less than healthy.  They’ll eat a piece of chocolate cake, enjoy the experience, and move on.  Women, on the other hand, tend to feel guilty about possibly taking a tiny little bite of cake – whether or not they actually give in and eat any.

I’m not here to advocate a specific diet plan for women and that’s because I truly think there is no “one size fits all” diet plan.  Just as each of us are different individuals with different personalities and different lifestyles; we have different diet plans that are a better fit with our lives and our likes and dislikes.

But, to help women find the best diet for them that gives them the best chance of long-term success here’s the things I think should be looked for in a weight loss/diet plan:

- promotes healthy eating and doesn’t ban entire food groups

- includes at least 2-3 servings of protein a day

- promotes a slow and steady approach to weight loss; no more than 1-2 lbs a week

- encourages physical activity (at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week)

- includes emotional support (whether it’s face to face meetings or online forums) because us women are nurturers by nature and we need nurturing and support of our own when facing the challenges of trying to lose weight successfully

- fits your lifestyle (for example, the odds of failing are high if you love to cook and have to cook for your family but choose a meal delivery program that doesn’t allow you to prepare your own meals; and vice versa – if you choose a program that asks you to prepare all your own food when you and your kitchen appliances, with the exception of your microwave are sworn enemies).

And yes, it can be done without thinking you’ll have to be hungry for the rest of your life or subsist on meals of steamed broccoli, plain chicken breasts and salads with fat free dressing.  Yuck!  Living like that is no fun.

How can losing the weight and keeping it off be done?

Here’s my 28 best tips for long term weight loss:

1)       Remove the word “diet” from your vocabulary. Losing the weight and keeping it off means changing your lifestyle instead of dieting to lose the extra weight and then going back to old habits, resulting in constant yo-yo dieting.  Replace the word “diet” with the word “healthy.”

2)       Eat when you are hungry; not when you are bored, sad, happy, etc. Find non-food ways to deal with emotions and instead of stuffing your face with food to deal with them.  Yes, chocolate gives you a natural high but that great feeling won’t last if you gobble down 3 Hershey bars in 10 minutes.  Find activites such as painting or woodworking or knitting that keep your hands busy so you can’t stuff your face with food when you’re not hungry.

3)       Think slow and steady when it comes to losing weight. Experts agree that 1-2 pounds a week gives a person the best chance of keeping it off.  That means no “crash dieting.”  The weight didn’t pile on overnight so don’t expect it to come off overnight.

4)       Write down what you eat. Yeah, I know writing down what you’re putting in your mouth is a pain in the arse.  But, it helps you remember what you’ve eaten throughout the day and makes you accountable to yourself.  You don’t need a fancy food journal.  A small inexpensive notebook, a piece of scrap paper or even the back of an envelope will work just fine.

5)       Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Fresh fruits and vegetables are high in nutrients and fiber and are low in calories.  Make them a part of your everyday food consumption.  But eat a balances diet.  Also have lean protein, low fat dairy and whole grains, plus work a treat in every once in a while.

6)       Eat high fiber foods.  There are lots of delicious healthy whole grain breads available and don’t forget about popcorn. It’s high in fiber and delicious (just avoid drenching it in buckets of butter).

7)       Adopt the motto of “everything in moderation.” That means you’ll never completely ban a food from your eating plan.  Why?  Doesn’t being told you can’t have something make you really really want it?  It’s like telling your toddler not to touch something.  It almost guarantees they are going to make an effort to touch it anyway.

8)       Learn what your “trigger” foods are and don’t keep them in the house. By “trigger” foods I mean ones that you can’t stop eating and don’t stop eating until the entire package/container is gone.  Mine is kettle potato chips.  I don’t stop until the bag is gone even if I’m feeling stuffed.  My husband’s are Milk Duds and Mounds Bars.  One of my friend’s is Peanut M&M’s.  When any of us really want those foods we either buy a single size portion or take it to a party/family gathering where other people will help eat it.

9)       Stop thinking you have to look like Twiggy to be healthy. Experts say that losing 10 percent of your body weight can make a significant positive difference in your health (lowering cholesterol, blood pressure, pressure on your knees, and your risk of diabetes).  I’ll use myself as an example.  After losing 25 pounds (10 percent of my body weight which means that yes I’m a big girl and still have more to lose) my fasting blood sugar went down 20 points, my blood pressure went from borderline high to normal, and my cholesterol went down a little (not a lot but I was lucky and it was in the normal range even before I lost weight).

10)   Have regular checkups at the doctor.  That helps you keep being healthy as the focus of your weight loss and can help pinpoint factors that might be hindering your weight loss efforts.  For me, I found out my thyroid was sluggish after a simple blood test my doctor recommended when I said I was always tired was having an extremely difficult time losing any weight.

11)   Aim for 8 hours of sleep a night.  More and more research is pointing out how our modern day lifestyle of cheating ourselves of enough sleep is also creating more risk for being overweight.  Give your body what it needs and get enough sleep.

12)   Don’t skip breakfast. Our metabolism gets sluggish when we sleep.  Help get it going in the morning by eating something even if it’s just a banana or a container of yogurt.

13)   Exercise regularly.  The American Heart Association recommends that “all healthy adults between the ages of 18-65 should be getting at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity five days a week.”

14)   Eat more than 3 times a day. Instead, have 5-6 smaller meals and don’t go more than 2-3 hours without eating a little something to keep your blood sugar stable and your metabolism humming.  Can skipping meals wreck your metabolism?  I think so.  I have a friend who only ate 1 meal a day for years because he was a truck driver and didn’t want to take time to eat until he stopped his rig for the evening.  He’s now retired but he readily admits he still can only eat one meal a day otherwise he gains weight.  He doesn’t pig out in the evening either.  He eats what I consider a normal size meal.  Don’t let that happen to you.

15)   Drink lots of low to zero calorie liquid, 8-10 glasses a day.  Water is best but if you can’t stand the taste of plain water then use flavor enhancers like True Lemon, True Lime, True Orange or Crystal Light.

16)   Eat most of your calories instead of drinking them. I love Starbucks and my vehicle pretty much knows how to get there without me having to steer it.  But some of the choices there (and at any coffee shop that makes specialty beverages) can have as many or more calories than an entire meal.  Instead of having whole milk in a latte, opt for skim or soy or almond and skip the whipped cream on top (although I admit to indulging in it once in a while as a special treat).  Those two  options can cut hundreds of calories from one latte.

17)   Stock your fridge and pantry with healthy choices. Lean protein, fresh and frozen fruit, fresh and frozen vegetables, whole grains, and low fat dairy are the best things to keep handy, along with single serve bags of healthy nuts like almonds and walnuts.   The problem for some people (myself included) is that a lot of healthy foods aren’t always quick and easy to prepare or handy for a quick snack.  Case in point: it’s much easier to grab a handful of chips to snack on than to cut up vegetables to eat.  Cut up vegetables when you bring them home from the store and put them where you can see them instead of hiding them in the crisper.  For the quickest lean protein, buy fish.  It’s a natural “fast food” because it cooks up in just a few minutes (shrimp literally takes 3-4 minutes to cook).

18)   Love yourself. Negative chatter inside our heads can be our biggest enemy when it comes to weight loss.  It’s mine.  That negative voice inside my head loves to tell me “it’s too hard,” “go ahead and eat that whole pie cuz you can always go back on your diet tomorrow,” “you’ll always be a fat pig,” “you’re crazy if you think you can really lose that weight,” and “you don’t deserve to be healthy and happy.”  Tell that voice to shut up (100 times a day if necessary) and instead start giving yourself positive messages such as “I’m worth it,” and “I deserve to take time to take care of myself.”

19)   Stop thinking you’re “bad” when you eat something less than healthy. There are very few people (actually I don’t know of any) who always make healthy choices and who never overindulge.  The key is to not use it as an excuse to keep on overeating and overindulging.  Have that treat.  Enjoy it.  Then focus on going back to eating healthy again.  I’ve read over and over again that the 80/20 rule works for food as well.  If you eat healthy 80 percent of the time, you’ll be okay.  That may sounds like you can pig out every day but if you are eating 1,500 calories a day that means having 300 calories in treats which could mean 1 teaspoon of butter on a white dinner roll and a small dish of ice cream; not the entire bread basket or the entire container of ice cream.

20)   Try modeling. No, not the kind of modeling that involves walking down a runway but modeling the behaviors of someone you know who is a normal weight and is healthy.  Watch how they eat and what their everyday life is like.  Then imitate them.  My friend is normal weight and never tells herself she can’t have a certain food.  But, she always stops eating when she is full – no matter how tasty the food on her plate is; and will push away an expensive dessert after just one bite if it’s not super delicious because she will not spend calories on food she doesn’t love.  Plus she has an active lifestyle, which brings me to the next tip.

21)    Adopt a healthy lifestyle. Most healthy and normal weight people are not couch potatoes.  Activity is a normal part of their everyday lives.  They enjoy hobbies and activities that are require physical exertion such as: gardening, woodworking, hiking, bicycling, tennis, sailing, kayaking, swimming, jogging, water skiing, downhill skiing, snowshoeing, bowling and putting lots of miles on their legs while strolling along the beach, taking in some culture at a local museum, or spending the day doing some power shopping.  They don’t spend the entire weekend plunked in front of the television eating junk food.

22)   Make eating an activity that is not combined with others i.e. watching television, while driving, etc. It means being aware of what you are eating.  How many of us have opened a bag of chips while watching television only to stick our hand in the bag, find it empty, and wonder where they all went – knowing full well that we were the only person sticking our hand in the bag and munching away?

23)   Eat less fast food and share or take home half of restaurant entrees. I think a big part of our society’s weight problems today are that we have no idea what a normal portion is because they have grown so much over the years (as have our waistlines).  Try cooking more of your own meals too because then you have control over ingredients (you’d be surprised at how much butter restaurants slather on food they serve you).  Don’t have a lot of time to cook?  Get a slow cooker and give it a workout.  Meals can be put together in just a few minutes in the morning.  Then at night you can walk in the door to a hot meal.

24)   Get support from other people.  Find someone to talk to about the struggles you face and to also share your successes with.  It can be a family member, close friend, or even online discussions with others.  There’s the old saying that “It takes a village to raise a child.”  I think the same thing applies to losing weight and keeping it off.  Don’t think it’s bad to need emotional and physical support.  Take advantage of help from wherever you can get it.

25)   Remove the negative from your life. This can be the hard to do but if people in your life are negative towards you and they won’t stop even after you talk to them about it then it’s time to be strong and cut them out of your life (for example the friend who is always saying “why bother trying to lose weight – you’ve never been successful the last 99 times you tried.”).  Surround yourself with positive and encouraging people. You deserve it.

26)   Manage your stress. Too much stress is bad for us in a lot of ways.  Besides the obvious negative of making us crabby, wound tighter than a drum, and ready to blow like Mount St. Helena at any moment; it can contribute to weakening of our immune system, is bad for our heart, and lead us to overeating as a way of dealing with stress.  Find ways to relax.  Practice relaxation techniques such as relaxation breathing, give yoga a try, or give biofeedback a whirl.

27)   Stop obsessing about every morsel of food you put into your mouth and stop feeling guilty for eating something you enjoy.  If you really want to have a piece of chocolate cake, then eat a small piece and enjoy the heck out of it.  Then go back to eating healthy and exercising.  That doesn’t mean you should eat the entire cake or have cake every day.  Remember to enjoy the foods you love “in moderation.”

That brings me to may last tip for long term weight loss.

28) Know that the choice is yours and that losing weight, maintaining weight or gaining weight is about choices you make. Work on making choices that help you with your goals.   That also means being accountable for your choices.  Nobody makes you have that extra piece of cheesecake.  The choices are yours.  Make the ones that are best for you.  Remember YOU ARE WORTH IT!

It’s not that I can say I now love to work out because I don’t.  But, I do love what it does for me.  It’s helping me lose weight, gives me more energy, helps me feel more clear headed and focused, is helping me get healthier and is making me look better because I’m building some muscle and getting toned rather than getting more lumpy every day by sitting on my butt and eating junk food.

That’s why I exercise.

Any exercise that gets your heart rate up and gets you sweating for at least 30 minutes will help you lose fat.  But, in my mind, some types of exercise are a whole lot more fun (when I say “fun” I really mean I’m able to get myself to do them instead of using all my energy to come up with excuses to not exercise).

Here’s my 3 favorites:

1)       Bicycling – I’m talking bicycling outdoors on an actual bike, not on a stationary bike in a gym or in the basement next to an old ratty punching bag.  Getting outside in the fresh air and riding bike is not only good exercise but it is refreshing and a throwback to my childhood when I jumped on my bike every chance I got to explore and go hang out with friends.

Most areas of the country have great bike paths – some are paved and easy to ride and others are rugged trails in woods that are a challenge.  Time passes fast while bike riding (an hour or two goes by in a flash) because there’s usually so much to see whether it’s a little chipmunk popping his head up out of the grass to see who’s invading his territory, deer meandering through the woods and having their dinner, a stream or lake with rippling water to marvel at, varying neighborhoods to take in while riding in urban areas with their unique construction and with the interesting landscaping homeowners and apartment dwellers like to display, and other riders who are almost always ready to exchange friendly Hellos.”

Try dusting off that bike sitting in the garage and give it a spin around the neighborhood.  You just might get hooked on it like I have.

2)       Walking – Yes it’s that old standby that’s the first type of activity a doctor will mention to get a person moving.  Of course, people new to exercise need to start out slow and always need to talk to their health care professional to make sure they are not overdoing it.

Walking to lose burn fat and lose weight is different than taking a stroll around the block with a friend or a spouse discussing your day though.  Personally I have the best fat burning walks when I’m either out with my dog (who is a bundle of energy and who is already to go a little farther and a little faster) or when I’m by myself.  To really get the heart pumping and to burn calories a person needs to be walking briskly enough that having a conversation is hard.  My doctor says that if I can say more than a few words at a time without having to take a breath then I’m not working hard enough on my walk.  So unless you have a fitness buddy that is into “silent support” while walking, save the fun filled conversational walks for another time.

Don’t use inclement weather as an excuse to not get out and walk.  Pretend you are the mail delivery person who doesn’t let rain or snow or cold weather stop them from getting their mail delivered.  If it’s raining, put on a rain coat and go out anyway.  You are not the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz – you won’t melt.  Invest in boots with a good tread or buy “shoe chains” to give you traction in snow.  Dress in layers to keep yourself warm and wear a hat because up to 40 percent of our body heat escapes through our head.  If it’s storming with lightning then find an indoor location to walk such as the local mall or wait for the storm to pass.

3)       Curves 30 minute workout. Okay, so maybe this one isn’t fair to the guys since Curves is a women’s only gym but since I’m of the female gender and since I faithfully go to Curves 3 times a week to do strength training, it makes my list of my three favorite fat burning workouts.

Why?

First of all, it’s strength training which builds muscle which is essential for fat burning because we all know that muscle burns more calories than fat, right?

Secondly I like that there are only women at the gym so I don’t feel self conscious going there.  A regular gym is way too intimidating to me.  All those incredibly fit people and all those horrible mirrors do nothing for my self esteem and make me want to run out the door, not stay and get a workout in

Third, it’s only a commitment of 30 minutes that I can fit into my day and that I know builds muscle because I can see the muscles I’m building in my arms (they’re still little but very exciting to see!).

If you’re not a woman or don’t have a Curves gym where you live, then look for a different way to get some strength training in.  Maybe there is a gym near you that you wouldn’t mind going to.

In addition to getting regular activity that gets your heart rate up and gets you sweating, don’t discount the importance of any activity to help you be healthy and remember to eat healthy as well so you have the energy and stamina to get your exercise in.

So are there really foods that can help a person burn extra calories?

Realistically, every food we eat gets our metabolism going to some extent because our body has to burn calories to digest it.

But, from what I’ve read and from what I’ve experienced myself I can see why a person’s body uses an apple differently than a bag of Doritos.

I think of it like this: our bodies know what to do when it sees a pure whole food source like an apple because it’s a food our bodies are meant to have and has nutrients our bodies know exactly how to utilize. A bag of Doritos on the other hand, while very tasty, aren’t exactly a whole and pure food source. They contain artificial ingredients and preservatives which our bodies aren’t designed to burn up efficiently so is it any wonder that our digestive system may look at those Doritos and say, “I’m not real sure what to do with these foreign ingredients so I’ll just stick them over here (aka–turn them into fat) and decide what to do with them later.”

Personally when I’m eating healthy and nutritious food I feel better, have more energy, can fight off sickness much better, and I lose weight.

When I fall back into my old habits of eating junk food and drinking soda, my energy levels plummet and I find it nearly impossible to lose weight even though I’m consuming the same number of calories as when I’m sticking to healthy food.

But I’ve wondered if there are healthy foods that can help rev up metabolism and help get pounds off. For instance I’ve always wondered if drinking cold water really does burn more calories than drinking room temperature water.

According to Web MD, the answer is “yes.” Information on the Web MD website says that both men’s and women’s metabolic rates increased by 30% after drinking water and they attributed 40% of that increase to the body’s attempt to heat up the water that was ingested. Plus our bodies work better when they are hydrated which can help keep our metabolism humming throughout the day.

So water is number one on my list of “foods that burn fat and ignite metabolism.”

Here’s seven more:

1) Breakfast Food – remember how your mother constantly told you that you should eat your breakfast? Mom was a pretty smart lady. After sleeping for several hours our metabolism has slowed and needs to get woken up. Breakfast does just that. Whole grain toast, oatmeal, whole grain cereal, eggs, yogurt, fruit and low fat milk are great breakfast foods that are nutritious and filling. You say you’re not hungry in the morning? I say eat something anyway, even if you can’t manage more than a piece of fruit. The idea is to get some food into the body to wake metabolism back up and get it going for the day.

2) High Fiber Foods – Fiber not only helps us feel full longer as our bodies work to digest it and break it down, but that extra work our bodies need to process that food through our system uses extra calories. Think fruits such as grapefruit and apples and bananas; vegetables like broccoli and spinach and sweet potatoes; whole grain breads and whole grain cereals; and beans – the high fiber food that makes you “toot.”

3) Hot peppers – Hot peppers contain capcaisin, a strong alkaloid produced by the glands of hot peppers. Capcaisin causes a body to burn extra calories for hours after being ingested which speeds up metabolism.

4) Almonds – This tasty nut contains essential fatty acids that help to raise body metabolism. I consider them a “win/lose” food though because although they help raise body metabolism it’s easy to eat hundreds of calories worth of almonds in a few minutes. Portion control is key. Try buying them in single serve bags.

5) Green Tea – It contains a healthy catechin, which is a tannin. It’s a powerful antioxidant and it also is known to speed up the brain and nervous system, which in turn causes a person’s body to burn more calories.

6) Coffee – I’m talking the high octane stuff that still has its caffeine in it. Caffeine gives our bodies a boost but be careful because overdoing it on the caffeine can turn a person into a jittery mess and cause sleeplessness.

7) High Protein Foods – Foods high in lean protein such as turkey and yogurt can help boost metabolism because protein helps build muscle and muscle burns more calories than fat.

Now here’s where I add a “catch.” While consuming the foods I just listed can help increase metabolism and burn fat, it doesn’t mean that calories don’t count. Calories do count. Bottom line: a person still needs to take in less calories than their body burns to lose weight.