Same great food, fewer calories!

You know you don’t have to eat just salad and drink water to loose or maintain a healthy weight, you can still enjoy the food s you love. For snacks don’t eat out of the box or bag, this can lead to eating way more that you intend to, rather measure or weigh out one serving and when it’s gone you are done. For other things like dinner items or entrées, try limiting your portion to 1 serving size rather that several servings, this way you are still enjoying the same great food but you don’t have to feel guilty about it. 

Do it the old fashioned way!

If you are looking for some good ways to burn more calories this summer here are some options to help you do just that while you accomplish the things you need to do anyway: you can wash your car by hand rather than going to an automated car wash, if you typically cut your lawn with a riding lawn
mower try doing some or all of it with a push mower, and if you are into gardening rather than using power equipment like a tiller try to use a hoe or spade. The end result is the same, you get the same tasks finished but you burn more calories in the meantime.

Is it more important to count total calories, or worry more about their ratios?

This is a hotly debated topic, and there are propelling arguments on both sides of the fence. However the truth is that you need to watch both. Although generally speaking if you consume less calories than you burn you will lose weight, however if your macronutrients are not in check that weight loss will be short lived as your body could go into a catabolic state as well as slow your metabolism down, for a more in-depth view of this check out my other blog at http://changeisachievable.blogspot.com/2011/06/diet-makeover-continued-day-2.html .

How do I know the difference between complex and simple carbs?

Generally speaking you are going to want to look for carb sources that say whole grain on the package, this is mainly referring to your pastas, breads and other grain products. If the product in question is something like a potato you will want to go with a red or sweet potato over a white one, for rice brown over white, for a more in-depth view of this check out my other blog at http://changeisachievable.blogspot.com/2011/06/diet-makeover-continued-day-4.html .

How do I know how many calories I need to lose weight?

Simply put you will want to determine your BMR and factor in your activity level, then you will subtract about 500 calories per day and that should result in roughly 1lb loss per week. This is a pretty simple way to know where to start with your diet, for a more in-depth view of this check out my other blog at

http://changeisachievable.blogspot.com/2011/06/diet-makeover-continued-day-2.html .

Pedometers can really help!

If you are trying to make small changed that can help you reach your fitness goals then you may want to consider dusting off the pedometer. This is a very simple tool that will allow you to track your daily steps, once you know about how many steps you take daily you can take measures to increase that, thus increasing your daily caloric expenditure. Combined this with a well-constructed diet and you will be well on your way to reaching your fitness goals. 

Small changes can have the biggest impact!

If you were to replace one of the soft drinks you consume daily with water or another non-caloric beverage, you would be removing about 140 calories from your total for the day. I know that this does not seem like a significant change but over the span of 1 year that is 51,100 calories, this is roughly equivalent to 14.6lbs that you could have either gained or lost!