Calories. Count them. No exercise in the world will help if you’re shoving donut holes down and drinking 42 oz sodas. Counting calories is the best way to take a step back and analyze the amount of food you’re eating. You’d be surprised to find out that one Chipotle burrito bowl and a chicken salad have enough calories to fulfill your daily calorie intake. Don’t believe me? Click HERE. Once you’ve tallied up your calories for the day you can accurately chart your food intake and cut out the unnecessary calories. However, don’t think by cutting your daily calories down from 3000 per day to 2500 per day will help you lose any weight. Your body is a fine tuned machine and will adjust its metabolism accordingly, hence the reason for “yo-yo” diets. Make a journal and detail everything you eat from the morning you wake up until you go to sleep, then, make a graph chart for the week to easily see a snapshot of your weekly intake.

Go to sleep and stay asleep. When you’re sleeping you’re not eating, unless you happen to be a sleep walker/eater — in this case you should seek professional help. You not only stave yourself from food when sleeping but your body actually burns calories like they’re going out of style. The primary reason for sleep is for the body to repair itself, and the energy for this source is food and fat. Rest is an important aspect of any elite athlete while it takes a backseat for overweight individuals. Show me someone overweight and I’ll show you poor sleeping habits. So, wake up early and go to bed early.

Exercise! Yes, you MUST get out and do something to lose weight. NO, you cannot eat carrots and celery for a month in an attempt to shed a few pounds. Your body is smarter than you, and will compensate for the lack of food intake and usually turn it against you by going into hibernation mode (all food is stored as fat). 20 minutes a day is not enough, you need to be doing at least 40 minutes of exercise: walking, running and light lifting.A combination of these three key elements will keep you slim and healthy throughout your years.