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A friend of mine use to say “If i knew i was going to live this long i would have taken better care of myself”. He would joke about this while we were having a few beers together.

He didn’t believe in healthy eating then … and neither did i for that matter. We were both in our forties at the time. He never did change his ways and ended up spending his last couple of years in a wheelchair and  died while just in his 50’s.

I was the lucky one if you like and had a warning beer and pizza shot across my path one day in the form of a mild heart attack that tuned me in to what was going on.  Although far from perfect i have managed to change into eating more healthy foods and with a bit of interval training have lost a lot of weight as a result.

The reality is that it is still fun to eat but by eating the right things you don’t have to starve to lose weight and I’ve also learned you don’t want to be in a real big hurry doing it.

You’ve probably heard the expression slow and steady wins the race. To me, that’s what healthy eating is all about. You can slowly change your lifestyle by re-balancing your protein, carbohydrates, and fats … and getting some exercise.

You don’t have to dive in and do these things all at once. In fact to change your habits permanently the rule is that you must do something for at least 21 consecutive days before it becomes part of the new you. Try to change too many things all at once and you are most likely destined to change nothing … it’s just too much for the brain cells to manage along with all the other stuff going on in your life.

It’s also much easier if you like the changes you make rather than regard them as something equivalent to walking the plank.

Eating healthy can be done following only a few modest rules. Basically if you eat a lot of fast food and drink sodas then just quit them and it will help a lot right away.

Have things like nuts and fruit available to munch on when you get hungry for a snack. Stay away from the chips and dips. Even popcorn isn’t too bad if you don’t butter the hell out of it.

Eat lots of protein if you don’t want to get hungry. Contrary to what you may have heard, lean red meat is one of the best things you can eat. The keyword here being LEAN like in grass fed beef or cold water fish like wild pacific salmon.

Just quit eating any processed foods. Picture yourself as one of your ancestors 5000 years ago with just a loincloth and a club. What did they have available back then to eat? Meat and berries mostly. It worked for them or obviously you wouldn’t be here today.

That’s a good starting point for a healthy diet even today. Don’t forget eggs either. Some doctors refer to eggs as nature’s most nearly perfect food. Yes i know, what about the cholesterol?

I’m not a doctor or dietitian. I’m just talking about what’s worked for me and lots of others. If what you are doing now isn’t working then think of the old adage … “If you think like you always thought, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.

If it’s time for a change then just go back to eating basic foods and get some exercise. You don’t have to spend hours in the gym sweating it out on fancy machines either. With interval training, as little as ten minutes of exercise every other day can help take off the weight and make you feel good again.

That’s the key to success … it will make you feel good again, and then you’ll WANT to keep on doing it. Pretty soon even the thoughts of a chocolate bar or a do-nut will make you feel sick.

It’s simple once you decide to do it. Healthy eating and some exercise. Don’t take my word for it … Google it!

Talk to anyone that’s lost a lot of weight and ask them how they did it, and you will likely be told about the diet plan they used or the exercises and trips to the gym and things like that. What you really want to do is talk to the person that lost their weight two or three years ago and have managed some how to keep it off.

Having lost a lot of weight myself on more than one occasion i have a few personal observations about how the whole thing works and how one has to adjust  psychologically  to deal with it. Yes that’s my first observation. Losing weight starts with how you think about it and how motivated you are to try. It’s about your head … and not your mouth.

Unless you are really really motivated and want to do it, you will not be able to discipline yourself to follow through and reach your goal weight. You need to set a target date when you will reach your goal weight. Take a piece of paper and write something like “By next May 1st. 2011 i will have reached and be beneath my target weight of xxx pounds.” Figure to lose about a pound a week.

Use BIG red letters and tape it to the fridge door so it’s always in your face. Next clean out your cupboards and fridge of all the junk food and toss it. YOU know what it is. Just get rid of it. In place of the junk food move in some tasty snacks that you can use when you get hungry … because at times you will get hungry and have to eat some extras. Better an apple or handful of nuts … even peanut butter, than those butter tarts or cup cakes that you are use to.

Here’s the fast rule. The heavier or fatter or more obese you are … doesn’t matter how you say it, its how you THINK about it .. the faster the weight will drop off in the early going. After you see the progress made with the first few pounds it will encourage you to tighten up the rules a bit more and to stick with it.

How do you discipline yourself to stick with it you ask? Forget the diet plans and all the expensive foods and things they want to sell you. Do a Goggle search for the “Weight Watchers Points System” and download it. It’s free.

It assigns a point value to all kinds of foods. You’ll have to read up on how the points system works but lets say that you decide that all the foods you eat off that list each day will not add up to be more than 30 points. You can then vary what you eat each day as long as you don’t exceed the 30 points.

It’s a very simple system that works really well. On the weekends they offer you the luxury of increasing your points by 5 or 10 when you are out having some fun. After you lose your weight, with a bit of experimenting you can find the right points value  to keep you at the weight you want to be.

This is a simple system that works and gives you the discipline you need to eat right forever. All you do is watch your points and you will soon memorize what they are so if you want that extra piece of bread you know its 2 points, and so losing weight becomes a daily exercise of adding up a few numbers.

Did i say exercise. Of course you need some of that to. May i suggest you get yourself a stationary bike, but use it like this. You want to do interval training with it. You can look up a formal interval training program on the net by a Dr.Sears called P.A.C.E.

Basically you want to warm up on the bike slowly for about 2 minutes. Then pedal as hard as you can for one minute. Rest for the next minute. Repeat this cycle 3 or 4 times. You are done in less than 15 minutes. Do it every second day and you will lose your weight. It’s worked for me and lots of others.