#5: Cut out certain food groups.

Why it’s OK to break this rule: This “rule” recycles every few years. Some years we’re told to cut out red meat. Other years we’re told to avoid dairy or fruits. And we are always told to shun sugar. However, even with the willpower of iron, it’s hard to stick to a diet that leaves you feeling chronically deprived, which can set the stage for bingeing, Mosier points out. Instead, eat your favorite foods in moderation, and tweak recipes to cut down on calories. Understanding nutrition and taking a flexible, balanced approach to weight loss helps you make the smart food choices, without saddling yourself with the stress and frustration of a rigid diet that’s impossible to sustain over the long term.

#4: Eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking.

Why it’s OK to break this rule: It’s true that studies consistently show that people who eat breakfast tend to weigh less and are more successful at maintaining weight loss. In fact, having breakfast daily is one of the habits that 78 percent of the “successful losers” who have enrolled in the National Weight Control Registry share. All of them have sustained a weight loss of 30 pounds or more for at least one year and some for up to 66 years. But that doesn’t mean you have to force yourself to eat first thing in the morning if you’re not hungry. Consuming breakfast later in the morning, perhaps after a workout to rev up your appetite, is equally effective. One study found that eating a big breakfast that’s high in protein and low in carbs helped overweight women lose an average of nearly 23 pounds.

#3: Stick to fat-free or low-fat foods.

Why it’s OK to break this rule: The American Heart Association recently reported that low-fat and fat-free foods can contribute to obesity, because these foods often contain as many or more calories than the full-fat versions, yet trick people into thinking that these are good choices for weight loss. Always check the nutrition facts on the label and avoid low-fat products that are loaded with sugar. Everyone, regardless of size, needs some fat in their diet to transport fat-soluble vitamins, such as A and E, around the body. Good fats, such as omega-3 fatty acids, also play a role in heart health and may aid immune system function. The AHA advises limiting fat intake to less than 25 to 35 percent of total calories, with less than 7 percent of calories coming from saturated fat. Choose unsaturated fats, such as olive oil, nuts, or oily fish.

#2: Eat five to six small meals during the day.

Why it’s OK to break this rule: Although the theory behind this rule is that frequent eating keeps your metabolism stoked, the reality is that having more opportunities to eat often results in overeating, resulting in weight gain instead of weight loss. What’s more, new research from Purdue University founds that eating three regular-sized meals that include lean protein, such as chicken or tofu, made people feel more full than eating smaller, more frequent meals. The researchers also reported that eating three high protein meals also decreases late night eating and food cravings.

#1: Don’t eat after 7 PM.

Why it’s OK to break this rule: There’s nothing magical about avoiding eating at night. The key to weight loss success isn’t when you eat; it’s taking a close look at what you eat and staying within your daily calorie allotment, says Mosier. “It’s very helpful to keep a food diary and look at your eating patterns.” A study by Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research found that people who maintained a daily food diary had double the weight loss of those who didn’t keep any records. Writing down what you eat helps curb the urge to overindulge, by making you mindful of your dietary patterns and caloric intake, regardless of what time of day the food is consumed.

They say that if you tweak your daily routine you can lose weight very easily…

At Breakfast

Make a trade. Swap your bagel for an English muffin to slash 220 calories, a glass of whole milk for skim to save 70 calories, and a three-egg omelet for one egg and two egg whites, or pork sausage for turkey sausage to cut about 125 calories each.

At Lunch

Move on your lunch hour. “A brisk 15-minute walk burns about 100 calories, and it gives you less time to eat,” says Marjorie Nolan, RD, CND, CPT and national spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. Walk during your lunch for five days and burn 500 extra calories. Or try wearing a pedometer to measure out 10,000 steps a day, or about 5 miles—you’ll automatically burn 500 calories without even hitting the gym.

Order wisely. Use hummus or mustard instead of mayo, and a roll for sliced bread on your sandwich, and cut about 200 calories. Opt for a salad instead of fries to save another 300 calories for a total of 500 saved.

Chew your food. An easy way to slash calories is to slow down when you eat. Women who chewed at least 20 times before swallowing ate up to 70 calories less at mealtime, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Since it takes 20 to 30 minutes for your body to register that you are full, researchers believe eating more slowly allows you to get to the point where you feel satiated on fewer calories than if you’re shoveling it in.

      At Dinner

Downsize your plates. Rather than depriving yourself of food to drop pounds, simply use smaller plates. “People eat as much as is on their dish rather than the amount that their body actually needs,” says Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, author of Beat Sugar Addiction Now! “If you shrink the size of your dishes by a quarter, such as going from a 12-inch plate to a 9-inch plate, you’ll cut 500 calories without feeling deprived.”

Slim your sides. Instead of dipping chips in fat-packed sour cream, try serving baked tortilla chips or whole wheat pita wedges with low-fat refried beans and chunky salsa. It’s a tasty way to sneak in an extra serving of veggies and cut 109 calories. Or trade a side of traditional potato salad for sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions tossed with fat-free Italian dressing to cut 258 calories.

#7: WORST WATER
Vitaminwater Multi-V (1 bottle, 20 oz)
125 calories
0 g fat
33 g sugars        

As long as companies continue to sell multivitamin pills and your sink’s faucet keeps spitting out tap water, you have no excuse to ever uncap one of these faux health drinks. This bottle has more sugar than a Snickers bar, so if you must indulge, opt for something from Vitaminwater’s calorie-free Zero line. Or better yet, try Smartwater. It contains electrolytes that can help keep you hydrated when you’re sweating out in the sun.

Drink This Instead!
Glaceau Smartwater (1 bottle, 24 oz)
0 calories
0 g fat
0 g sugars

#6: WORST SODA
Sunkist (1 can, 12 oz)
190 calories
0 g fat
50 g sugars

Soda is one of the more condemnable sources of calories in the American diet. It doesn’t even bother with the pretense of nutrition—it’s pure sugar, plain and simple. But among the throngs of terrible sodas, Sunkist is the worst. A better option: Izze. 70 percent of this bottle is filled with real fruit juice, completely eliminating the need for added sugars. It’s still not as healthy as real fruit, but it’s a sizeable upgrade from carbonated high fructose corn syrup.

Drink This Instead!
Izze Sparkling Clementine (1 bottle, 12 oz)
120 calories
0 g fat
27 g sugars

#5: WORST BOTTLED TEA
SoBe Energize Green Tea (1 bottle, 20 oz)
240 calories
0 g fat
61 g sugars

Leave it to an “edgy” American beverage company to corrupt green tea, a natural wonder of the nutritional world. SoBe’s product is merely a saccharine simulation of green tea, with “natural flavor” preceding “green tea extract” on the nutrition label. Gulp down one of these bottles and you’ve taken in the sugar equivalent of seven Popsicles. Go with Honest Tea instead—it has more than 80 percent less sugar and uses organic, fair trade green tea.

Drink This Instead!
Honest Tea Community Green Tea (1 bottle, 16 oz)
34 calories
0 g fat
10 g sugars

#4: WORST LEMONADE
Orange Julius Lemon Julius (medium, 20 oz)
360 calories
0 g fat
94 g sugars

If you were drinking straight lemon juice, you could tip back 15 cups, or 120 fluid ounces, and still not reach the sugar impact of this icy, lemon-esque beverage from Orange Julius. So save yourself from sugar’s flabby impact by switching to Chick-fil-A’s low-cal lemonade. It blunts the typical sugar tariff with a dose of sucralose, which eliminates a clean 340 calories of added sugars.

Drink This Instead!
Chick-fil-A Diet Lemonade (medium, 20 oz)
20 calories
0 g fat
2 g sugars

#3: WORST FROZEN COFFEE DRINK
Dairy Queen Caramel MooLatte (medium, 16 oz)
660 calories
19 g fat (15 g saturated, 0.5 g trans)
90 g sugars

How is it that such a simple, healthy beverage like coffee can be so mistreated by fast-food purveyors? Dairy Queen’s MooLattes, for example, are essentially fat-bloated milkshakes with a little coffee blended in, and the caramel version has nearly as many calories as five White Castle sliders. Want a caffeinated indulgence? Switch to Starbucks’ Coffee Frappuccino. It’s plenty sweet but saves you more than 400 calories. But be warned: While the Coffee Frappuccino is safe, some of Starbucks’ other Fraps aren’t so forgiving.

Drink This Instead!
Starbucks Coffee Frappuccino with 2% milk (Grande size, 16 oz)
230 calories
2 g fat (1 g saturated)
49 g sugars

#2: WORST SMOOTHIE
Smoothie King The Activator Strawberry (32 oz)
834 calories
1.5 g fat (0 g saturated)
134 g sugars

Judging solely by name, you’d think this beverage were some sort of metabolism-boosting superfruit, but in reality it’s a hyper-sweetened smoothie filled out with 550 calories of pure sugar. In Smoothie King’s defense, it also delivers nearly 30 grams of protein, but that’s not nearly enough to justify the caloric impact. Unless you you’re a body builder looking to maximize your caloric intake, leave this blended beverage behind the counter where it belongs.

Drink This Instead!
Jamba Juice Strawberry Nirvana (Power size, 30 oz)
300 calories
0.5 g fat
58 g sugars

#1: WORST MILKSHAKE
Cold Stone Creamery Oh Fudge! Shake (Like It size, 16 oz)
1,250 calories
70 g fat (45 g saturated)
127 g sugars

      Cold Stone, “Like It” is the small size. If you upgrade to “Gotta Have It,” which denotes a large, you’re facing 1,920 calories—nearly a full day’s energy in one cup. The truth is, milkshakes represent some of the most concentrated calories that will ever cross your lips, so when you find a good one, you should take notice. Outside of what you might make in your own kitchen, the shake below from Baskin-Robbins is about as good as you’re going to find. Order it with Premium Churned Chocolate Milk Ice Cream and it floats in at just 500 calories. That’s a lot, to be sure, but it’s better than the alternatives. Just save it for an occasional treat, and always offer to split with a friend.

Drink This Instead!
Baskin-Robbins Chocolate Shake (with Premium Churned Milk Chocolate Ice Cream) (small, 16 oz)
500 calories
16 g fat (10 g saturated)
73 g sugars

A great link to check out!!!  

 http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/11-foods-for-faster-easier-weight-loss-2489734/#photoViewer=2

Here’s a 20-minute upper body workout — including warm-up — that will have you looking better in the time it takes to watch “The Simpsons.”

Warm-up (5 min):
Cable pulls, 1 set of 20
Shoulder Stretches (various angles), 1-2 min
Rotator Cuff ‘Y’ (lie face down on incline bench and lift light dumbbells upward in line with torso), 1×12
Push-ups, 1×20.

Workout (15 min):
Alternate between dumbbell clean & press, 3×8, and pull-ups, 3×10.
Alternate between dips, 3×15, and barbell bent over rows, 3×8.

Repeat three times.

That’s it. Twenty minutes to the new you.

Natural Household Bug Repellents:
• Essential Oils: Using essential oils such as lemon, orange, clove, peppermint, and mint around the home will deter most bugs as they are turned off by strong odors.

• Garlic and Pepper Powder: Most bugs avoid both garlic and pepper; therefore, sprinkling the powder around the key areas in the home helps keep the bugs at bay.

• Cucumber Slices and Ants: As summer approaches, ants flock to kitchens on the hunt for food crumbs. Ants are appalled by cucumbers; therefore, the cucumber slices work best when placed near cracks or other areas where ants may enter the home.

•Crushed Mint and Flies: Small packets of crushed mint helps to repel flies.

•Lemon Peels and Moths: We love the fresh, citrus smell of lemons and prefer it to using cedar blocks in the closet to keep moths from destroying our clothes.

1) 

Eat Bacon and Eggs for Breakfast

Regularly skipping breakfast increases your risk of obesity by 450 percent. Moreover, researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University found that people who regularly ate a protein-rich, 600-calorie breakfast lost significantly more weight in 8 months than those who consumed only 300 calories and a quarter of the protein.

And no, eggs and bacon aren’t unhealthy. (Overeating eggs and bacon—or anything else—is what’s unhealthy.) In fact, whole eggs contain more essential vitamins and minerals per calorie than any other food. They’re also one of the best sources of choline, a substance your body requires to break down fat for energy

   2. Tilt Up Your Rearview Mirror
Just far enough to force yourself into an upright sitting position to see behind you. You’ll improve your posture, and soothe your aching back.

3. Lean Back in Your Office Chair
Parking your torso at a 90-degree angle strains your spine, say Scottish and Canadian researchers. Instead, give your chair the La-Z-Boy treatment and recline the seat back slightly. The ideal angle is 45 degrees off vertical. 

4. Use the Bathroom Stall Nearest to the Door
It has the fewest germs and the most toilet paper, because everyone walks past it.

5. Don’t Blow Your Nose When You Have a Cold
It can force mucus and germs back into nasal passages and prolong the cold. Use antihistamines. And please—wipe.

6. Stand Up and Stretch Out
Genes in your body linked to heart disease, diabetes, and obesity can be “turned on” if you sit for hours on end, reports a study in Diabetes. Hit the “off” button by taking hourly laps during TV, book, and Web sessions.

7. Take a Vitamin D Supplement
An Archives of Internal Medicine review reports that 400 IU of vitamin D a day reduces your risk of an early death by 7 percent. Most multivitamins deliver 400 IU of D, but check the label.

8. Pet Your Dog Often
Spending time with a pet is more effective at reducing stress than spending time with friends, girlfriends, or bartenders. Especially bartenders.

9. Steam Your Broccoli
Italian researchers recently discovered that steaming broccoli increases its concentration of glucosinolates (compounds found to fight cancer) by 30 percent. Boiling actually lowers the levels.

10. Lose the Dryer Lint
Taking 10 seconds to empty the lint trap in your clothes dryer can prevent you from being one of the 315 dryer-fire victims each year in North America.

11. Skip Spray Cleaners
Using household spray cleaners just once a week increases your risk of an asthma attack by 76 percent, say Spanish researchers. Use wipes instead.

12. Never Eat Out of the Original Container
How many times have you dipped into a pint of ice cream only to find yourself staring at the bottom of the container 15 minutes later? And stop using oversize plates, bowls, and cups. Research shows you’ll put more food on them, but won’t be any more satisfied (just fatter).

13. Rent The Hangover 2
Laughing at a funny movie causes blood vessels to dilate by 22 percent, according to a University of Maryland study. This, in turn, reduces your blood pressure.

14. Tape a Golf Ball to the Back of Your Pajamas
It’ll force you to sleep on your side or front. Back sleepers often have blocked airways, and that leads to a host of troubles, including snoring and apnea.

15. Sleep 7 to 8 Hours a Night
Too much or too little sleep can kill you. A British study found that getting more than 9 hours of sack time a night, or less than 6, doubles your risk of an early death from any cause.

#7: WORST HOT CEREAL

Nature’s Path Organic Instant Hot Oatmeal, Apple Cinnamon (1 packet)
210 calories
2.5 g fat (0 g saturated)
14 g sugar

Nature’s Path attributes its sweetness to “organic evaporated cane juice.” Translation: sugar. Each packet in the box contains as much sugar as a scoop of Edy’s Espresso Chip ice cream. We commend the 4 grams of fiber, but you shouldn’t have to take in a dessert’s load of candy sweetness to get it. Switch to Kashi GoLean Instant Hot Cereal instead. You get more fiber (7 grams), and you cut your sugar load by more than half.

Eat This Instead!
Kashi GoLean Instant Hot Cereal, Truly Vanilla (1 packet)
150 calories
2 g fat
6 g sugar

#6: WORST BREAKFAST MEAT

Banquet Brown ‘N Serve Maple Sausage Links (3 links)
210 calories
19 g fat (6 g saturated)
520 mg sodium

This truly is the weakest link. Three measly logs of sausage aren’t are going to do much for your appetite, but they are going to stuff your belly with 19 grams of animal fat. Add that to your daily breakfast and you’ll gain 22 pounds in a year. Switch to the turkey version and you’ll cut your calories by nearly half, plus take in less fat, saturated fat, and sodium.

Eat This Instead!
Banquet Brown ‘N Serve Turkey Sausage Links (3 links)
110 calories
7 g fat (2 g saturated)
390 mg sodium

#5: WORST CEREAL

General Mills Oatmeal Crisp Hearty Raisin (1 cup)
240 calories
2.5 g fat (0.5 saturated)
20 g sugar

Oatmeal Crisp . . . it certainly sounds healthy, right? But upon closer inspection, this may actually be the most deceptive item on this entire list. It offers no frosting or marshmallows, yet it still manages to pack in more sugar than either Lucky Charms or Frosted Flakes. For a good bowl, look no further than Kashi’s GoLean, which meets the same nutritional standard as Kashi’s oatmeal. Each bowl comes with 13 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber—exceptional numbers by cereal standards.

Eat This Instead!
Kashi GoLean (1 cup)
140 calories
1 g fat (0 g saturated)
6 g sugar

#4: WORST WAFFLE
Nature’s Path Homestyle Frozen Waffles (2 waffles)
270 calories
10 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
5 g sugar
2 g fiber

When it comes to frozen waffles, it’s what you serve on top and on the side that typically makes it a healthy breakfast. Think fruit, eggs, or ham, all of which make supreme waffle pairings. With that in mind, you don’t want to burn up too many calories on the waffles alone. Nature’s Path makes some decent options, but this isn’t one of them. It’s loaded down with dubious ingredients like soybean oil and potato starch. The better option is Van’s Lite Waffles. They cut the calories by nearly half and offer three times as much hunger-fighting fiber.

Eat This Instead!
Van’s Natural Foods Lite Waffles (2 waffles)
140 calories
2 g fat
4 g sugar
6 g fiber

#3: WORST TOASTER PASTRY

Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts, Frosted Chocolate Chip flavor (2 pastries)
420 calories
12 g fat (4 g saturated)
34 g sugar

Since when has it been acceptable to eat chocolate-frosted pastries at breakfast? And yet, Pop-Tarts keeps coming out with new dessert-like options, destined to further inflame America’s flab crises. Kellog’s tries to claim that one serving is one pastry, yet there are two in each pack. That’s more than 400 dessert-like calories before you start the day. Essentially you end up with zero fiber, a negligible amount of protein, and more sugar than you’d find in a Snickers bar. Special K’s Fruit Crisps provide you with the same ease and convenience, but for less than a quarter of the calories of a Pop-Tart.

Eat This Instead!
Special K Fruit Crisps Blueberry flavor (2 crisps)
100 calories
2 g fat (1 g saturated)
7 g sugar

#2: WORST BREAKFAST SANDWICH

Jimmy Dean’s Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches (1 sandwich)
440 calories
31 g fat (11 g saturated, 3 g trans)
850 mg sodium

This is an instance where you’d be better off ordering your breakfast sandwich from a drive-thru window. In fact, Jimmy Dean’s Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit packs in as much fat as 2.5 McDonald’s Egg McMuffin sandwiches! But equally bad here is that glut of trans fat smooshed into this biscuit. Many food processors have begun scaling back the dangerous trans fats. We advise Jimmy to do the same.

Eat This Instead!
Jimmy Dean D-Lights Canadian Bacon Honey Wheat Muffin
230 calories
4.5 g fat (3 g saturated)
760 mg sodium

#1: WORST BREAKFAST BOWL

Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls: Pancakes and Syrup and Sausage Links (1 bowl)
710 calories
34 g fat (12 g saturated)
35 g sugar
1,000 mg sodium

It should come as no surprise that the top two breakfast offenders come from the king of sausage. This bowl surpasses the other items on this list in every category: calories, fat, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium. You would have to bike roughly 17 miles to burn off just one of these breakfasts. Most of Jimmy Dean’s breakfast can at least back their calories with a substantial amount of protein, but this bowl has a paltry 12 grams. The Smart Ones breakfast below manages to squeeze in 15 grams, and it does it with 500 fewer calories!

Eat This Instead!
Smart Ones Morning Express Cheesy Scramble with Hashbrowns (1 package)
210 calories
9 g fat (4 g saturated)
1 g sugar
510 mg sodium

Here are three healthy and yummy recipes to freshen up breakfast again!!

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (175 mL) milk
2/3 cup (150 mL) applesauce
3 tbsp (45 mL) melted butter or margarine
1 egg
1 cup (250 mL) Apple Cinnamon CHEERIOS* cereal, finely crushed
1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose or whole wheat flour
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt

Method:

Combine milk, applesauce, butter and egg.

Stir in cereal, flour, baking powder and salt until just combined.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a preheated non-stick griddle or skillet. Cook at medium heat.

Turn pancakes as they become fluffy and edges are dry. Turn over only once. Cook until golden.

Serve with your favourite syrup, if desired.

2)  Strawberry Parfait

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups (375 mL) strawberry or vanilla low-fat yogurt

2 cups (500 mL) Fibre 1* Honey Clusters* cereal

1 cup (250 mL) sliced fresh strawberries

1 medium banana, thinly sliced

4 whole fresh strawberries

Method:

In each of 4 (10 oz/300 mL) plastic cups or parfait glasses, layer 2 tbsp (30 mL) yogurt, ¼ cup (50 mL) cereal, ¼ cup (50 mL) strawberry slices and ¼ of banana slices.

Top each with 2 tbsp (30 mL) yogurt, ¼ cup (50 mL) cereal and remaining yogurt. Garnish top of each parfait with whole strawberry.

3)  Golden Grahams Breakfast Pizza

Ingredients:

3 cups (750 mL) GOLDEN GRAHAMS* cereal
2/3 cup (150 mL) peanut butter
1/2 cup (125 mL) nonfat dry milk powder
1/4 cup (50 mL) butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup (50 mL) icing sugar
1 container (175 g) stirred yogurt (any flavour)
1 cup (250 mL) cut-up assorted fresh fruit (such as strawberry or banana slices, halved grapes, raspberries)

Method:

Slightly crush cereal. Stir together peanut butter, nonfat dry milk, butter and icing sugar in large bowl. Stir in cereal.

Pat mixture onto baking sheet with buttered spatula to form a circle 9-inches (23 cm) in diameter.

Spread yogurt evenly over top. Refrigerate about 1 hour or until firm.

Top with fruit. Sprinkle with additional cereal, if desired. Cut into 1 1/2-inch (4 cm) wedges. Cover and refrigerate any remaining pizza.

Best if served the same day as prepared.

 THE 14-MINUTE CARDIO ROUTINE

At-the-gym option
Warm-up: Walk on the treadmill at a moderate pace (3 to 4.5 mph) for 5 minutes.
Tabata intervals: Run as hard as you can for 20 seconds (5 up to 10 mph, if you dare!), then stop completely and rest for 10 seconds. No need to lower the speed. Grab the console and hop feet on and off the belt. Repeat the 20-10 cycle a total of 8 times (4 minutes).

Cooldown: Walk it off for 5 minutes at a moderate pace (3 to 4.5 mph). Nice job!

      
At-Home Option

Warm-up: Walk at a moderate pace (you can chat easily) for 5 minutes.
Tabata intervals: Create your own move medley using these sizzling suggestions: jumping jacks, jumping rope, running in place with high knees or butt kicks, jump squats. Perform your pick for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Do that 20-10 cycle eight times.
Cooldown: Walk for 5 minutes at a moderate catch-your-breath pace.