Calories vs. Carbs.

You should count both calories and carbs in your diet, but counting calories is more important! To lose weight, you must eat fewer calories than you expend in any given day.

Block That Snack!

Instead of heading for the freezer or pantry, head for the front door and go for a jog around the block. The fresh air and exercise will calm you down, clear your head, and help quench your desire to overindulge.

The Healthiest Fats

Omega-3s. You must have heard everywhere and have seen plastered on every packaged food container. So what exactly are they? Omega-3 fatty acids, simply put, are one of the best kinds of essential fatty acids, having been shown to lower cholesterol levels, reduce inflammation, and decrease the risk of heart disease and heart attacks. They've also shown promise in helping to relieve symptoms of a host of other conditions, from diabetes to bipolar disorder. Foods rich in omega-3s include salmon, walnuts, flaxseed, and walnut and flaxseed oils. Work on adding some of them to your diet.

The Reality Diet

If you're concerned that a weight-loss plan could be an unproven fad diet, do some research and look for the science behind the diet’s claims. A better solution is to work with a nutritionist to create a diet that's realistic for you.

Want Zero Calories?

Drinking non-caloric fluids like water before or with a meal can help you feel full sooner. Water may also help you avoid unnecessary food calories from snacks or extra servings at mealtime — and it keeps you hydrated.

Exercise

Adding 30 minutes of exercise to your daily schedule can decrease the risk of colon cancer by 15%.  More exercise can reduce the risk even further.

Keep Yourself Hydrated

When you become dehydrated during exercising, your muscles begin to use more carbohydrates and less fat for fuel.

Limit the Amount

You should limit the amount of foods you eat that contain: saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and added sugars.

Measure Your Portions

According to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control study of more than 4,000 adults, the biggest factors in diet success were measuring portions and keeping track of fat intake.

Know Your Triggers

If anxiety or stress is keeping you from sleeping, biofeedback sessions can help nail down what your triggers are.  A trained specialist will help you determine your stress triggers. You'll then learn to control your breathing and muscle tension to achieve relaxation.

Digestive Problems?

Keeping a food diary in which you write down the foods you eat and your symptoms will help you determine which foods may be upsetting your gut. If big meals cause symptoms, eating smaller meals throughout the day may help.

Bring Your Own Lunch

Taking a homemade lunch to work is a great way to stick to a HEALTHY eating plan. It's easier on the budget, too. So start brown-bagging it!

The Joys of Chocolate

The flavonoids and antioxidants in dark chocolate will not only boost your mood but can help reduce high blood pressure and decrease the risk for heart disease. Choose a chocolate with at least 60 percent cacao to reap these benefits. Still, it's important to indulge in moderation — chocolate also contains fat and sugar.

Which Cardio is Best?

There are a million and one exercises that you can do for cardio. So how do you know which kinds of cardio are best? Do you walk, row, spin, step, or climb your way to fitness? The answer is all of these. You should do whatever you enjoy the most. If you only have access to one type of exercise, you can change the way you use it every once in a while so that you are avoiding the workout plateau and keeping yourself challenged and motivated.

A Natural Antidepressant

A growing body of research suggests that exercise can relieve symptoms of depression, including sadness, irritability, stress, fatigue, anger, self-doubt, and hopelessness. It's unclear exactly why, but researchers think that exercise's effect on endorphins and other mood-lifting neurotransmitters may be at play. Exercise also lowers your levels of the stress hormone cortisol and helps you to sleep better. Get to the gym and start feeling better!

Indulge Your Cravings

Incorporate the foods you crave into your meals rather than eating them at snack time, when they may be too hard to resist.

Indulge in a Stretch

Let your head hang to one side toward your shoulder and gently apply downward pressure with your hand to stretch the neck muscles. Hold for about six seconds. Repeat three times to each side. Now do the stretch with your head hanging forward, touching chin to chest, again holding for about six seconds; repeat three times.

Bedtime-Snack Smarts

With late-night eating, it's not when you eat that matters, it's what and how much you eat. If you find you're hungry late at night, wait 10 minutes before eating anything. Then, if the craving hasn't subsided, choose a small portion of a healthy snack.

Serving Savvy

You should eat a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. But be aware of serving sizes, especially if you're following a weight-loss plan.  Many whole fruits, like a large apple or a banana, equal two servings.

Sleep on Schedule

Although it may seem difficult, aim for waking up and going to bed at the same time every day. Not only will your sleep schedule be on track, but your digestive health will improve as well. You'll be more prone to following a balanced diet by avoiding midnight snacks and late-night cravings.

Not All Exercises Are Created Equal

Engaging in any kind of physical activity is healthier than sitting on the couch downing chips. Activities like bowling, basketball, and golf are great for burning calories. But to see dramatic weight loss, you must do cardiovascular exercise. "Cardiovascular" is defined as any activity that is rhythmic, continuous, and requires large muscles, like those in the legs, back, and chest. While bowling, basketball, and golf get you moving, they're all characterized by start-and-stop movement. There's no reason to give up such sports, just be aware that you must also put in time at the track or on the treadmill.

Try Green Tea

This soothing, relaxing drink may help reduce the risk of several types of cancer, heart disease, hypertension, kidney stones, and cavities. Drink it hot or iced. If you want it a little sweet, add a few drops of honey.

Know Where Your Food Comes From

Need another reason to start hitting up your local farmers’ market? Think about getting a chance to meet the people who grow your food. You can ask them about their farming methods to make sure the meat and produce you're buying are organic and free of antibiotics. You can also use your local farmers as resources for recipes, food preparation ideas, snack suggestions, and gardening advice. They have a real passion for what they do, and they're usually generous when it comes to offering their expertise on healthy eating and living.

Music as Therapy

Listening to a soothing song and engaging in the lyrics is a technique used in musical therapy. Try it yourself  — listen to your favorites daily and enjoy significant improvements in blood pressure, respiration, and muscle relaxation.

Limit Your Coffee Intake

Too much caffeine can leave you jittery and anxious, so dietitians generally recommend that you drink no more than three cups of coffee a day.

Serve Yourself Spinach

If your mother told you to eat your spinach when you were a kid, she had good reason. A cup of spinach contains as much bone-building calcium as a cup of milk.

How About That Coffee?

Are you a coffee drinker? Is your day not officially up and running until you have your cup (or three) of java? While caffeine is okay in small doses ― it is important to be careful about which coffee filters you use. Bleached coffee filters can leach chlorine into your coffee, releasing dioxins with every drip. Buy unbleached or oxygen-bleached filters instead. Oxygen-bleached filters use chlorine dioxide, a type of bleach that doesn't create dioxin residues.

Go Easy on the Guilt

One piece of cake is 500 calories, while a pound of fat is 3,500. You'd have to eat cake every day for a week to gain a pound. One piece won't derail your diet, so don't beat yourself up — just get back on track as soon as you can.

Fears of Working Out

Exercise is absolutely crucial to getting and staying healthy. Some people can't work out because they are afraid they'll look stupid, they fear trying something new or, well, any other number of things you can think of. These are fears you NEED to get over. Your attitude creates your reality, so it's crucial to have the right one. The power is in your mind, so if you have negative thoughts about your self-image, if you lack confidence, or if you feel hopeless that you'll ever lose weight, you're still at square one. If you constantly tell yourself you're not capable of working out, then you're always going to feel stupid…and eventually you'll give up. But if you harness your mental power with positive thoughts that you CAN do this, and WILL do this, guess what ― you will.

Strengthen Your Lower Body

Sure you want your butt to look good in jeans, but you also want to remember it's not just about looking good. You can improve your overall fitness level and even your mobility by strengthening those glutes, quads, hips, and hamstrings. It's extremely important to have a balanced physique to help keep your workouts injury-free. A stronger lower half is also one of the best ways to build speed; working out those muscles could only help you in a variety of sports such as running, biking, and swimming.