Here are 10 simple tips you can use for weight loss and fitness
1. Two quick and easy ways to cut extra calories from your diet yetstill satisfy your sweet tooth: Drink Diet soda or Crytal Light and eatSugar-Free Jello gelatin. These are two small changes you can make thatwill reduce calories but will not make you feel deprived.

2. To quote John Beecher, "Strength is a matter of themade-up mind." Is your mind made up that you are going to start andstick with a weight loss plan or is this going to be like otherattempts where you give up at the first sign of failure?

3. Make changes in your diet gradually. The body doesn't likequick, shocking changes in anything. It's like going from a freezingroom to a very hot room. We need time to gradually acclimate.

The same is true with changing our eating habits. First, ifyou eat junk food all the time, try to reduce it to a couple days, thento just one day. Gradual reductions are more long lasting.

4. One reason people overeat is because they areoverstressed. Getting rid of tension in a positive way will help keepyou from eating because of increased tension and stress.

Take a walk, participate in a yoga class, hit the punchingbag, lift some weights. Find a way to relieve some tension and you mayfind you also relieve your appetite.

5. Stay away from products or services that sound too good tobe true. The health and fitness industry is a 40 billion dollar a yearindustry and many companies that are selling bogus products arethriving.

They target people's emotions by luring them into believethat by taking their products, there will be magical results. Justthink, if something was truly that good, wouldn't everyone already knowabout it and be taking it?

6. You must have the desire to change your body from where itis now. Without desire, you are setting yourself up for failure. Youmust want your goal bad enough that you are willing to endure someshort-term pain to receive these goals.

Link pleasure to working out and pain to missing workouts.You must condition your mind. Stop talking yourself out of going to thegym and start talking yourself into it.

7. During the first couple weeks of an exercise program, youwill notice that your scale weight either doesn't change or it may goup a bit. Throw the scale out the window, it doesn't distinguishbetween fat and muscle, so when you initially gain a bit of muscle atthe start, the scale weight will go up. That's a good thing. Over timethe scale weight WILL go down.

8. Most people do not like to calorie count, me included. Butin order to properly lose body fat, you need to determine your dailyenergy expenditure or caloric maintenance level.

You then need to reduce your energy consumption to be belowyour energy output. It's difficult to place a number on how much belowyour consumption you should go, because everyone is different. A goodplace to start would be 150-200 calories below your maintenance levels.

Then continue to observe the effects in the mirror to determine if this number needs to be changed.

If you continue to see no results, try reducing your energy consumption to 300 calories below your energy output.

9. Alcoholic beverages are high in calories and low innutrients. Alcohol increases the body's need for Vitamin B, which isused to metabolize it. At the same time, it impairs the body's abilityto use these and other nutrients.

One or two standard-size drinks once in a while will cause noharm in normal, healthy, non-pregnant adults. However, those lookingfor ways to cut out additional calories to help in their weight lossefforts will be better off reducing their alcohol intake even further.

10. Whatever challenges you face, focus on the future ratherthan on the past. Instead of worrying about what you failed toaccomplish last year, focus on where you want to be and what you wantto do. Get a clear mental image of your ideal successful future, andthen take whatever action you can to begin moving in that direction.Get your mind, your thoughts, and your mental images on the future.

About the Author

Shawn LeBrun is one of the internet's most publised fitness andweight loss coaches. Visit his site to see how he can make this theyear you achieve your best body ever!