The Fad-Free Diet Plan

People who eat breakfast are more likely to maintain a healthy weight.

FORGET quick-fix diets - lose weight by simply improving your daily eating habits.

START THE DAY WITH BREKKIE

Breakfast eaters are more likely to maintain a healthy weight. Include a source of protein such as an egg or baked beans and a low-GI food such as wholegrain toast or low-fat yoghurt. Protein-rich foods and lower-GI carbohydrates provide important nutrients and also help keep you full for longer.

REDISCOVER HOME COOKING

By learning to cook at home using healthy ingredients you’ll boost your nutrient intake. And studies have shown that cooking stir-fries, roasts and casseroles using protein such as beef and lamb means you’ll put more vegies on the plate as well.

EAT MORE FRUIT AND VEG

Build up to the recommended five serves of vegetables and two serves of fruit every day. Fill half your dinner plate with vegies and eat fruit as a snack.

BE PORTION AWARE

Over the past 30 years, the amount of food on our plates has increased - along with our waistlines. Shrinking portion sizes is a sure-fire way to lower calorie intake.

MODERATE YOUR TREATS

Many women say sugary treats and takeaways are their weakness, which makes it more difficult to eat well. You don’t have to cut out any food, just moderate your intake. Cut back to a square or two of chocolate a day or a takeaway once a week.

CHOOSE HEALTHIER DRINKS

Too much alcohol can lead to excess calories and poorer food choices. If drinking, try a wine spritzer or light beer, or ask for a smaller glass.

KEEP A FOOD DIARY

This helps you become more aware of what you’re eating and drinking, and identifies any problem areas. Research suggests this is one of the best ways to change your eating habits and lose weight.

BE A MINDFUL EATER

Pay attention to hunger levels and how much you’re eating. Turn the TV off and focus on the taste of food, as well as how full you feel.

RECRUIT A SUPPORT TEAM

Everyone needs support to maintain healthy habits. Find at least one person - a friend, family member, work colleague or health professional - who will support and cheer you on.

CHOOSE HIGH-NUTRIENT FOODS

Wholegrain breads and cereals, fruit and vegies, lean meat, fish, eggs, legumes, nuts and low-fat dairy fit the bill.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/the-fad-free-diet-plan/story-fneuzkvr-1226620925676

10 Commandments of the Real Mediterranean Diet

A traditional Mediterranean diet has been shown to have significant health benefits. But can you follow it if you live nowhere near a Greek island?

 

We're always being told a traditional Mediterranean-style diet is an incredibly healthy way to eat.

As well as its proven benefits in preventing heart attacks and promoting a longer life generally, it has specifically been shown to help ward off diabetes as well as bowel and prostate cancers. (And it was the only eating plan achieving the maximum score of five out of five in the ABC Health & Well being guide to weight loss diets, reviewed by nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton.)

But adopting a truly Mediterranean approach to eating, especially that which stems from the island of Crete in Greece, is not as simple as many cookbooks would have us believe.

While plenty of recipes are promoted as Mediterranean, they aren't necessarily the ones research has shown to be so good for us, says Associate Professor Catherine Itsiopoulos, from La Trobe University in Melbourne. In fact in most cases they're not, she says.

That's because cookbooks tend to focus on festive foods and desserts from the region, says the head of La Trobe's department of dietetics and human nutrition, who is an expert on the Mediterranean diet.

"When people think of the Mediterranean diet, they always think of the souvlaki and the yiros and all the other meat dishes," she says.

But the diet, made famous by the ground-breaking health studies dating back to the 1960s, was a peasant diet that was largely vegetarian, she says.

"It was a poor man's diet. There wasn't a lot of meat. There was a bit of fish because fish was more available... but primarily they subsisted on plant foods and legumes as they main source of proteins," Itsiopoulos says.

"[There were] lots of casseroles where in a serve you would get 60 to 70 grams of meat but lots of vegetables. So the casserole was filled with peas and carrots and artichokes and zucchini and then there's a salad on the side. There was half a kilo of fruit and half a kilo of vegetables eaten per person per day."

The 10 commandments

 

Itsiopoulos, also an adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne, is compiling a cookbook based on the exact meals she has used in numerous studies showing the diet's protective effects against diabetes and heart disease.

In addition to the recipes, she has developed "10 commandments" of the Mediterranean diet which can help you get a handle on what it involves. (These can also be used to apply the health-giving principles of the Mediterranean diet to other kinds of cuisine, she says.)

The commandments are:

1. Use olive oil as the main added fat (aim for around 60 mls /day);
2. Eat vegetables with every meal (include 100g leafy greens and 100g tomatoes, and 200g other vegetables/day);
3. Include at least two legumes meals (250g serve) per week;
4. Eat at least two servings of fish (150-200g serves) per week and include oily fish:for example Atlantic and Australian salmon, blue-eye trevalla, blue mackerel, gemfish, canned sardines, and canned salmon. Canned tuna is not as high in the important fish oil omega-3, but still a good choice to include in your fish serves.
5. Eat smaller portions of meat (beef, lamb, pork and chicken) and less often (no more than once or twice a week);
6. Eat fresh fruit every day and dried fruit and nuts as snacks or dessert;
7. Eat yoghurt everyday (about 200g) and cheese in moderation (about 30 to 40 grams per day);
8. Include wholegrain breads and cereals with meals (aim for 3-4 slices of bread per day);
9. Consume wine in moderation (one standard drink a day, which is about 100 mls), always with meals and don't get drunk. Try and have a couple of alcohol free days a week;
10. Have sweets or sweet drinks for special occasions only.

Some recipes for a typical day's meals on a traditional Greek Mediterranean diet can also be found here.

A healthy switch

 

Itsiopoulos admits it's quite a different eating style to the one most Australians have today. But her experience introducing the diet to novices has been positive.

One study involved feeding traditional dishes, prepared and cooked by her team, to Australians who had type 2 diabetes. (It turned out to help them control the disease). Some enjoyed the experience so much that they wanted the recipes at the end of the study.

"We had middle aged people of Anglo-Celtic origin who'd never eaten eggplant in their life and they ate this dish and said it was their favourite," she says.

Interestingly, while the people in the study were not restricted in the volume of food they ate – they were told to eat until they were full – they didn't gain weight.

They also reported "a very positive change in well being, in mood and in the levels of energy they had."

A diet for busy lives?

 

But what if you have to prepare all the meals yourself? Is this an eating style the time-poor can adopt? Itsiopoulos insists it is.

It's true some of the casseroles have up to 20 or 30 ingredients if you count all the herbs and spices. However, modern day conveniences like slow cookers make preparing these meals easier than was once the case, she says. Meals like simple bean soups are quick and easy to make.

"You do have to be prepared. It doesn't take a lot of effort to pop leftovers in a container for lunch at work the next day but you've got to plan for it the day before. Something like a stuffed tomato or pepper, or a layered vegetable dish, you make on the weekend because it's a bit fiddly."

Most of the dishes are suitable for preparing ahead and freezing and she suggests enlisting the help of older children to prepare vegetables and even make themselves some of the simpler meals.

But taking time to "be in touch with food" and make at least some recipes from scratch, is an important part of any healthy eating style, Itsiopoulos believes. (Research has shown takeaway and restaurant meals, and even ready-made meal bases such as sauces, are almost always higher in unhealthy ingredients like fat and salt.)

"That's a culture you have to build in your family. It doesn't belong to any particular ethnic background."

What about the dairy?

If you think the Mediterranean diet looks a little low on dairy foods, you're right. It's certainly lower in dairy than is currently advised in the National Dietary Guidelines (which recommend 2.5 to four serves of dairy foods every day (preferably low fat), depending on your age and sex. A "serve" is equal to a glass of milk, a tub of yogurt or two slices (40 g) of cheese.)

But traditional Greek Mediterranean populations got calcium from other sources: sardines and other small fish which were eaten with their bones, and from leafy greens (which contain only a little calcium but the large volume of the greens eaten meant the amount added up).

Slow-cooking meat, including chicken, with bones also causes calcium to leach out of the bones, Itsiopoulos says, and this is then eaten as part of the dish.

http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/stories/2013/04/15/3737114.htm#.UYYnl0qyong 

Follow the 5:2 bikini diet to get your body beach-ready in just six weeks

If you stick to this simple plan you could lose up to a stone and drop a dress size in time for summer

Get beach ready fast with the 5:2 Diet

After what felt like the longest, coldest winter for years the sunshine finally made an appearance last week.

But packing away those coats and hats means one thing - it’s almost bikini time...

So if you’ve started looking at the scales in horror at the thought of baring all on the beach in a matter of weeks, don’t panic.

This amazing six-week plan will get you looking fabulous for summer, and you can still eat all your favourite foods - you can even have a barbecue!

The 5:2 Bikini Diet lets you eat normally for five days of the week and cut your calories on just two days.

If you stick to this simple plan you could lose up to a stone and drop a dress size in time for summer.

So this diet is for you, whether you’re looking for a great new way to slim, want to kick-start your weight loss or just want some new recipes to add some summer sizzle to your meals.

Start today with the first of our three exclusive extracts from new book The 5:2 Bikini Diet and get the beach body you’ve dreamed of...

The golden rules

There are three steps to follow to get into shape for the summer. Keep to these rules and you will lose weight, feel healthier and look great.

• fast – eat only 500 calories for women/600 calories for men – on two non-consecutive days per week.
• eat normally but healthily on the other five days.
• follow the 30-minute workout plan three times a week on your non-fasting days.

Your formula for a successful ‘normal’ day

If you follow these steps, you will have plenty of scope for tasty plates of food without excluding any food group, and it means that you will be able to have delicious pasta, bread, desserts and, of course, a glass or two of wine.

• Eat three healthy, balanced meals a day.
• Have light, healthy snacks such as fruit or yogurt if you feel peckish between meals.
• Do not calorie count or reduce portion size; you are not on a diet.
• Do be aware of what you are eating. Is it necessary? Is it healthy?
• Do allow yourself the occasional treat.
• Cut back on processed food and ready meals.
• Prepare home-cooked food as often as possible
• If you still feel hungry after a meal, wait 20 minutes and see if you are still hungry.
• Do allow yourself a glass of wine or two, a tasty dessert or even a few squares of dark chocolate.
• Cut out the rubbish. Keep the following items to a very bare minimum: biscuits and cakes; crisps; non-diet fizzy drinks; chocolate bars and sweets; beer, lager and cider

What to do on your fast days

You can eat your calories in any order you want as long as you don’t go over your limit but to start with it might be easier to stick to something similar to:

Women - 100 calories for breakfast, 150 calories for lunch, 250 calories for dinner

Men - 100 calories for breakfast, 200 calories for lunch, 300 calories for dinner

Or if you want to tailor the diet to your lifestyle from the start, these questions might help you decide how best to manage your meals on a fast day.

• do you get up early?
• do you work in an office?
• are you exposed to unhealthy food during the day?

If you answered yes to some or all of the above questions then it might be worth considering missing breakfast and having a slightly more substantial lunch. Why? Because eating at lunchtime will make it easier to avoid snacks during the day. If you are rushing out first thing, you should find it easier to miss breakfast.

• are you busy during the day with little time to think about food?
• do you feel cranky if you skip breakfast?
• do you have a morning ritual which involves breakfast and coffee?

If you answered yes to some of the above questions then you should try having a bigger (200–300 calorie) breakfast and then going through until your evening meal. Why? If you are busy at work you will not notice lunchtime.

Q&As

Q: Can I drink alcoholic drinks?

A: On a ‘normal’ day, yes, alcoholic drinks are definitely allowed. Obviously beverages that are higher in calories – such as beer and lager – should be kept in moderation, but wine and spirits are relatively low calorie and can be indulged.

Q: Should I exercise on a fast day?

A: Not recommended because you may feel weak and it will increase your hunger. However, some people do enjoy exercise on a fast day and do not suffer from any side effects.

Q: What type of food should I eat on a fast day?

A: The food you eat should be the most filling possible for the least amount of calories. The best things to eat are therefore lean protein-rich foods such as chicken or fish, and good carbohydrates such as pulses or beans. Salads and vegetables tend to have the least calories and can provide a big plate of food for very little calories.

Q: Should I eat ready meals?

A: Healthy home-cooked food is best – it doesn’t have to be complicated. Any processed food is likely to contain additional salt and preservatives and will have lost some of its goodness during production.

Q: What about eating out?

A: On a ‘normal’ day I think a tasty meal out in a restaurant is a well-deserved occasional treat. Don’t go overboard, especially if you tend to eat out more than once a week. Be careful and choose healthy options if you are eating at a fast-food restaurant or takeaway.

Q: What do I do if I break the fast day rules?

A: Don’t panic! If you have gone a little over your calorie allowance – anything up to 200 calories over – you don’t have to give up on that day. Just watch what you did wrong and try and do it differently on your next fast day. If you totally fall off the wagon, call it quits and think about what went wrong the next day. Don’t beat yourself up, and give yourself a little time off. Don’t give up.

Your meal planner

If you’re already feeling inspired, try these great recipes for your first fast day...

Breakfast - Egg white omelette with cherry tomatoes

84 calories, Serves 1

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs (54 cals for egg whites)
• 1 tbsp skimmed milk (5 cals)
• 3 sprays light sunflower oil (3 cals)
• 10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half (22 cals)
• fresh basil leaves, torn (optional)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Egg whites are a good choice if you are cutting back on calories, as there are only 18 calories in an egg white.

First, separate the eggs. Crack one of the eggs on the side of a clean bowl and, using your thumbs, open the two halves, letting some of the white run into the bowl.

Carefully pass the egg yolk from one half of the shell to the other, letting the egg white run into the bowl. Keep passing the egg yolk from one half of the shell to the other without breaking it until all the white is in the bowl.

Put the yolk in a separate bowl and repeat for the other 2 eggs.

Add the milk to the egg whites and whisk together with a fork.

Spray the oil into a wide frying pan and warm over a medium heat for at least two minutes. Pour in the egg white mixture, then add the cherry tomatoes and basil immediately.

Season with salt and pepper and cook until set. You may need to swirl and tilt the pan to distribute the eggs, tomatoes and basil evenly over the base of the pan.

The omelette should cook in less than a minute. Serve straight away.

Lunch - Mushroom stir-fry

146 calories, Serves 1

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 6 minutes

Ingredients

• ½ tsp walnut oil (20 cals)
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce (6 cals)
• 1 tsp soft dark brown sugar (18 cals)
• ½ tsp sunflower oil (14 cals)
• ½ garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped (2 cals)
• ½ yellow (bell) pepper, deseeded and cut into
• thin slices (21 cals)
• ½ small carrot, peeled and cut into very thin sticks (14 cals)
• 1 small thumb fresh root ginger, peeled and cut into very thin sticks (6 cals)
• 50g (1¾oz) beansprouts (16 cals)
• 50g (1¾oz) mangetout (snow peas) (16 cals)
• 100g (3½oz) mushrooms, sliced (13 cals)

This is a filling and substantial stir-fry, yet it is low in calories too.

In a bowl, mix together the walnut oil, soy sauce and brown sugar to make a sauce.

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan (skillet) over a high heat, toss in the garlic, pepper, carrot and ginger and stirfry for two minutes. Add the beansprouts, mangetout and mushrooms and stir-fry for a further two minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, add the sauce and cook for another two minutes.

Serve immediately

Dinner - prawn green curry

263 calories

Serves 2

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tsp sunflower oil (27 cals)
• 1 tbsp thai green curry paste (30 cals)
• 150ml (²/³ cup) vegetable stock, fresh or made from ¼ stock cube (9 cals)
• ½ × 400ml (14fl oz) can light coconut milk, stirred (146 cals)
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into strips (51 cals)
• 75g (3oz) frozen peas (50 cals)
• 1 spring onion, trimmed and shredded (5 cals)
• 1 x 160g (5½oz) pak choi, roughly chopped (30 cals)
• 225g (8oz) raw king prawns (king shrimp) (171 cals)
• juice of 1 lime (4 cals)
• 1 fresh basil leaf, shredded
• 1 small handful of fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped (3 cals)
•  

Warm the oil in a wide saucepan, add the curry paste and stir-fry for one minute before adding the stock and coconut milk. Simmer for two minutes, then add the pepper, peas and spring onion and simmer for a further five minutes, or until the peas are tender.

Add the pak choi and prawns and cook for two minutes, or until the prawns turn pink.

Finally, stir in the lime juice, basil and coriander and serve immediately.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/dieting/follow-52-bikini-diet-your-1858971

Jump Rope Girl - World's Best Jump Roper!!!

Jumping rope is so good for you I love it. Thought I might share this to inspire you or you might find some new tricks :)

How to Change Your Mindset to Lose Weight

Weight loss is a simple mathematical equation and should be easy. But it's not. Even though the theory is basic, calories in versus calories out, it requires you to change your lifestyle and create new habits. It is a mental battle, not just a physical one. Often people set themselves up for failure before they even begin to try to lose weight by setting extreme goals and expecting to never fall off the wagon. If weight loss was easy, more than 60 percent of the nation would not be obese. To change your mindset to lose weight, start with small goals and create new, lasting habits.

Items you will need

• Scale
• Notebook or journal
• Pen or pencil

 

1. Weigh yourself and record your weight and what size you wear currently in a journal or notebook. Also write down what you were wearing, time of day and the day of the week so you can weigh yourself under the same circumstances whenever possible.

 

2. Set realistic weight-loss goals. Write down the total number of pounds you want to lose, or what size you would like to wear. Then set small weekly weight-loss goals of 1 to 2 pounds each week to slowly get you to your ideal weight.

 

3. Monitor your food intake daily. Write down everything you eat and drink, including the amounts. This will hold you accountable to what you are eating and help you look at times you may overeat. You can also write down how you were feeling at the time.

 

4. Plan your meals the day before, or plan a week at a time. You can do this even if you have a family if you are the one who plans the meals. If you don't, sit down with the member of the family who does the meal planning so you can be involved.

 

5. Make small, healthy changes to your diet. For example, if you don't eat breakfast, start your day with a healthy meal that includes fat, protein and carbs, such as yogurt and fruit or a whole-grain cereal with milk. Make a healthy breakfast a habit and then change another meal.

 

6. Talk to your physician about your weight-loss goals. Listen to his recommendations and what your weight says about your health. Write down health goals as well as weight-loss goals to improve quality of life.

7. Add exercise to your week. Make it an appointment and don't break it. Start with as little as 10 to 15 minutes of walking three times per week and slowly increase your activity. Try new things or classes to make exercise fun and so it becomes a habit.

 

8. Join a weight-loss group, or team up with a friend or family member to lose weight. Lean on each other and talk about your struggles with weight loss. If necessary, consider seeing a therapist who specializes in eating disorders.

 

Tips

• Take one day at a time to reach long-term goals.
• Read through your goals daily to remind you of why you are trying to lose weight.
• See your physician regularly to monitor changes in your health, not just your weight.
• Forgive yourself if you don't meet every small weight-loss goal.

 

Warnings

• Don't weigh yourself more than once a week.
• Don't use food or skipping workouts as a reward.
• Avoid drastic measures that you can't maintain.

 

http://healthyliving.azcentral.com/change-mindset-lose-weight-9868.html 

Think You Can't Lose Weight? So Did Beverly - Until She Did

If you believe you can't lose weight, you're probably right. Diets don't work for you, and although you know you should eat healthy, you find yourself in a cycle where eating gives you comfort and that's the one true thing in your life. The truth is, you can lose weight, and live a life of passion and freedom. First you must gain clarity about what's driving your thoughts, beliefs, emotions and ultimately, your day-to-day behavior.

The Truth About Exercise and Your Weight

If you've been working out and eating fewer calories but your extra pounds won't budge, you may be wondering why that seemingly simple strategy isn't working.

The truth is you may need a reality check about what to expect from exercise.

1. Exercise is only part of the weight loss story.

There's no getting around your tab of calories in and calories out.
The obese patients Robert Kushner, MD, clinical director of the Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity, treats often tell him they're not seeing the results they want from exercise.
"They will say, 'I have been working out three days a week for 30 minutes for the past three months, and I have lost 2 pounds. There's something wrong with my metabolism,'" he says.
Kushner tells patients that exercise is very good for them, but for weight loss, he emphasizes starting with a healthy diet. "First, we've got to get a handle on your diet," Kushner says. "As you're losing weight and feel better and get lighter on your feet, we shift more and more toward being more physically active. Then living a physically active lifestyle for the rest of your life is going to be important for keeping your weight off."
Other experts have had success including physical activity early on. But they stress that the amount of exercise is key.

James O. Hill, PhD, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado at Denver, says it's easier to cut 1,000 calories from a bloated diet than to burn off 1,000 calories through exercise. "But there are many, many studies that show that exercise is associated with weight loss when done in enough volume and consistently," he says. "It depends how much you do."
For Pamela Peeke, spokeswoman for the American College of Sports Medicine's "Exercise is Medicine" campaign, fitness is a crucial part of a weight loss program, but it's for reasons that go beyond calorie burning. She praises its mind-body benefits, which will help with motivation over the long haul.
Peeke asks her patients to start walking as a way to "celebrate" their bodies with activity. "For years, they've blown off their body," Peeke says. "By them actually using their bodies, they can begin to integrate them back into their lives and not use them  as a source of torture or torment or shame."

2. Exercise is a must for weight maintenance.

 

"I come back to this over and over and over," Hill says. "You can't find very many people maintaining a healthy weight who aren't regular exercisers. What we find is that people who focus on diet aren't very successful in the long run without also focusing on physical activity."

Hill warns that people can be "wildly successful temporarily" at losing weight through diet alone. But there's plenty of data that show that those people regain the weight if they aren't physically active.
Timothy Church, MD, director of preventive medicine research at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. says, "When it comes to weight, you can't talk about diet alone, and you can't talk about exercise alone. You absolutely have to address both issues at the same time."

3. Food splurges may undo your efforts.

Exercise may not buy you as much calorie wiggle room as you think.
"The average person overestimates the amount of activity they're doing by about 30% and underestimates their food intake by about 30%," says Kathianne Sellers Williams, a registered dietitian and personal trainer.
"When' I'm looking at people's food and activity logs, sometimes things just don't add up," she says. "People think, 'Oh, I just did 60 minutes at the gym' or 'I just did 30 minutes at the gym' and think that counteracts a lot of what they're eating. But the reality is our food portions are huge."

Plus, Peeke says, you have to look at all the other calories you ate or drank that day and how sedentary you were apart from your workout.
"The rest of the day, you're sitting down and you're also eating other things," Peeke says. "How are you going to burn that stuff, let alone this extra little treat that you just thought you wanted?"
It's hard to accurately estimate how many calories you burn working out, Church says. "If it is a hard workout," he says, "you kind of intuitively think, 'Wow! That's cool! I just put enough in the bank for two days!' and you really haven't."

4. Exercise machines may not tell the whole calorie story.

Treadmills and other exercise gear often have monitors that estimate how many calories you're burning.
Kong Chen, director of the metabolic research core at the National Institutes of Health, says those displays are "close, but for each individual they can vary quite a bit."
Chen suggests using calorie displays on exercise equipment for motivation but not as a guideline to how much you can eat.

"It doesn't matter if the display says 300 or 400 calories. If you do that every day or increase from that level, then you've achieved your purpose. But I wouldn’t recommend feeding yourself against that," Chen says.
Those machines don't account for the calories you would have burned anyway without exercising.
"It isn't 220 calories for those 40 minutes of exercise versus zero," Kushner says. "If you were sitting at work or playing with your kids, you’re probably burning 70 calories during that period of time. You have to subtract what you would burn if you didn't exercise. So the overall calorie burn becomes much less."

5. One daily workout may not be enough.

Your best bet for your weight -- and for your overall health -- is to lead a physically active lifestyle that goes above and beyond a brief bout of exercise.
"It's not just about 30 minutes of exercise," Chen says. "It's about fighting the sedentary environment."
"The message isn't that the 30 minutes on the treadmill isn't good," Hill says. "It's that the 30 minutes on the treadmill isn't going to make up for 23-and-a-half sedentary hours." Hill encourages people to weave activity throughout their day. "Do something to move and make it fun," he says.
Chen also recommends setting realistic expectations and taking "small steps all the time" toward your weight goal.

As much as calories-in vs calories-out matters, don't forget about stress, sleep, and other factors that can affect your weight, Williams says. "We need to look at someone's total lifestyle, not just whether someone hits the gym," she says. "Weight and obesity are really multifactorial, and it really simplifies it just to break it down to nutrition and exercise. Those are really big pieces but definitely not the only pieces."

http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/exercise-and-weight-loss-five-truths