For millions of people the ability to successfully lose weight eludes them. They think there is some magic that goes into dieting and that dieting doesn’t work for them. Well first thing they need to realize is that dieting is not taking a magic pill. It is a change in your lifestyle and getting rid of some bad habits. Here are the guaranteed ways of losing weight and living a healthier life at the same time.

Reduce your caloric intake - By reducing your caloric intake by 15 - 20% is your first step. As you go through these steps this one will sort of just happen by cutting other things out. We will touch on those in a second. If you are currently taking in a very high amount of calories you may have to adjust this so that it will work for you

Drink more - No I’m not talking about Beer. In fact if you drink a lot of Beer you need to switch that for water. So the key here is to drink a ton of water. At least 8 glasses of water a day. Drinking a lot of water will also help you eat less. If you start off each meal by drinking a glass of water you will feel fuller quicker and essentially eat less.

Eat more meals - Eat smaller meals more frequently through the day. This will reduce overeating and increase your metabolism and burn more calories more efficiently.

More protein - You should eat approx. 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. Protein helps repair your muscles and you will see why this is important in just a minute.

Reduce the bad carbs - You should lower the number of carbs you take in. Especially the ones from breads, sugars and beer. The good carbs that you want to get your energy from are fruits and vegetables.

Enlist friends and family - Don’t go it alone. Get others that want to join you on this lifestyle change. It will help you remain accountable and encourage each other along the way.

Do cardio in the morning - Do at least 20 minutes of cardio in the morning. This helps turn on your fat burning machine to help you burn calories all day long. Even while your sitting in front of your computer at work. Exercise breaks down muscle tissue which proteins help repair.

Keep Score - This is what I like to call tracking your progress. Keep a food journal , exercise log, take pictures so you can see the changes, track your BMI, log your weight, and most importantly write out your plan and make it part of who you are. If you write things down and make them a part of you, your chances of success go through the roof.

So now its time to take action. Stop putting this off and start today. You are the only person that can 100% guarantee yourself that you can shed the pounds and get that body you have always wanted. Good luck and I will be here with you the entire way.

Popularity: 34% [?]

Well this has been a hard week for me. On Friday last week I started coming down with the flu and by Saturday it had gotten the best of me. I was in bed for the better part of 20 hours on Saturday and most of the day on Sunday as well. Still feeling pretty out of it I took Monday and Tuesday off from work to try and recover. Returned Wednesday only to find that I still am not 100%. Now here it is Thursday almost an entire week later and I still feel like crap and to boot. My 9 ear old daughter has started coming down with it. I hope she is more successful at getting rid of it than I was.

On a positive note I am staying strong in my diet for the most part and despite eating a couple bad meals have managed to loose another few pounds. Down to 226 yesterday. I’m sure I will gain a couple back after I get my appetite back but it just tells me that I still have plenty of room to loose. Hopefully I can ease back into my diet and keep the extra pounds off. My goal for the end of February is going to be to sink below 220. That will be a nice change. I will probably even have to buy some new clothes if that happens.

Popularity: 20% [?]

I was enjoying some good results as the pounds were dropping pretty quickly due to my healthy eating and some good cardio workouts. Then I encountered my back pains and now that I am only able to diet with little to no exercise. I seem to have hit a slight roadblock. I am stuck at 233. So I either have to endure through this pain and workout anyway of I need to step up my dieting efforts. I don’t think it would be smart to eat less but I may have to get even more strict with my carb intakes.

I called today to make an appointment with my neuro surgeon and get this, the soonest he can see me is February 14th. Are you kidding me? God help me if I had any life threatening spinal cord problem. So I tell the receptionist that if I have to wait 3 weeks I am at least going to need some pain killers. She tells me she will talk to the Dr but he might not be alright with prescribing anything until he sees me. Are you kidding me? Well I am not exactly alright with having to wait 3 weeks to take care of this. I have never gotten such pitiful medical attention but I can tell you one thing. If this is a sign of whats to come in this country then I am having serious issues with this.

Popularity: 20% [?]

For several years now I have had chronic back pain in my upper back and neck. It has been something I expect to creep back in my life every winter when the weather gets really cold consistently and usually when we have snow. Last year I finally had the doctors go through and run any and all tests so that I could figure out what this was and why its happening. After x-rays, and MRI and appointments with a neurologist we discovered that I have 2 herniated discs and some free particles in the L6-L7 area. The free particles are basically arthritis.

Last week on Monday the pain returned for its yearly party and it has been somewhat crippling. I can’t think of any pain I have ever had that even comes close to the type of pain involved here. Not only does it effect my personally but it effects my mood, my concentration and even my motivation. Its like the pain taks over my life and just dealing with that pain is all I can think about night and day. I have only had the ability to really do one workout this whole week and the next day the pain was even greater probably due to aggravating it or something.

When I saw the specialist he said that we would try and get through this via physical therapy before we go the surgery route. I agree 100% but that only therapy we did as him handing me a couple of publications about the spinal cord and associated parts. So this week I think I am going to make an appointment with him and see what we can start to correct this burden in my life. Believe me, at this point I am ready to do whatever it takes to get rid of these attacks. Even surgery if it will get me back to living my normal life.

Anyone else out there had back surgery of similar problems?

Popularity: 20% [?]