Another thing with the food is that my wife and I will buy a package of berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, whatever looks good at the store). A few berries mixed into half a cup of cottage cheese is protein & carb, and the sweetness from the fruit keeps the chocolate cravings at bay. If berries aren’t in season, some flavored no-fat yogurt or jello (sugar free) can be mixed into the cottage cheese, instead.

The key for me was to make it part of my routine and force myself to do it before anything else. Having the willpower to do that, for somebody who is used to sitting in front of a computer all day, is a surprisingly tough thing.

Good tips. Learning to cook is another good thing I’ve written about recently. Grilling stuff and making sandwiches and things is pretty easy for me, but trying to make some more complex recipes is still somewhat of a challenge for me. ;)

Also, I keep a weight in the office. After sitting in my very comfortable chair for too long, I kinda glaze over. A quick bit of stretching and exercise helps. Also good for stress relieving.

It depends on the nuts you eat. Almonds, you can eat half a pound a day and you will be healthy as an ox (assuming an ox is healthy and eating almonds)!

Almonds are great because they have a ton of extra benefits that 90% of food out there don’t have. Along with helping the process of lipolysis (fat burning), helping to lower cholesterol and giving you a very dense source of EFAs, it is an incredibly easy snack to carry around or store.

Another miracle worker is green tea. I try to throw a green tea bag in a large jug of water to carry around at least once a week, almost always while at the gym working out. There is something about those anti-oxidants that helps keep your system clean and gives an extra boost to your metabolism.

Just a rule of thumb, portion sizes should be limited to the size of your fist, or something near it. Obviously if you are eating a gigantic plate of steamed vegetables, go nuts on the portion size! One thing you don’t need to do is eat until you are full – this is a common misconception when it comes to dieting. People think, “okay, I’ll eat healthier food, but why not add a second slice of whole wheat bread, or maybe an extra diet coke, I still don’t feel full.” Feeling full is not the key, the key is to give your body enough food to keep your metabolism going and going hard!

Another good thing to do is to snack on almonds all day long. Not honey roasted, or heavily salted, but plain old almonds. Any time I am hungry between meals I grab a handful of almonds and drink a bottle of water, usually followed by a piece of gum to get my mind of my stomach wanting more.

As I said at the beginning of this comment, there are sooo many factors involved to all of these things.

ps – Healthy Choice oatmeal is the best “instant” oatmeal you can buy aside from McCann’s Irish instant oats (rolled oats preferred).

pps – It doesn’t hurt to throw in some protein shakes to replace meals, 100% whey protein only :)