My experience has taught me that in order to experience long-term weight loss success, you have to find an exercise and nutrition plan you can live with. You can only deprive yourself of your favorite foods for so long before you go crazy and start binging! The same goes for exercising. If you commit to a brutal exercise program that requires lengthy workouts nearly every day of the week, you'll soon start looking for excuses to skip it. Once I realized this, I worked on developing a way to eat the food I love, and keep my workouts short yet effective. My results have been dramatic (check out my before and after) and I've easily maintained my new figure for over 2 years. In a nutshell, this is what I do:

• I eat 5 meals a day, 6 days a week. The hardest part of doing this is the planning that it involves. I used to sit down for two or more hours each week and plan out all my meals and snacks for the week. I would search for new recipes I knew my family would like (that were also lowfat and could be prepared in 30 minutes or less) and figure out 6 breakfasts and lunches, and 12 snacks. I would then make a detailed shopping list so I only had to make one trip to the grocery store (a real time-saver). Once I had done this planning, it was just a matter of checking my meal plan to see what I was going to eat. As I ate a meal or snack, I would cross it off my list. That way it was easy to keep track of what meals were left for the week, and I knew I always had all the ingredients I needed on hand because I had done this pre-planning. The only drawback to this process was that it was very time-consuming. I realized that if I was able to automate this process and share it over the internet, life could be much simpler for busy women everywhere. Sign up for my membership and see for yourself just how awesome it is to not have to do this planning yourself!
  
• One day a week, I declare a Free Day. I eat anything I want, in whatever quantity suits me. In the beginning, my free days were really free-for-alls. I remember one day I ate an entire sleeve of chocolate chip cookies along with 2 bowls of ice cream...for breakfast! Now my free days tend to be much calmer. Often I'll stick to my 5 meal schedule, but relax the portions a bit. Sometimes I'll prepare a special dish or appetizer that I've been craving, or we'll go out to dinner and I'll splurge on dessert. If I'm going to consume any alcohol, I'll limit it to my free day. Whatever I decide to eat, I don't hold any guilt about it. Be eating 5 small meals a day throughout the week, my metabolism has become very efficient. When I overindulge occasionally, my body eliminates the extra immediately.
  
• I exercise 4 times a week, always using my heartrate monitor. I typically perform 10-15 minutes of weight training, followed by 15-20 minutes of cardiovascular activity (usually walking or climbing on the stairmaster). I use fairly heavy weights, that only allow me to perform 10 or 12 repetitions, and do 2 sets of each exercise. Using heavy weights allows you to build lean muscles mass which gives your body a strong, healthy appearance, as well as increasing your fat-burning capacity. Don't worry! Lifting weights will not make you look like a man! On the contrary, you will develop curves you'll be proud to show off in a tank top! I schedule my workouts the way I would schedule an important appointment. I make a commitment and stick to it! Since my workouts only last 30 minutes, it's easy to squeeze them in around my busy schedule.

I hope this information is helpful. If you are interested in losing weight, I would suggest the following steps:

• Sign up for membership. For only $5.95 a month you will receive a new meal plan along with three complete body sculpting workouts (with pictures to guide you) each week. Commit to eating 5 meals a day, 6 days a week. Look forward to and enjoy your free day!
• Purchase a heart rate monitor and wear it for each of your workouts. Learn the range that is best for you (my heart rate calculator can help you with this) and strive to workout consistently in that range.
• Set a realistic goal for yourself. If you have a lot of weight to lose, break it down into 5 or 10 pound increments. When you reach each goal, reward yourself with a manicure, a new book, or some other little (non-food) thing that makes you feel special.
• Have your bodyfat tested and your measurements taken. This is a far more accurate way to track your progress than the bathroom scale. If you are putting on lean muscle mass, it's entirely possible for the scale to stay the same or even go up while you are actually shrinking.
• Don't hesitate to contact me for inspiration or information. I am more than happy to help you in any way I can to achieve the success that I've had!