Is your lifestyle contributing to your weight gain? For healthy people – weight gain is caused by simply consuming more calories than you burn. Unfortunately for most of us, our healthy lifestyle education comes in the form of a blaring commercial that is trying to convince us that eating this "lite" food or using that "miracle exercise machine" will lead to a healthy, fun, lean lifestyle! A healthy, lean lifestyle takes effort and education. Hopefully these five steps will get you started on a path to meet your weight loss goals. • Skipping meals and then overeating when you make time to eat. Skipping meals leads to blood sugar fluctuations, moodiness, and can even lead to overeating. Eat healthy meals and snacks at regular intervals. • Not moving your body. The body is designed to move. Period. Exercise can brighten your mood and lighten your body. • Drinking cola or sugar drinks when you are thirsty. When your body is thirsty it is asking for water. • Snacking on empty calories. Being fat free or low carb does not make it healthy. Empty calories (calories void of nutritional value) do nothing for your body. • Watching an abundance of TV. A recent article stated that you use less energy while watching TV than while sitting still! Most of us do these habits and are totally unaware of how unhealthy and destructive they can be. Of course this article is not telling you to never watch TV, or never snack – it is merely trying to raise your level of awareness of some things you may be doing that may be sabotaging your diet efforts. Observe your habits and ask yourself if they are contributing to a healthy lifestyle and an ideal weight or are they contributing to an unhealthy lifestyle and being overweight. Arm yourself with knowledge and achieve your ideal weight. I wish for you the best of health, Bill