very interesting.

@Wei: Good tips!

Speaking of coffee… did you see the latest study that claims drinking 3-5 cups of coffee a day can lower one’s risk of Alzheimer’s by 60-65 percent? Pretty astounding numbers.

I’m also working on losing this thing that’s started to attach itself to my midsection. My friend who is an exercise scientist gave me 3 tips for maximizing fat-burning during cardio exercises:

1. Do it on a fast (i.e. before breakfast or other meals, preferably) — when you feed your body before cardio, it will first use up some of the energy you fed it before moving on to what’s stored in your body; better to just make a bee-line for the storage, y’know?
2. Have a cup of coffee — gets your metabolism going so that your body burns more stuff; I’m a coffee addict anyway so this is my favorite part of cardio
3. Increase intensity toward the end of the workout — Get this: Mike’s advice was like, “If you go on, say, on hour-long run, you should step it up for the last 15 minutes.” “Well,” I said, “what if you can only run for 15 minutes?”

Anyway, all the best, brother!

W.H.

I think you should eat what you want to eat, just stop when you’re satisfied (much easier said than done). I know my biggest problem is just eating too much. if I actually ate correct portions, I might be eating as little as a third of what I normally end up eating. There are certain foods that I just know that I cannot stop eating if there is more in front of me. When I go to a restaurant, I think I might start asking the server to box up half of the food before it even comes out. (Although it does work to cut it in half at the table and dump sugar or sweet n low all over the other half–but that seems wasteful).

anyway, that’s just me. it always helps to cut back where you can. good luck with your goal!!

@ Ashley: I looked for this cereal at the grocery but didn’t see it. There were several other varieties of Special K, though.

@ fightingwindmills: I read an article last night by some dietician/professor and she pretty much said the same things you mentioned. Never diet, eat healthy foods until you are full and then stop eating, and get plenty of exercise. Sounds better than starving!!

I’ve never tried to lose weight, but I’ve heard that low fat doesn’t work if you are not feeling full. You have to eat things that are nutritious and full of the good kind of fat like avocado. When I eat a salad I put crumbled bacon, hard-boiled egg, avocado, sunflower seeds, and shredded cheese on it. LOL, so I’m no help. But, I hope you are successful.