Two Components

There are two basic components to being physically healthy: Exercise and Nutrition.

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Exercise- One of the most important things you can do is to make exercise part of your daily routine. If exercising isn't challenging, you will quickly get bored and you won't receive the maximum benefits from it. Therefore the best way to keep yourself interested is to constantly try out different things and change up your workout.

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Cardiovascular activities (anything that gets your heart rate up) is what trims body fat. Depending on your age and health condition, you want your heart rate to get up during physical activity. 60-85% of your maximum heart rate should be your goal 3-5 times a week, for 20-60 minutes (excluding warm-ups) to maximize your health benefits, including losing weight. Besides the strain and injuries that can result, the heart is simply working too fast for any benefit, and your body cannot replenish oxygen that quickly when you go above 85%. At the same time, you don't get much benefit when exercising below 60%, although it is a good place to start for beginners.

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You can find that range by taking 220 - your age = your maximum heart rate (MHR)

Then take that number and multiply it by .6 to get 60% of your MHR, and then multiply that same number by .85 to get 85% of your MHR.

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For example: 220 - 26 (my age) = 194

194 x 0.6 = 116

194 x 0.85 = 165

So, my target heart rate is between 116-165 bpm (beats per minute)

Since I am healthy and pretty in shape, I try to stay near the upper range during my workouts.

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Examples of Cardiovascular activities:

Fast Walking

Jogging

Running

Ellipticals

Bike riding

Rowing

Jumping Rope

Playing basketball, soccer, etc.

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Nutrition- I believe that you can eat anything you want if you control your portion sizes. Eat that pizza that you want, just only eat 1-2 pieces and eat a healthy salad to go along with it. When you eat about every 3 hours, it keeps your metabolism going. So, try eating 5-6 times a day.

1) Breakfast / 2) Snack / 3) Lunch / 4) Snack / 5) Dinner / 6) Snack (if needed)

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It is very important to have healthy, low calorie snacks, not meal size snacks. A good energy, pick-me-up snack is a mixture of a protein and a carbohydrate.

Examples of healthy snacks are:
Apple slices with peanut butter
Raisins
Nuts
Grapes
Applesauce
Low-fat yogurt with fruit
Unbuttered and unsalted popcorn
Broccoli, carrots, and/or cherry tomatoes with dip
Low or reduced-fat string cheese
Baked whole-grain tortilla chips with salsa
Unsalted pretzels
Whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk
Trail mix
Fiber bars
Bananas
Cottage cheese and fruit