It's getting colder and a lot of people who have been out running or walking over the summer are about to give up any sort of exercising all together.  I'm not trying to shame anybody, it's just a fact.  It's what happens.

Since staying fit and healthy is sort of my "thing" I thought I would use this blog to help people do the same thing.  I go to the gym a lot, but you don't have to.  There are plenty of things that you can do at home to keep from being 15 pounds heavier when we come out the other side of winter.  Keep in mind I'm not an actual dietitian or trainer, so these are just personal suggestions.

-Read labels:  Why do you think fast food places fought putting the nutritional info on their menus?  Because if you actually spent one day keeping track of what your taking in you may be suprised that your body can function on a day to day basis at all.  Next time you shop take a look at the back of everything you buy.  Even if you only buy a few things with less calories, that's a start.

-Switch to Diet Pop:  I know that the thought of this sickens a lot of people, and they are all afraid of it giving them cancer or something.  But I have friends that have made NO other changes to their diet other than drinking diet pop instead of regular and they lost a few pounds without even exercising.  It's pretty amazing really.

-Walk that little bit extra:  It adds up.  Park in the back of the parking lot instead of driving around looking for that spot 10 feet from the door.  Take the stairs at work.  Walk down to your co-workers office at the other end of the hall instead of calling them when you have something to say.  These small things have a bigger impact than you think.

-Take a multi-vitamin:  It fills in the holes from your diet and keeps you from getting sick.  Staying healthy has a lot more to do with what you ARE putting in your body than what you are not.  Plus, if your sick you are less likely to do any of the other stuff on this list.

-Cut down the booze intake:  This one was the hardest for me.  Some people think that hard booze is better because it has less calories than beer.  Not really.  The real problem with alchohol is that your body stops digesting whatever it's working on and gives priority to the alchohol.  Anything else you took in that day just gets turned to fat because your body can't process both at the same time.

These are just a couple things.  I recomend picking up L.L. Cool J's Platinum Workout.  I know it sounds dumb, but it's actually a really helpfull book.  I read it a few years ago and still use most of the things in it today.  The dude is over 40 and still ripped so he must be doing something right.