It all starts at the begining.

You can push the gas pedal all you want, but if the tanks full of jello or your running on fumes, you'll never reach your destination. Whether or not you reach your fitness goals depends largely on having the right foods in the right amounts. How many diets and starvation methods have you tried and suffered through just to loose a few pounds and then end up back in the same old rut. Truth is, diets only work while you're on them and most of us don't like diets, so most of us don't stay on diets. 
Our focus should be on our habits. What we eat, when eat, why we eat, and how we eat it. Instead of trying to remember a strict list of "eat this, stay away from that", adjusting our eating habits will make it easier to make the healthier choices come second nature.

First, let's cover some of the basics:

Reality Check
We all have limits. While it does take serious effort and self control to watch what we eat. It's not necessary, or realistic to expect ourselves to follow the plan 100% of the time. If we're honest with ourselves, sticking to the  plan 85-90% of the time is achievable for the long term.
That being said, what foods can you absolutely NOT live without? The foods that you tell yourself you'll never eat again, and then you wake up one morning with a junk food hangover wondering what went wrong. These will be your Achilles heel when it comes to maintaining good eating habits.
We all have them, for me it's fries. I love fries. And like me, you probably realized a long time ago that there is no way you will be able to give up your favorite food completely. So now what? The key is regulation and moderation.
Figure out what category your favorite food falls under in the "When" post to follow, plan to eat it at the appropriate time, once or twice a month.....and ENJOY it. Savor it while you have it, and then right back to the healthy choices.

Remember the Five P's
Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. This means preparing to make the healthy choices, will help you to make sure you actually make the healthy choice when the time comes. When it comes to food, ideally this means having as many meals as you can prepared at home. The more meals and snacks you can make at home the more control you have over the choices you make.
If you know you can't make meals at home to eat on the go and you will be eating out, you can still prepare to make healthy choices. Think of where you'll be throughout the day and what healthy options you'll have. This way, when it is time to stop and grab some grub, you'll hit the salad bar instead of the drive-thru.





Fill up the tank:
It is important to have the right amount of fuel to reach your fitness goals. Eating too much has obvious results, however not eating enough can send your body into starvation mode which starts the fat storing process and slows down your metabolism to conserve energy. First, you need to figure out how many calories your body needs right now. To figure this out, bust out your calculator.

• Women:  655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
• Men:  66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

That gives you a base calorie count (B) to work from. As you loose or gain weight depending on your goals, it may be time to recalculate. Write this number down, we're not done.

Now lets see how active you are. There are a lot of variables to this one. Consider these three aspects of your daily life (1)work, (2)home life, and (3)exercise habits.