Why chips are a dieter's nightmare!

This picture of a pitiful pile of Frito Lay Tostitos, aka 'Cantina Thin & Crispy' chips, weighs in at nine grams – There are only about 14 chips there! Yet at 10.7 calories per gram, they represent almost 97 calories! (This is almost equal to drinking a can of beer, for crying out loud)! When I was much younger, I can remember cruising through a whole bag of these delicacies without giving it very much thought! These days, even looking at that bag causes my stomach to poof out!

Yes, diets are pretty tough, but none more so that when you are trying to lose weight after forty! The problem lies with our metabolism's ability to slow itself down whenever you restrict your caloric intake. You hardly eat and you still gain weight. It can be a nightmare.

The trick, of course, is to exercise. Every little bit you do, be it walking, biking, working in the garden or even shopping at the mall forces your body's chemical engine into a higher gear. And, when that happens you begin to burn off fat at an accelerated rate! The kicker is it doesn't matter what your age is! True, younger people can burn calories much faster, but even us oldies will benefit from some form of regular exercise. The key is to maintain the schedule you set for yourself, come rain or shine!

OK, so you set up an exercise schedule, weighed yourself and bought some spandex shorts! There's still one more hurdle to overcome... exactly how much food you stuff in your face! The fact is, if you're taking IN more calories than you're BURNING, it will all be for naught. Sure, you're muscles might end up better toned, but that old front and back porch will continue to grow! The cap on what you should be eating is found in a formula that takes into consideration your gender, age, current weight and lean to body mass index or BMI.

If you begin a diet program over the Internet, I'm using http://www.myfitnesspal.com, all that will be taken care of for you once you've entered your profile information. Voilà, out pops a number of calories that you must stay below to lose X amount of ponds over Y period of time. In my case it worked out to about 1600 calories a day. A challenging number to hit to be sure. But, here's the good news. You can eat more... by exercising more! What a wonderful world it can be! So, for every calorie you lose through working out, you can feel free to tack those right back on in the form of food – and it doesn't matter much what form that food takes! Just yesterday, I worked for an hour in the garden weeding plants, I then swept out the garage and also rode my stationary bike for ten minutes. My bonus for that effort – 300 calories to do with what I desired, and I desired ice cream!

Note: While Myfitnesspal is a free app - the ads they post there are most annoying and they do not offer  a 'pay to get rid of them' option. In my case, I try to ignore them as best I can, and if I do notice one, I make a mental note to never purchase the produce or service. I also try and make it a point from time to time to let the advertisers know this.