Is fitness being skinny? There’s skinny people out there who are so out of shape they can’t lift even 15 pounds. Is fitness having strength or endurance? There’s overweight people who can keep up with the best of them in the gym. So what is fitness?
There are two components to long term fitness and weight loss: proper diet and exercise. I learned that if you over-do one or neglect the other, and your results won’t be as lasting. It needs to be a balance. Look for a diet and exercise program that you will stick with.
Don’t fall for claims of overnight results in either diet or exercise. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Sure, you may loose some weight, but chances are as soon as you go off the program the weight will be back and likely more.
It’s not good to get your meal in a can (well, maybe a soup can sometimes). I’m referring to increasingly popular diet drinks and meal replacement shakes here. Believe it or not, most of them have as many calories as a small meal anyway. They’re fine every one in awhile, but not on a regular basis. If you like a shake, make a smoothie. They’re easy, healthy, and don’t have all the additives and processed junk of canned “meals”.
Your diet should be a proper balanced diet (yes, that includes some carbs and fats). When eating, use moderation with fruits and veggies making up most of your plate. I like to divide my plate in quarters. The fruit, veggies, or salad takes up at least half. The protein and carbs then take a quarter each.
It’s best to eat real food avoiding processed or pre-packaged as much as possible. Read labels. Often foods claiming low fat, low carb, sugar free, etc will add other junk like sodium or additives to make up for the taste of what they took out.
Exercise is the other component of long term fitness. Contrary to popular myth, you can’t spot reduce a huge stomach away. Your body will take the fat from where it wants. The best exercise program is one that has both cardio and strength training. Cardio will burn fat. Strength training will build/tone muscle to help raise your metabolism. Strength training also helps to keep your skin from sagging due to weight loss since muscle fills out and holds skin tighter than fat.
Glad to see your new blog
Regarding meal replacements: What do you think about Shakeology? I was thinking of trying it for a while… it seems to legitimately be a healthy meal/snack alternative… I agree with you that the majority of MR shakes are junk and that you would be better served eating healthy food but meal planning is one of the most difficult parts of healthy living and I read some research that showed good outcomes for folks who used them. It seems, if you choose the right one (NOT SlimFast!!) that it would help you make the changes more slowly (baby steps!!) and still see results quickly…. I’m still formulating my thoughts on this (and drafting a blog post) so yours are appreciated. 
I looked into them a few years ago. While they are definitely better than SlimFast, they are still artificial nutrition. Healthy meal planning need not be difficult once you get started. Hmmm. I think that would be a good post. Thanks for the idea and glad I could help you too!