Akira Hirai
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Fitness is a disciplined balance of diet and exercise.
For most people, food intake affects body fat more than exercise does. The Texas Cheese Fries at Chili's has 1920 calories and 147 grams of fat. That's almost a day's worth of calories and more than a day's worth of fat in just an APPETIZER.
Replacing simple carbs (e.g., sugars and bleached flour) with complex carbs (whole grains and veggies), minimizing saturated and trans fats and increasing healthy fats (fish oils, olive oils), and eating smaller portions but more frequently are all good places to start.
On the exercise side, for the past 5+ years, I've been getting 30-90 minutes per day of cardio 3-6 times a week. Depending on my mood, the weather, and how my knees and other body parts feel that day, this can be anything from a rapid hike, a hard trail run, a hilly mountain bike ride, or just putting in time on the elliptical. Over the past two years, it's been more trail running than anything else.
Since muscle tissue burns fat, strength training is an essential component of a fitness routine. I've always known this, but I've always had a hard time forcing myself to hit the weights. About 3.5 months ago, I started the P90X program (Google it - it's also available at Costco). It's a pretty intensive program combining diet, strength training, ab routines, yoga, martial arts, plyometrics, and core work. I completed the first 90 days, and just started a second round. P90X requires discipline - it's about an hour of work six days per week (the seventh day is either off or doing a relatively easy stretching routine). This, in addition to the cardio, takes a lot of time out of my day, so I had to make cuts elsewhere (like less tv time). So far, I've been very happy with the results.
I find it helpful to subscribe to a magazine like Men's Fitness. It's a monthly reminder of fitness goals, and is full of great ideas for both nutrition and exercise.
Finally, never underestimate the power of a good workout mix on your iPod. I absolutely hated to run before I figured this out. Now, I love to hit the trails.
(By the way, I noticed a few people in this discussion asking about how to burn belly fat. Doing crunches won't burn belly fat - it'll build your abdominal muscles. You really can't "spot reduce" fat in any one location. You need to drop the fat composition of your entire body. And for most people, belly fat is usually the most persistent. Sorry - that's just the way it is. If you don't like it, go get liposuction.)
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