Almost everything you need to know to lose weight and then maintain your ideal weight for the rest of your life is contained in the pages of this Web site.

I say "almost" because there is one critically important ingredient missing: I do not try to educate you on nutrition, exercise and food values. You must have this knowledge to achieve your goals. You cannot achieve a healthy state of ideal weight if you do not know which foods and beverages to avoid, and which ones are good for you.

The methods I have presented here will get you subconsciously motivated to eat right and exercise more, but you will have to seek out information about nutrition. There are tons of books available on dieting and nutritional approaches to weight control. I used to be fond of Covert Bailey's works, but in recent years a lot of people have had a good deal of success with Barry Sears' books on what he calls The Zone. He has written several. Any bookstore will know immediately about whom you are talking, probably even if you just say, "The Zone."

Just a note about exercise. Over the years I have found that I and just about everyone I have helped has had to engage in regular exercise to achieve and maintain ideal weight. My own requirement is about three miles a day. (Yes, I have to work at this, too.) It doesn't seem to make any difference whether I run, jog, crawl or walk, so long as I go at least three miles a day on two feet. Bicycling, rowing or other forms of exercise would probably be okay, too, as long as I put out an equivalent amount of energy. This three-mile requirement seems to be pretty universal; it applies to almost everyone.

Two-and-a-half pounds of loss a week is just about the maximum you can count on safely losing on a sustained basis. Covert Bailey has some things to say about this, and Barry Sears says two pounds a week is all you can lose without losing muscle.