How to lose a few pounds, painlessly.

Let's face it… a lot of people are overweight. Are you? You can fix it and it's easier than you think! Being overweight is a problem, from its affect on your self esteem, to health related issues like diabetes, and heart problems. Carrying extra weight affects a lot of things in your life too from your ability to play with your kids to avoiding walking and even basic exercise.

A lot of you want to make a change but don't know where to begin or think it's too much work. Here's an incredibly simple place to start: pay attention.

Look, you can blame McDonalds and fast food for the extra weight, or you can accept that you've made poor decisions about what, and how much you eat. The solution is simple… pay more attention to what goes in to your body. You don't have to obsess over it to see results, just pay attention.

Don't biggie size your Big Mac meal (1350 calories! That's 67% of a 2000 calorie daily recommended diet – in one meal). Instead, get the Big-N-Tasy meal with a parfait instead of fries, and tea (590 calories if you don't eat the granola). Fast food isn't the enemy, your choices are.

Here are some weapons for the battle: Calorie King and The Daily Plate For iPhone users there's a wonderful app called Restaurant Nutrition that lists many popular restaurants, their menu items, and their nutritional contents. It helps you answer an amazing question: “I'm at McDonalds. What on this menu is less than 500 calories?” Many restaurants are now providing nutrition information on their website too.

This advice isn't theory and hypothesis. I dropped 40 lbs a several years ago using this very simple practice, and all of that weight is still gone. I ate mostly fast food the entire time but made good decisions. I know you can do it too… I'm here to answer whatever questions you have.

Want to lose a few pounds? Just pay attention.