All right, so you have read a few of these articles, completed your research and now you’re lastly prepared to start a diet and exercise course. And you keep asking yourself something you still need to know, where do I start? We often have trouble making sense of all the good advice that has been offered. Well today you are in luck!

Let’s clarify one thing before we go ahead with this. There is so much information about healthy eating and fitness, it is almost unachievable to learn it all. Nobody would get started if they waited until they knew everything to do so. One important key to success in this area is to start off with very well defined goals and expectations for yourself. The plan is basic but also strong enough to set you on the right path.

Set your goals. If you don’t know what you want or what you are doing you will be less likely to get where you want to go. You also will not have the same determination as you could have. If you don’t have a picture of what you want in your mind you will be less motivated. Here are some sample questions you can ask yourself. What sort of time frame am I looking at? Do I want a smaller waist? Do I want bigger arms? What measurements am I looking for?

When you have finished with this it won’t do any harm to jot down your answers to a few of these questions as a reference for the future. If you have to, you may document some data that may be related to your questions – stats such as measurements or weight. You can find out how good your results are by having something to compare them to.

Start to construct your menu along with the quantities. For some this is the hard part since they don’t know how much or how little food to take. The most accurate guideline that I have found over the years is to multiply your current bodyweight by 10. That’s how many calories you should be taking in for the day. Also remember that your true weight is when you get up without any clothes on.

Start by thinking of the exercise program that is tailored to your individual needs. If you are looking for everlasting results you will want to be involed in weight training. Cardiovascular activity will do fine if lack of interest and inconvenience with weight training is an issue.

You should start to meet your fitness goals with this plan. After you have laid your foundation in this manner, you can build upon it with new information as you acquire it.