I wrote this piece at the behest of my wife, but it is really intended for my nephew, Nick, who thinks being able to do a 300lb press is the pinnacle of fitness and health. It's really just a collection of common sense thoughts on how to stay healthy and fit.

Basics
Your body needs activity. Without physical activity, your muscles will atrophy and your organs will start to malfunction. You will age faster, and have medical problems earlier in your life. Physical activity does not mean necessarily lifting weights or jogging, although of course those are good examples. By physical activity I mean to actually exert your body in the amount and measure that is right for you. Not for anybody else, but you. Biking, rowing, playing tennis or handball, etc. Whatever it is, you need to enjoy it (for starters) and it should not harm your body. It should also be done with some amount of periodicity.

It goes without saying that you should not smoke or consume any type of stimulant or drugs.

Eating healthy is important as well. I love the saying "don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize" because it's true. We are surrounded by unhealthy foods that are processed and infused with chemical substances. It's almost impossible to avoid them 100%, so you should avoid them as much as possible. TV diners? Why not cook something simple instead. A burger? Sure, once in a while. But a burger made at home is usually much better than one bought at a fast food place. If you are going to do that, avoid McDonalds at all costs. The healthier ones (to a certain extent) are Burger King and Carl Junior's. Avoid pizza at all costs, as well as heavily processed chicken products like the ones at KFC. Avoid fries as well, if you can. Avoid white bread and use whole-grain instead. Avoid soft drinks (even diet ones) and drink water. Or tea. If you must add sugar, use brown sugar, not the hyper-processed white cane stuff.

The key to eating healthy is moderation. If you eat a burger twice a month it's not big deal, but three times a week begins to be a problem for sure. Moderation. Just one scoop of ice cream instead of four. Just one cookie instead of half the box. Avoid fatty foods, but don't stop eating high-protein ones like beef or fish. Mashed potatoes? Sure, just mash them yourself, don't buy the flakes-in-a-box!

Portions are also important. Nowadays when you dine out you get these ENORMOUS amounts of food! Be smart about how much you eat. If you feel bloated after a meal, it's probably because you over did it. Eat enough to feel satisfied, but stop at the point where you think you'll feel too full. That's your body telling you to stop it. Also, chew slowly and carefully. That's very important.

Eat fruit and vegetables as much as you can. With your meals is fine, I'm not talking about munching on a carrot in the afternoon. But vegetables add variety to your diet, and variety is good because you tend to take on different types of nutrients that are good, instead of just the same ones over and over.

Whatever you do though, don't go vegetarian. Especially if you're thinking of doing any weight lifting at all.

Fitness
Like I said before, "fitness" is the process of exercising your body to the level of exertion you feel comfortable with. Any physical activity is good, as long as it's not ridiculously light on your body. If you're a 26 year old in good health, walking half a mile is not going to be very helpful. That's for the 70-year olds.

My fitness "routine" if one can call it that, basically revolves around biking and walking. Hiking through the beautiful areas around Santa Barbara is great exercise that has kept me in shape for the last 10 years. I'm no longer into weight lifting, but I maintain my muscle tone with a stationary cross-country ski machine, which I get up on five times a week for 45 minutes. That's really my routine, since biking and hiking are more like planned events, although I do try to hike at least three times a month. And by hike I mean actually exert myself walking at a brisk pace around the countryside, not just ambling down a well-worn trail while chewing gum.

So to round this up: Have a routine of physical activity you enjoy, and stick to it. Forever.

Burning fat
This is very simple actually. If you want to lose weight, the amount of energy you ingest should be lower than the amount your body consumes in order to function correctly. End of story. It's that simple. Diets are useless without exercise, no matter what the informercials tell you. A diet is designed to lower and/or adjust your energy intake, but if you do not engage in physical activity, you'll have to lower that intake dramatically because just sitting there at work for 8 hours and going to take out the trash and maybe have a roll in the hay with your SO before you fall asleep is not going to do it. If you have a 4,000 cal diet, you need to burn at least 4,001 calories in order for you body to actually start using your energy reserves (carbohydrates and fat) and therefore lose weight.

Simple isn't it?

Now, when you engage in physical activity, your body must power your muscles. That power has to come from somewhere, and it ideally comes from so-called carbs, or carbohydrates. Carbs are big nowadays as a diet fad, but people who are into fitness have known about them for a long time. Ever wonder why low-carb diets seem to work for so many people? Because your body will burn up carbs (sugars) before burning fat (lipids), since the former are a much more efficient source of energy. If your body is starved of carbs, it will have no choice but to compensate and burn fat, and that's how so many people seem to lose so much weight successfully. If you already have a high amount of accumulated body fat, a high-carb diet will prevent your body from burning said fat, and you'll continue to be fat. Even if you exercise, although like I said, if you exercise enough it does not matter. But "enough" usually means "a hell of a lot", which is difficult to do unless you're a football player or a movie star who can dedicate 6 hours a day to exercise. Most of us can't.

Think about it this way. If you're exercising enough to burn through 2,000 calories every 24 hours then it really does not matter how your diet looks like... except if you have an exceptionally high carb diet, like Michael Phelps. Did you see that during the olympics? The kid eats a frakin' ton of carbs every day, because he has no fat and needs to get the energy to swim like that from somewhere. But he doesn't gain weight, does he? Of course not, he's burning the whole thing in the pool. Is this starting to make sense?

To put it another way, a low-carb diet does not lower carbs because carbs make you "fat", it starves your body of carbs so it starts burning fat instead.

Bulding muscle
All of this is fine if you're just looking to lose a few pounds. But what about building muscle? Whether you're burning carbs or fat - that is, whether you are losing weight or not - if you want to build muscle mass you need to:

    a) Exert your muscles
    b) Ingest protein

Muscles are made out of protein. Protein comes from foods like lean beef, chicken or fish. So in order to build mass you must have a good protein intake. And if you're not burning fat while you do all this, you'll also need a good carb intake that will give you enough energy to actually strain your muscles and build them up with protein. Simple, no?

Where will those carbs come from? Well, foods like pasta and whole wheat bread are good. You can also buy carb supplements, which make it easy to guesstimate our intake, but don't break the bank while doing that, seriously. Carbs are everywhere, so you don't have to go far to find them.

And the protein? Like I said, lean beef, pork, chicken, fish and seafood in general are good sources of that. Eggs are also an excellent source, as are things like peanut butter and soy products. You can also buy supplements, like shakes or bars. But again, don't spend too much on that stuff. There's a veritable industry designed to part you and your money for stuff that you can get via much cheaper means, so don't over do it. I used to buy cheap protein bars, and those worked fine for me in addition to a protein-heavy diet.

You'll find a lot of crap out there as well about which protein is "best". Unless you're planning on being a professional body builder, don't even bother. Is it Casein? Who cares. Protein is protein, wherever it comes from. It will be turned into muscle.

And of course you'll have to actually lift the weights. I always found that free weights were better than specialized machines, but whatever works for you. Find a good routine (just Google for that stuff, there's tons of information) and follow it religiously, but make sure that it takes you from where you are to where you want to go, or you'll get hurt. Don't try to bench press 200lbs on your first day at the gym. Keep a journal as well, that's very important. Note the weight you lift, repetitions, cycles and so on, so you can adjust as you go along and more importantly, see how far you've gotten. Using a good guide is also a smart idea. This book is well-regarded by many people, although I must admit I've never read it.

Simple, common sense. I like it like that.