If you aim to lose weight, you'll just end up losing your mind instead.

I keep hearing people around me say "I need to lose weight, so I'm going to cut out this, and this, this, this, and this." And it makes me just want to ring their necks.

It's not about depriving yourself that makes you lose weight, because eventually you're going to slip, and you're going to eat what you're cutting out. Then you're going to slip again, and again, and before you know it, you've gained 10 pounds. You don't have to deprive yourself from the food you love. It's all about portion size.

You can continue to eat the way you're eating, you don't have to cut anything out. But what you DO need to do is bring something in. You need to eat more fruits and vegetables and drink more water. You need about 9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. 9 servings a day. It's not that hard.

"But junk food is a lot cheaper than healthy food."

Although that may be true, if you really want to lose weight like you say you do, you'd buy the healthy food instead of the junk food. You can replace the bag of chips, to a healthier bag of chips, or a bag/box of dried fruit, or a bowl of edamame, or blueberries, or mixed fruit, or a banana and apple with peanut butter.

Replace that soda for a glass of tea, or water, or Crystal Light, or what I suggested a few weeks ago- a few frozen berries in your bottle of water.

Replace your white rice with brown rice, your white bread with whole wheat, your pasta to whole wheat.

Try to cut out fast food to only once or twice a week. You can make your own burgers or pizza at home, make it a family thing. Have the kids help out and make a pizza, with a bunch of vegetables on it, and then sit around the table and play games together.

The more healthy stuff you eat, the less you crave the unhealthy. Trust me on this, you guys. I know what I'm talking about.

And if "exercising isn't fun" - which I know, it really isn't. There are other ways to get in your cardio.
Dance. "I can't dance." What a stupid excuse. You don't need to "know" how to dance, you just need to move your body! Instead of sitting on your tush while you're watching television at home, you could stand up and walk in place, or jump up and down - pretend you're jumping rope, do squats, stretch. Every time there's a commercial, rest and drink some water. Or, vice versa, whenever there's a commercial do your exercises/stretches, and rest during the show. Instead of walking to your car, dance to it! Instead of just standing there cooking, dance cook! When you wake up in the morning stretch your whole body, then dance your way to the bathroom. Hold a dance off once a week with your family. Be ridiculous! What's the worse that can happen? You'll feel embarrassed or think you look insane? Then just laugh at yourself! Laughing helps almost everything. Try laughing right now. Do it. Laugh. What did you feel, in your body, moving when you just chuckled there? I felt my abs have a mini work out.

So see, it doesn't really matter what you cut out, only what you put it.

The more happy and healthy you put into life, the more you'll get out of it.
Aim for healthy, and you'll lose the weight you want.
If you aim to lose weight, you'll just end up losing your mind instead.