This is the second part of extracts on losing weight from Dean Schneider's book "AgeLess", in which his New Weight Rules #4 & #5 are discussed. Robert Griffith, Editor.

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New Weight Rule #4: If You Do Need to Lose Weight, Do It Wisely

By now you understand that weight can work both ways. The AgeLess strategy is to stay trim for good health in your early and middle years and allow a few pounds to cushion you in your older age.

If you scored 100 on the weight LQ quiz, skip this section. Those who scored 90 should read on to find out about how to keep pounds from accumulating in the future. If your weight LQ rates 80 or lower, it's time to reduce. Fortunately, the days of drastic diet recommendations are pretty much past. Current evidence shows that small increments of weight loss may be your best bet for treating most medical conditions. Losing just 10% of body weight is the benchmark goal for improving health among those in the range of risk. Such moderate weight loss is so effective that more radical regimens are generally only recommended in extreme cases, after the initial weight loss has stabilized. In fact, evidence that losing more than 10 percent of body weight may reduce metabolic rate and help explain why it can be so difficult to maintain larger losses.

Before you embark on a weight-loss program, it's important to do a little planning. Here are three advance steps that will help you achieve your goal.

1. Assess your motivation
The question is, "Why diet?" When your answer penetrates beyond surface appearances and social pressures to encompass the deeper payoff of a healthy body weight, you're ready to go. If your goal includes enjoying better health and energy today, preventing debilitating disease in the future, and maximizing your healthspan, you're prepared to take the plunge.

Rate your weight-loss motivation by answering each of the following questions. For questions 2 to 5, rate each item on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest or most important.

1. Number of previous weight-loss attempts	_________
2. Desire to improve health and longevity	_________
3. Support from family, friends, and workplace	_________
4. Willingness and ability to exercise	_________
5. Time available for attention to diet and exercise	_________
6. Length of honest commitment to keeping the weight off (0: haven't thought about it; 1: 6 months or less; 2: 6 months to 1 year; 3: 1 to 2 years; 4: more than 2 years; 5: for life)	_________
To score, add up your points for questions 2 to 6. Subtract your points for question 1.
Your total score =	_________

Your Score	Diet Readiness Rating
20 - 25	Go for it! You're motivated for lasting success.
15 - 19	You have some prep work to do. Take the time to examine your motivation and resources and make the small adjustments necessary for permanent results.
10 - 14	Do you really want to do this? You need to break down your barriers before you undertake your diet.
9 or less	It sounds as if you're setting yourself up to fail. Find a support team to help you explore your weight

2. Set your goal
Your initial AgeLess goal is to lose 10% of your current body weight at the rate of 1 to 2 pounds per week. You can probably accomplish this safely over the course of about 6 months or less. Faster is not better for losing weight, and trying to accelerate the process will only stress your body; spur metabolic resistance, thereby slowing weight loss; and make it harder to stick to your plan. Use this chart to set your initial weight-loss goal:

Pounds to lose (10% of your present body weight): ______ pounds
Goal weight (present weight - pounds to lose): ______ pounds
Number of weeks (pounds to lose = 1 or 2 pounds per week): ______ weeks
Goal date (start date + number of weeks): _____________

Your goal date is nothing more than a motivational aid. If your weight loss goes more slowly than you planned, don't panic or give up. Simply recalculate your goal date based on your actual weight-loss rate and continue with your program.

After meeting your initial weight-loss goal, recalculate your BMI and measure your waist. Check your new numbers against the Weight LQ quiz in the last extract of my book.

• If your score is now 90 or above, congratulate yourself and move into a maintenance plan.
• If your updated weight LQ is 80 or below, you still have some weight to lose, but don't rush it! Instead, take 6 months on a maintenance plan to allow your weight to stabilize while your body and mind adjust to your new lifestyle. After 6 months of maintenance, repeat the goal-setting process and return to the weight-loss program.

Repeat the full cycle as many times as necessary to bring your weight LQ up to 90.

3. Find the diet plan that works for you - a calorie by any other name
Let me reintroduce you to a simple but seemingly forgotten key to weight loss: the calorie. While many fad diets will try to fool you into thinking that the nature of a calorie varies from one food to another, this isn't true. A calorie is a calorie - a concise, constant scientific measure of the energy value of any given food. Excess energy from any source is stored in the body as fat, while an energy deficit causes fat to be burned. The only way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories than you expend. Whether those calories come from carrots, chocolate, or chicken breast, if you take in at the end of the day less than the total you've burned up, you lose weight. That's all there is to it.

To help you out with the calorie connection, I tapped nutritionist and author Carrie Wiatt, who is nationally known for helping people resize their portion pictures in their minds (see related book below). This is a scientifically sound way to lose weight, and it works.

Carrie Wiatt's Top Ten Tips for permanent weight loss are:

1. Have a plan
2. Go slow
3. Control your portions
4. Learn to navigate a restaurant menu
5. Count calories, not grams of fat
6. Eat frequently
7. Spend your calories wisely
8. Journal your food every day
9. Exercise the other side of the energy equation
10. Seek support

If you want detailed advice, you'll have to buy Dean Schneider's or Carrie Wiatt's book!

New Weight Rule #5: Exercise for Permanent Weight Loss

I can't say it emphatically enough: The most important factor in your weight-loss success is exercise. If you're looking to lose weight and keep it off for good, take some tips from the nation's most successful maintainers. The National Weight Control Registry tracks dieters who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for a year or more. They report four habits in common, and the number one habit is regular exercise. Successful maintainers burned 2,700 calories per week - about an hour of moderate exercise a day. Look at earlier extracts of my book for suitable exercise advice.

Have an Ageless Day

Here are some easy ways to follow the New Rules for weight today and every day:

• Greet the day by affirming your commitment to improving your healthspan, the healthy part of lifespan.
• Eat at least three evenly spaced meals that emphasize healthy foods.
• Meet your daily exercise requirement.
• Sneak in extra exercise anywhere you can - climbing the stairs, parking farther from a store, walking the dog, cleaning the house.
• Switch pictures: Put away your fashion magazines and go to a Rubens exhibit or rent the Marilyn Monroe movie 'Some Like It Hot' to escape the prison of petite.
• Skip the super-size portion at the restaurant or take-out counter; serve your meals on smaller plates at home.
• Sip on water all day long, up until an hour or two before bed.
• Snack on vegetables and fruits for a great nutrition boost and natural feeling of fullness.
• Say no to negative self-talk about body image and weight.

In the next extract from "AgeLess" Dean Schneider turns his attention to the problem of sleeplessness, which affects many people.