Twice the Man over at Second Time Around linked to an interesting article on MSN titled “Why Weight-Loss Efforts Fail.” While the main focus of the article regards things that cause a person to fail, there are some good weight-loss strategies listed, too:

But the ones deemed most effective were the simplest — reducing calories and increasing exercise. Other rules that worked included: decreasing sugar intake; increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables, vitamins and water; watching less TV; and eating at home more often.

If you’ve tried unsuccessfully to diet many times, Dansinger suggests getting a “coach.” A coach can be your doctor, another health professional, or a friend who’ll hold you accountable to your goals, he said. He also suggests recording your intake of calories every day, limiting calories, and exercising seven hours a week, including cardiovascular and weight workouts.

Quite a few of those suggestions are also on my action plan for losing weight. And the ones that aren’t should be. For example, the exercise. I still haven’t figured out how to get myself back up and going with that. And we even own a treadmill! I think I need to start going back to the rec center for exercise. I dunno how I’ll fit that into my schedule now, but being there created a situation where I could not slack off, where I could not procrastinate, where I had to exercise. And, more importantly, where I enjoyed exercising.

I think I just need to start going once the kids turn in for the night. Load up my iPod Nano with a bunch of podcast and then head out. Force myself to juggle the rest of my schedule…