One Rule to Lose Weight, Beat Depression

I had trouble with losing weight on the job. After the birth of my second child, I was suffering from sleep loss and the baby blues. I visited two doctors and quizzed an industrial psychologist on my problems. So what magic trick did I pull out of my hat? They recommended three exercises and one quick dieting rule.

1. Desk Exercise: Lift those arms and hit that sky! This burns about 20 calories, but what the heck, you're just getting started, baby! Stretch those little legs out and push against your desk or the floor. Keep the pace and increase any exercises only gradually so no muscles get pulled. If you feel adventurous or emotional, crumple a paper up and shoot those hoops (in the trash can). Some IT pros I know raced each other down the hall. For those who don't work the traditional 9-5 desk job, compete against your co-workers and see how fast each other can burn those (work) calories. But play it safe, or you'll be racking up worker's comp bills.

2. Walk-n-talk: This reverses aging, beats depression and gets you revved up for that shower. Go ahead, get rid of that shrink's couch, pull up that rep as the runner in the bunch and beat feet for the outdoors in a group gripe session. The weight loss potential reverses age as folks think you're younger as you slim down. Walking also is listed, itself, as a "medication" for depression because of beneficial hormones released.

3. Swimming: It's both relaxing and burns a only few calories less than other forms of exercises. Plus, nobody can really hear your primal screams from the bottom of a pool. So, go ahead, cry all you want. This time the tears won't show! You can really knock off the calories if you dance in the water, and the sweat won't ruin your clothes, either.

The thing that makes this work: Eat less food or drink a huge glass of water and eat after that. The water will fill your stomach and fulfill (partially) your daily water requirement. A good substitute for water is Gatorade. The electrolytes will replenish what you lose during exercise.

Legal stuff: Always consult a doctor before starting any weight loss regimen and dietary changes to induce weight loss.