45 Easy Ways to Lose One Pound a Week

How to Lose 2 Pounds in a Week

Just switch to our amped-up plan, choosing one 500-calorie-zapping strategy from each column per day, and you'll burn a total of 7,000 calories -- or two pounds -- in seven days.

___ Instead of an egg salad sandwich on a kaiser roll, have a ham sandwich with 3 ounces of sliced lean ham and mustard on light bread.

___ Swap kung pao chicken takeout for this homemade dinner: 3 to 4 cups of steamed veggies and 4 ounces of tofu with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

___ Cut out all sugar for one day: Have a single serving of cereal such as Fiber One instead of a frosted variety, and skip the teaspoon of sugar on top. Leave the sugar out of your coffee and honey out of your tea; trade your peanut butter and jelly sandwich for two pieces of toast with sugar-free jam and skip the brownie for dessert.

___ Have breakfast for dinner. Replace a hearty meal of pasta with sauce, one piece of French bread and salad with vinaigrette with a bowl of low-fat cereal such as Special K with nonfat milk and 1 cup of blueberries.

___ Eliminate between-meal snacking. Skip your 10 a.m. cereal bar, your 3 p.m. yogurt with nuts, and the late-night ice cream.

___ Go halfsies: At breakfast have half of a bakery bagel or a mini bagel instead of a regular-size whole bagel. At lunch, have a half sandwich. At dinner, have one-half cup of rice or half a baked potato.

___ Hold all the bread. At breakfast, forgo the bagel with your fruit and cereal. At lunch, have the insides of your sandwich only. At dinner, skip the roll and any spread.

___ Do 1 hour of intense cardio (elliptical trainer, rowing, ski machine).

___ Do 70 minutes of power yoga.

___ Take a 30-minute walk in the morning, a 15-minute walk at lunchtime, and a 30-minute walk in the evening.

___ Swim laps for 45 minutes.

___ Do this 60-minute workout: Walk for 15 minutes at 4 mph on the treadmill, then jump rope for 5 minutes; repeat 2 more times.

___ Mountain bike for 45 minutes.

___ Play singles tennis for 1 hour.

Originally published in Fitness magazine, March 2006.