Articles written by Devin Sherrington about health, wellness and fitness in regular column called Fit to Be Tried in the Daily News:

The Daily News - Fit to Be Tried by Devin Sherrington

There are about a million magazines out the claiming you'll "Lose ten pounds in a week!" or "Gain ten pounds of muscles in five minutes a day!"

The problem is most of the fad diets and workout plans are often unrealistic. Many times they don't even work.

Things like working out for two hours a day. Eating nothing but eggs whites and rice for weeks. Training twice a day, seven days a week. None of these will help you maintain a healthy body in the long run. Plus they'll make you burn out and quit.

To change to a healthy lifestyle, you need a realistic plan of attack. And some simple rules to follow.

First, don't change everything in your life all at once. It might be fun for a while, but in the long run you'll burn out. Change small things, like cutting out a few cups of coffee and replacing them with water. I once trained a client who dropped 15 pounds by replacing his 13 of his 15 cups of coffee a day with water.

Another healthy idea is to only eat out once a week. A small change like this can completely re-charge your body. You'll feel better and will likely lose some weight as well. Or you could rent Super Size Me. You'll never want to eat fast food again.

Second, commit to working out three times a week for no more than an hour per session. Talk to a trainer. They'll be able to make you a workout plan to follow. Stick to it. Missing one day won't hurt, but missing three weeks will. And remember to rest on your days off. Too much working out is just as bad as too little.

Third, remember to train all the muscles in your body equally. This is important because if you don't train a muscle, it will lag behind. This can cause you problems later. For example if you don't train your lower back, you will begin to have lower back pain. That's because it will not be as strong as the rest of you, so it won't be able to keep up.

Fourth, don't give up because you haven't see results in a week or two. Your body needs time to adjust and adapt to the new exercises you're doing. You can't get a new body over night. If it took you 10 years to put on 20 pounds, then it will take at least a few months to get the weight off. Just be patient and it will happen.

These four changes are certainly not sound as glamorous or exiting as ads you see in the fitness magazines. But unlike some of those plans this one won't take over your life. Plus it will work. Give it a try. Your body will thank you for it.