How much, and how often should you eat? If you are just changing your eating schedule for general health, I suggest eating six meals a day. If you are working out at gym, or are really physically active, try a seventh meal right after your workout! Below I will outline a general example of a six meal day.

07:00 - (Biggest Meal of Day): Whole Grain Toast, try use Jam rather than butter. 1-3 Pieces of Bacon (A little bit of fat per day is ok!), 1-2 Eggs, Milk (skim), Fruit or Fruit juice.

09:30 - Apple, Banana, Yogurt, Health Bar, Glass of Milk (skim)

11:45 - Baked/Boiled Potato, Steamed Vegetables, Milk (skim)

14:00 - Tuna, Fruit, Low fat Dairy Product

17:30 - Chicken Breast, Rice, Potato, Vegetables, Salad

20:00 - Light snack, try to avoid carbohydrates 3-4 hours before bed!

It may seem hard to integrate these meals into a 9-5 workday, but give it your best and reap benefits!

Remember, don't cut snack foods, chocolates, chips out of your diet completely, take one day a week to have that extra snack to pay yourself for doing so good! just don't over indulge!

Reason # 3: Failure to Start Slowly

You want that new body, and you want it now! But back in real world you’ll have to give yourself a couple of months to see real results in appearance department. However, you’ll notice increases in strength, energy levels, and endurance almost right away.

Soluiton: Give your body a chance to adapt to this new stress called exercise. It will reward you by getting stronger and fitter. Small, gradual pushes work best. For example, if you’ve haven’t jogged in years, walk first. Gradually, ad in brief intervals of jogging during your walk, and before you know it, you’ll be jogging for a pain free half an hour.

Reason # 4: Lack of Time to Devote to Your Program

This is a failure to prioritize and put yourself, and your fitness program first. When you take a closer look, you’ll realize that you don’t need all that much time. About a half an hour per day, 4 or 5 days a week will get big results – if you exercise smartly, you can get by with even less.

Solution: Save excuses for boss, but be honest with yourself about when, and where you can train. Also, if you put together some basic equipment (a small bench and some dumbbells), you can save travel time to and from gym, and squeeze a thirty-minute workout before, or after work right at home.

Reason # 5: Poor Eating Habits

You wouldn’t expect your car to respond at its optimum level if you filled its tank with wrong fuel. A successful exercise program has to be fueled by solid nutrition, with an adequate balance of carbohydrates, protein, and fats.

Failure to eat right while training hard can result in loss of muscle mass, and increased amounts of stored body fat, just what you don’t want.

Solution: While shopping, read lables and always choose low-fat, low-calorie option. Stay away from fried foods that are high in fat, and avoid junk food like plague. Take a common sense approach to eating right, and make sure you avoid any extreme fad diet.

Michael Stefano is a 20-year veteran of FDNY, as well as author of The Firefighter's Workout Book.

His workout routines and articles have been featured on such internet giants as America Online, Yahoo!, eDiets, and iVillage.