do you calorie count? if you dont, you are probably consuming too many calories.
Normal people only need 2000-2500 calories a day, if you are active, a little more. if you are a marathoner or are tall, more than 3000 calories. if you are surpassing these numbers, they are getting converted into fat on your body.
power bars are just another gimmick for a candy bar, look at who makes it, alot of people fall for that. i would avoid as much carbohydrates (carbs) as possible, and if possible, avoid it all. potato is the worst carb on earth, especially fried chips of any sort and is equivalent to munching on a big mac as a snack. whole grain fried chips is another gimmick. "frying", in other words, is spreading a layer of fat onto something you eat.
often people say they eat a healthy salad, but what they do is goop 200 calories of salad dressing on their salad and eat cheese, ham, bacon bits, nuts, eggs, and butter laden croutons with it, and at the end, its literally equivalent to eating two big macs (big mac is 560 calories, double quarter pounder with cheese is 730 calories, Hardy's Monster Thickburger is 1410 calories, one oreo is 50 calories). if you are going to say you eat salad, it should be leafy greens, tomatoes and oil and vinegar.
gatorade has alot of sugar (carbs) in it, avoid it, drink water, unless you are a serious marathoner that loses alot of electolytes and are burning alot of calories on a 4 hour run. water is zero calories. avoid any drink with added sugar, especially if you drink alot of juices. get your vitamin c from fruits, and drink water, not a juice concoction with water, sugar and "natural" flavoring. ("natural" is another gimmick, first listed ingredient is sugar, have you every made regular sugar Kool-Aid?)
avoid eating huge meals at night, what you dont burn after eating dinner before you go to bed, is converted straight into fat. for example, you intake a 1300 calorie meal, you sit around and watch tv and burn 300 calories before you go to bed, and burn 500 calories sleeping. well, you then have 500 calories left over which is converted into fat on your body, EVERY day. that means, you have to burn that fat the next day or you will be gaining weight. be like the europeans, make dinner your smallest meal. my wifes parents just eat cold cuts for dinner. they only cook something for dinner when i visit, just because i'm there. and there is a reason why your grandparents walk around the neighborhood after eating dinner.
stairclimbing for 30 minutes burns only 200-300 calories. if you use these machines, dont cheat and make it easier by leaning on the handles, youre just wasting your time becaue you are just going through the motions and burning less calories. only touch the handles if you are off balance. biking on a machine is nearly useless. lifting weights doesnt burn many calories. nonstop aerobic exercise for MINIMUM of 20 minutes is the only productive exercise to lose weight.
alcohol (a carbohydrate) has one of the shortest metabolic pathways in getting converted into fat (next to eating fat). there is a reason there is the term "beer gut", and its true.
milk has ALOT of fat in it. get your calcium from leafy greens and supplement with calcium pills that have vitamin D, or get a little sun on a daily basis (you need either vitamin D supplement OR sunlight to absorb calcium). this is especially important if you are a young woman. the rule is, the calcium you store in your bones by your mid 30's is the most dense bone you will every have, and bone density is ONLY downhill from there on, unless you are prescribed specific medication from your doctor. so, getting your bones as dense as possible when youre young is the best way to avoid osteoporosis in your later years.
over the counter diet pills can have added "natural herbs" that increase your metabolism (ie, increase your resting heart rate). these "herbs" tend to be unpurified amphetamine-like substances that are legal and not regulated, such as mah huang. and they also load the pill up with caffiene. on paper, they do work but you will experience that feeling like you had way too much caffiene. these substances can be dangerous to some people and may cause fatal heart arrhythmias especially if you already have a silent (unknown) arrhythmia.
dieting and eating healthy are two completely different things. you can eat totally organic, natural, healthy foods, but if you eat too many calories, the extra calories WILL be converted to fat on your body. conversely, you can eat unhealthy, by eating 3 big macs a day and still lose weight, on a daily basis.
eating healthy is a completely different topic involving knowing what types of fats are good and bad, regulating cholesterol, avoiding processed foods, increasing consumption of pesticide free organic foods, avoiding foods that contain long names of preservatives, and increasing consumption of fiber from unprocessed fruits and vegetables.
Thanks in advance 
