Don't Overdo It With Exercise
If you think that in order to reach a healthy weight you have to grunt and sweat and torture yourself endlessly, I have good news. This is not necessarily the case. In fact, overdoing it is not the best idea. It can even be harmful.
Macho Americans love the idea of grunting and sweating and making a big deal about their exercise programs. That's not necessarily the way things are done in Italy. Italians are, in a lot of ways, more moderate than we are. (Except, maybe when it comes to amore! (love)
I can remember an American friend of mine talking about her experience going to a female gym where she lived in Italy. They owners expressed concern and told her she was working out too hard. Her impression was that Italian women treated gyms more like a spa experience or a beauty treatment. She said that instead of grimly pumping iron or running around a track, they went through their paces as if participating in a dance.
American culture likes to force rather than just allow. It's not the only way of doing things. (And not the most pleasant way, if you ask me!)
I lived in Asia for a long time, and in fact I practice chi kung, the Chinese art of working with energy. A chi kung master I worked with had an interesting take on expending energy to lose weight. He was not in favor of vigorous exercise like running or aerobics because he said it wasted too much energy and caused practitioners to go flabby if they ever stopped.
He was also not in favor of dieting! He said it denied people pleasure and deprived the body of energy and nutrients, with serious consequences. He felt that obesity in people who actually ate very little usually had to do with a hormonal imbalance.
A body that doesn't burn fuel properly is out of balance. It needs to be brought back into harmony. This is often overlooked in American diet and exercise approaches, which attempt to treat symptoms, not causes.
And then there's the Italian approach. Love life. Love your family. Have a good support system. Have your cappuccino. Move throughout the day, and enjoy your favorite foods -- but do it in moderation.