Consider: Five pounds equals roughly 17,500 calories. Cut those calories out of your diet or do activities that burn those calories up, and you should lose about 5 pounds. That may sound like a lot of calories, but you can melt them away in a month of smart eating and simple exercises. Here's how: 1. Drink 16 ounces of skim milk each day instead of 2% milk. Calories Lost/Burned: 2,400* 2. Eat an open-faced sandwich every day. Losing that one piece of bread will help you shed almost a pound. Calories Lost/Burned: 3,000*

3. Walk the dog for 15 extra minutes each day, or take a 15-minute walk during your lunch break. Calories Lost/Burned: 2,200* 4. Get your chocolate fix: Eat half a cup of chocolate pudding made with 2% milk, instead of, say, two chocolate sandwich cookies with an 8-ounce glass of whole milk every day. Calories Lost/Burned: 3,300* 5. Don't pay the neighbor's kid! Shovel snow for half an hour, once a week. Volunteer to shovel an elderly neighbor's walkway. Calories Lost/Burned: 900* 6. Instead of french fries with lunch three days a week, have a baked potato with a little salt and pepper. Calories Lost/Burned: 1,900*

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7. Need to take something upstairs? Don't wait for an armload. Run it up there, right now. Five extra minutes of walking stairs each day adds up fast. Calories Lost/Burned: 1,100* 8. Do "commercial calisthenics": Three times a week, during any two hours of TV watching, jump rope during commercials. That'll get you about 30 minutes of exercise. Calories Lost/Burned: 2,700* Total calories burned or lost: 17,500* *Calorie burn-rate is based on 155-pound person over one month's time. People who weigh more will burn more. All numbers quoted are approximate. Check with your doctor first before doing any exercise.

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