Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

I have discovered the 2 hands-down best tips for someone who wants to either lose weight or maintain their figure.

Tip # 1 –

First is climb up on the couch (or some other object that is about neck high), then jump up and down a dozen times. Count with me: 1, 2, 7, 7… Climb back down, then up again and down again and up again and down again repeating endlessly or until the 45-minute Veggie Tale program you might be watching ends.

In between the climbing, get down on the floor and roll back and forth and back and forth until you are laughing so hard you feel like you might see dinner again.

Next put a soft object in the middle of the floor that is about waist high (daddy’s do well for this object) call it a mountain and climb back and forth and back and forth across the mountain while carrying as many toys as you can get into two hands. Sorry for hitting you in the face with my golf clubs, daddy.

Then back up on the couch and down again and back up again and down and …..roll and climb and…

In a word – play. And have lots of fun doing it.

Tip # 2 –

Do NOT eat any more than you want to. Airplanes, trains, rockets. Do not let any of them land in your mouth if you do NOT want to eat. If you get tricked in to eating something you don’t want, spit it out. If you are not hungry and two very big people who indeed claim they love you and probably really do try to stuff food into your mouth, spit it out. If you are not hungry, do not eat. If you had enough to eat, do not eat more. In short, eat only when you are hungry and stop when you are not. And when all else fails, spit it out.

These two tips will help you either lose weight or maintain your figure.

They work for me.

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.