Fat-loss handbook: your complete fail-safe, week-by-week guide to dropping 20 pounds in eight weeks - New wardrobe not included - The Men's Fitness

Light popcorn Light, Lite, Reduced Fat, Reduced Calories--all are labeling terms that conspire to confuse you. It's misleading to call anything that has 45 percent of calories from fat in just one serving "light." Pop your own in a brown paper bag for a healthier option.--A.P.

RELATED ARTICLE: 8 painless ways to lose 10 pounds.

1. If you eat a sandwich every day at work, try mustard instead of mayo. Do this five days a week, and in eight weeks you'll be a pound lighter.

2. If you have cream-based soups a few times a week, switch to a clear vegetable soup. At a savings of 400 calories a bowl, making this modification just nine times in eight weeks will spare you a pound of fat.

3. Replace your tuna salad with a turkey sandwich twice a week.

4. Every other day, in place of soda, have a glass of water or tea (or diet soda). Better yet, give up soda altogether, and you'll lose two pounds in eight weeks.

5. Pour skim milk instead of whole milk over your cereal every morning; you'll lose about one pound in roughly seven weeks.

6. Over the next eight weeks, use fat-free dressing instead of regular dressing every other day to lose one pound.

7. Having sorbet instead of your nightly bowl of ice cream for just 20 days out of the next eight weeks will net you one lost pound.

8. When you cook, which you should do at least a few times a week, use Pam instead of butter or oil and lose a pound in just five weeks.

RELATED ARTICLE: Fat loss for men with families.

Are you the guy who says he can't take care of himself because he's so busy taking care of the kids? Say hello to Frank Lupin, M.S., A.T.C., fitness director for Coordinated Health Systems, an orthopedic-medicine clinic in eastern Pennsylvania, and Douglas Scartelli, R.D., a Bethlehem, Penn.-based nutrition consultant. Between them, these health and fitness experts have seven children and some proven fat-cutting suggestions for family men like you.

Spend active time with your family. Your fat cells aren't the only things growing in size and number. There's an epidemic of childhood obesity in this country, so making physical activity a family affair sends the right message to your kids while getting your rapidly expanding derriere in gear. "It encourages the mind-set that exercise is important," says Lupin. Go for a walk, engage in games of soccer or basketball--anything that's fun for the kids and involves constant motion for you.

Fit fitness in. If you're like most parents, you've become a human taxi, squiring your troops to a variety of athletic or musical practices. While your offspring is doing his or her thing, you could be taking that power walk. "Use this as an opportunity to get in your own physical activity," says Lupin.

Negotiate with your spouse. Both of you need time for yourselves. Set aside unrestricted time for your workouts, and help provide the same for her. Make sure your children know how important exercise is to you.

Look for relatively harmless fast-food options. Both Lupin and Scartelli realize that with complicated family schedules, fast food is sometimes the most convenient choice for supper. That consideration, though, is not a license for junk. "You can choose a healthy meal at a fast-food restaurant," Scartelli says. "Stay away from hamburgers. Order a salad with a low-fat dressing."