New year, new goals

This year, I'm declaring the year of getting back in shape. That means exercise and a simple diet plan.
This is a plan I found successful years ago, pre-kids. It's easy and it works. It is a lifestyle, not a diet plan.
First part is exercise. The rules are easy. Six days per week every week you must workout for at least 20 minutes. What I found happening is the more I worked out the more I wanted to work out. Exercise can be walking, hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, treadmill, running, yoga, step aerobics, climbing stairs, elliptical machine, Wii Fit Plus, swimming... whatever. I like to change it up. This creates a feeling of freedom and choice plus it makes it more interesting, more fun and maximizes the workout in various body areas. I found the elliptical machine that includes arm movement and a run-walk-hike combo workout to be the most effective in weight loss for me.
Food
Food rules are easy too. No fried foods. No candy. No high fructose corn syrup. One meal per day should be all veggies. That can be a mega salad or a mix of cooked veggies. You can include pasta with the veggies too.
For breakfast, one piece of fruit and/or one crunchy granola bar (make sure it has zero high fructose corn syrup).
It's okay to have French fries on the occasion but no fried chicken or other fried meals.
I also feel it is important to not feel cheated. Have a cookie here or there. But only have 1 or 2. Take the rest of the batch to work for coworkers, give them to neighbors or send them to school with the kids for a dessert with lunch for the next week.
Drink at least 80 ounces of water per day. That's easy. That's just three of those 32 ounce glasses. Then you can also have diet soda, iced tea, coffee, iced coffee, homemade lemonade (use Splenda or the like), etc. Just don't have any of those sugar, super creamy dessert versions of coffee drinks. Beer and wine are fine too.
The idea is to be smart. Don't over eat. Snack smartly. Eventually make smaller portions but ease into it. I find that the more I work out the more I think about what I eat. If I've done a great workout I don't think I've earned more food, I start to think that I don't want to waste a second of that workout, so I tend to eat better naturally.
Last time I went on this diet I went from a size 14 to a size 6 in less than a year.
Every day I plan on putting my workout on this blog. You'll also find food tips, recipes, workout ideas, etc.