Fitness Guru Jorge Cruise Offers Advice

May 13 -- Jorge Cruise Author of 8 Minutes In the Morning has spent the last few weeks training with Good Morning America's military wives. The women, who want to get in shape for the return of their husbands, have found success using Cruise's workout plan and diet modifications. Cruise answered some of our selected e-mail questions in the Q&A below.

Question: All my life I have struggled with weight loss and have tried numerous things but nothing has ever worked. I religiously watch Good Morning America and today's show about these women losing weight really motivated me to do the same. My problem is eating on schedule and knowing what to eat. Please help me find the right solution.

— Reema

Jorge's Answer: For many years, we've been misled with sayings like "no pain, no gain." You can actually lose weight and gain muscle using 8 minutes of strength training in the morning. This kind of exercise will increase your lean muscle tissue, and that will help you burn calories 24 hours a day. Strength training is what helped our military wives lose the weight. Aerobics are great and important for the heart, but strength training is what will help you get results. Get yourself started with some easy exercises. For descriptions, click here.

As far as your eating habits go — you should concentrate most on portion control. There are no bad foods. You don't have to replace pizza and burgers from your life, but you can't have huge portions of these foods. If you want pizza, have a slice and stop there. If you need help with portion control you can find a simple solution in my book, 8 Minutes In the Morning. I provide eating cards which demonstrate what your portions should look like for the day.

Flaxseed oil really helped our Good Morning America military wives lose weight, too. The healthy omega 3 oil helps curb appetite because it satiates the hunger. People who cut fat out of their diet completely are always hungry due to the lack of fat. Flax is not stored in the body as body fat in the way that butter is. It's mostly used by your skin and hair. Also, Reema, remember to eat only when you are hungry.