WASHINGTON – Spring is here and for some that means the dreaded swimsuit season is just around the corner.

So what is the best way to do a little shaping up before summer? There is no magic formula but there are some common sense rules.

Dietitian and author Robyn Flipse has some words of advice:

• Eating less always helps. “Moderation applies to everything we eat … it allows us to include everything we enjoy,” she says.
• And exercise more. “So we burn off the calories,” she says.

Flipse says you don’t have to give up your favorite foods, just keep the portions small.

“It lets you have the pizza or the chocolate or the soda, whatever,” she says.

Flipse, who is also an adviser to Coca Cola, says its wrong to single out one food for our obesity epidemic. And she says we all need to remember to think before we eat.

WTOP’s Paula Wolfson contributed to this report. Follow WTOP on Twitter.

(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)