i think youre supposed to stay away from carbonated drinks as well. mainly just water.

as far as running, the body for life book has a thing where instead of jogging the same pace for 40 min each time, youd have to vary it every minute. that way your body never gets used to what youre doing

eating small meals every 2 hrs does help, and if you need to snack on something make sure its something healthy like carrots

it takes a lot of determination and you need people around you to support what you do because if not, youll end up with people ragging on you everyday and making you want to stop.