Problem: Article: Losing 5 pounds may be accomplished by fixing weak spots in your diet and exercise regime. Create a list of everything you ate in the past week. Include your daily schedule so that you can see how much activity you do. You can start recording this a week before your diet, or you can recall it from memory.   How much soda and juice do you drink? How much sugar do you eat every day? How much white bread and pasta do you eat? How much do you exercise every week? Do you sit for long periods for work? How often do you eat out? . This will tell you how many calories you can eat every day.  Aim to hit an area between 1,200 and 1,800. Smaller women should aim for between 1,200 and 1,500, and men should aim for 1,600 to 1,800. Buy all of your food at one time to avoid buying junk food later in the week when you might be having cravings. Shop along the perimeter of the supermarket where the whole foods and produce are located. Don’t forget to pick up berries, green, leafy veggies, whole grains and low-fat yogurt. Whether it’s your husband, best friend, mom or co-worker, morale helps boost weight loss results. Workout buddies can help motivate you to exercise longer. They can also help spot you on weights or split the cost of a personal trainer. As you progress through the week, write down everything you eat and drink throughout the day. Note how much of it you ate and how many calories were in the meal. Add these up at the end of the day to see if you are within your calorie allowance.  You may also want to record all of your physical activity so that you know how many calories you are burning. There are many apps for your smartphone that can help you track diet and exercise. Some even have a database of common meals and foods with the nutritional information and calorie count available to make it easier to watch your calorie intake. Set a bedtime for every night of the week to make sure that you get plenty of rest. Sleep is one of the secret ingredients in achieving any weight loss goal. When you are low on sleep, your body releases cortisol, a hormone that makes you store weight. When setting your bedtime, be aware that you may have to wake up earlier than usual to exercise. Weight can fluctuate throughout the day, so you should try to weigh yourself right after you wake up for consistent results.  Aim to have lost 2 pounds (.91 kg) by Wednesday. If you do not see the results you want, check back over your activities and food journal to make sure that you were burning more calories than you were eating.
Summary: Identify your current habits. Calculate your daily calorie allowance Shop ahead for your week of meals. Find a weight loss buddy. Record what you eat in a journal. Go to sleep early. Weigh yourself in the morning.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: If you can't find any identifying stamps and you're unsure about the origin of the jewelry, use a testing kit to find out what the jewelry is made of. Purchase an acid testing kit from an online retailer or jewelry supply store. This kit will include a sanding stone and several bottled acids.  Buy a kit that can test for both silver and platinum. The bottle labels will indicate which metal they are used to test for. If the kit doesn't include gloves, buy some separately. If you get any acid on your hands you will burn your skin. Lay out the black slate stone on an even surface. Gently rub the jewelry against the stone in a back-and-forth motion to create a line. Draw 2 or 3 lines on the stone or one for each testing acid you'll use. For example, if you're testing for platinum, silver, and gold, you'll draw 3 lines.  Choose an inconspicuous part of the jewelry to rub against the stone. The stone will scratch and damage a small section of the jewelry. Lay a towel down underneath the stone to protect your work surface from scratches. Select an acid test from your kit and carefully drop a small amount of acid onto one of the drawn lines. Make sure that you don't mix the different acids together or you'll affect your results.  Most tests have acids specifically for silver. However, you can also use an 18-karat gold testing acid to identify pure or sterling silver.  Always wear gloves while handling acid. These reactions can take anywhere from a second to a minute. If the line completely dissolves, the test fails. For example, if you drop the Platinum acid test on a line and the line dissolves, the jewelry isn't platinum. However, if your line doesn't dissolve, the metal is pure.  If you use the 18-karat gold acid test to test on silver, the line will turn a milky white color. This will indicate that your jewelry is pure or sterling silver. If you doubt your results, test the jewelry again to be sure.

SUMMARY: Use an acid testing kit on hard-to-verify jewelry. Rub the jewelry against the stone. Drop the acids on the different metal lines. Observe the reaction of the acid.

In one sentence, describe what the following article is about: If you're interested in breeding silver dollar fish, you'll need to learn how to identify the males and females of the species so you can provide a suitable mate for your fish. Male silver dollar fish tend to have an anal fin that is longer than females. The anal fin is usually tinted red on most males as well. Once you've identified the males and females of the species, you'll want to pair them up in equal proportions in your aquarium. However, it's generally best to add more than one fish to the tank and let the fish pair themselves up, rather than trying to mate a particular pair of fish. Mix four to six fish with equal proportions of male to female (for example, if using four fish you would have two of each; if using six fish, have three of each). Let the fish decide how they want to pair up and don't interfere. While some aquarium enthusiasts may be reluctant to provide silver dollar fish with aquatic plants, your fish will need some type of underwater plants during mating. These can even be artificial plants if you're worried about your fish eating the plants. Silver dollar fish tend to lay their eggs on or around underwater plants. If you're trying to breed your silver dollar fish, you'll need to ensure that you don't accidentally remove the eggs or hatched fry while cleaning your tank. Eggs hatch within about three days, and within a week the fry will begin to swim around inside the tank and attach themselves to the walls of the tank.  Try to hold off on cleaning the tank for a few days until the eggs are hatched and the fry are visible. Avoid using tank vacuums to clean your aquarium while there are eggs or fry present. Instead, try to do partial water changes and be sure you can see the fry at all times.
Summary:
Identify the sex of your fish. Pair up males and females. Ensure there are plants in the tank. Exercise caution when cleaning the tank.