Keeping your eating on target throughout the year is a daunting task to begin with. However, come Monday, January 2 nd, it’s a whole new ball game!! The dining room table is still lined with leftover holiday desserts, half filled bottles of soda (or some various form of libation) sits atop the counter, and the refrigerator is somehow still jam packed with salads, containers of assorted meats and a half filled tub of string bean casserole. You’re holiday recovery program kicks into full gear. Did your season of joy put on an extra 10 pounds, or just feel that way? "Most people don't gain as much as they think they will," says Althea Zanecosky, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. The trouble is, "the weight they do gain stays with them," she says. Will your committmnet to recommit every Monday be your plan of action for the next 52 weeks?

You don’t want make the following mistakes: 1. going on a fad diet, and 2. not having a plan for your method of training. Don’t bother dieting. First of all, your diet IS what you eat. So you either have a good diet or a poor diet. Instead of relying on fad diets which, when implemented over and over, does more harm to your body than good, develop lifetime eating habits that lead to continued success in not only reaching, but also maintaing your optimal body weight. Here are some steps you can take immediately toward forming new, life-long eating patterns:

• Bank your calories. It's common sense: If big family meals (birthdays) or dinner meetings are in your future, cut down on the treats and stock up your workouts and/or activities beforehand.
• Its fuel, not food. Beware of Key Lime Pie on the dessert table, skip the cream of your favorite creamed vegetable soup and and the perfectly toasted rolls so you'll have room for what you do CHOOSE to eat. Tonights dinner is tomorrow morning’s workout fuel.
• Pass on seconds. Period. End of discussion.
• Get the food back in the kitchen. Don’t linger long at the table, and if the food's in plain sight, you’ll be tempted to keep eating.
• Watch your fluid intake. Alcohol stimulates your appetite and lowers your ability to resist picking up that fork again, and again, and again. Stick to only one glass of wine (diluted slightly with water or seltzer), and stay away from sodas. Water remains the true heavy weight champ.

Your approach to your training should follow similar guidelines. Most well-intentioned new year’s exercise resolutions start in TOO high a gear and you deflate your optimism faster than the ball drops in Times Square. For the novice, or occasional exerciser, start out slow but purposeful. Make a checklist of the exercises you need to get through and spend the time doing them correctly. First week, start out fifteen minutes a day and by the end of that first week start pushing the envelope a little and head towards twenty to twenty-five minutes a day. By the second week you should be well on your way to twenty-five to thirty minutes of exercise or activity daily. Be careful of attempting signing up for the trendiest, hippest spin class at the local fitness hot spot if you have not been a regular exerciser at intensities greater than power lunches or the 5k Mall Loop.

For exercise enthusiasts who have enjoyed a light sweat for an hour one, two, or three times a week, step it up a notch and learn how to move correctly, move everything, and move everything correctly a lot. Find a reputable personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach who can set you up with a program and learn HOW you should be moving. You just may be shocked as to what you may find out about yourself. By getting your full body moving altogether, correctly… you will be amazed at the results of what you can accomplish how good you can look!!

Finally, for those of you that have ventured through these initial stages, what can you do to jump start the new year and motivate yourselves to greater heights? Plan! Put into practice the old adage, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Take on a new challenge and train for it. Don’t take a kick-boxing class and just kick the calories, sign up at a local martial arts studio and really learn HOW to kick, how to punch, how to complete combination movements and design an exercise plan that prepares a base of fitness and athleticism for that sport. Join a local bike riding group based out of the leading bicycle shop, or plan a climbing trip with your wife, husband, friends, or strength coach.

So don’t throw the resolution to wayside. Hold yourself to a well thought out plan of how you WILL transform yourself from flab to fab. Start with the fifteen-minute rule: a realistic base of exercise time (say, 15 minutes cardio, or activity, three to five days a week) and up the time by five minutes each day or week until you reach your goal. With these incremental increases, you won’t come out of the gate swinging and quit two days later when you’re sore or feel like you missed your new two hour new year’s workout, so you’ll have to wait until next year to start again (Because, I mean, what’s the point? You already lost your momentum and it’s only January 4 th!!). You will see the difference!

Also, don’t forget to try eliminating one problem habit at a time instead of conquering a lifetime of poor eating all at once. Cut out the daily doughnut consumption and check your results—both in losing weight and cravings. Next, ditch the late night ice cream, learn to schedule your meals daily, etc. Voila! Welcome to your slimmer, healthier New Year!.

Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience." -Izaak Walton