Dieting: My Biggest New Year's Resolution

I join thousands of others who enjoyed their holiday eating and now need to take a deep breath and "get back on the wagon" to try to lose weight.

Dieting is one of the biggest New Year's resolutions by the general public, and, unfortunately, a vast majority of people start out determined to really make the scale go down and then give up in perhaps just weeks when the numbers don't cooperate with expectations.

Dieting is a very slow process for most people, and that can be very discouraging. It is especially so if you are a yo-yo dieter, like Oprah has just admitted to being, and you feel that you are getting nowhere because you gain, lose, gain, lose, and don't make real headway.

I thought about five ways to keep this resolution, and here are my choices:

1. Something that has already helped me is being accountable. Approximately 1 1/2 years ago some of my long-time e-mail friends and I formed an online diet club, and while we do not say what we weigh, we have to report in every week as to what we lost or gained and what our total weight loss has been since we began. Believe me, you think about letting the wrong foods cross your lips when you might have to report a gain for the week!!!

We encourage each other by sharing tips, success stories, recipes, and bolstering the spirits of those, like me, who find that it is extremely difficult to get the scale's numbers to go down.

2. Most of us know what we are and are not supposed to eat, but it helps if we subscribe to some of the free websites who offer daily tips, recipes, and encouragement.

3. There are also websites you can join where they will make the meal plans for you and keep track of your success and try to help when you have failures.

4. With physical problems, it is difficult for me to exercise, but I will explore the various offerings for easy exercises that even I should be able to do since keeping our circulation going is a major factor.

5. If you tell family and friends that you are dieting, that is a big motivator because they will be keeping an eye on you!! Nothing is more daunting than being asked, "Well, what have you lost so far?" to make you get serious in order to show some results!!

I wish you good luck with your dieting resolution, and please write to me with your comments and suggestions.