Diet and Nutrition Resolutions

1. Focus on Fat ~ Because it has the highest concentration of calories, cut down on fat intake, and saturated fats in particular — heavy cream, butter, sour cream, and cream cheese — which elevate LDL, the bad cholesterol.

2. Jot Down Your Diet ~ Take a few minutes every weekend to map out your daily diet for the coming week. With a checklist format, you can tick off each item as you eat it. It's important to track calories if you are watching your weight. Keeping a record makes you aware of what you're eating and makes you a student of your habits, to keep you on course and prevent unconscious eating. Keep an exercise record, too.

3. Eat a Better Breakfast ~It's advice we know — and usually ignore! Not only does skipping breakfast keep you from getting vital nutrients, it can lead to your grabbing tasteless, empty-calorie foods, like that stale Danish from the office coffee cart. Breakfast stokes up your furnace and gets your metabolism going for the entire day and the best breakfast choices are fast and easy.

4. Add Some Weight to Your Workout ~ The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism, and the faster your weight loss. Adding two sessions of targeted weight training to your weekly fitness program through either free weights, resistance machines, or exercises using Therabands. You can also do lunges from one end of the room to the other as you use hand weights to work biceps and triceps.

5. Stop Stress Eating ~ Use behavior modification to keep you from reaching for the cookies when you get anxious. Try activities that aren't compatible with eating, like knitting, playing piano, and painting. When you're tempted between meals, look at your watch and ask yourself, "Is it my time to eat?" The problem with between-meal nibbling is the chain reaction it starts: We take a bite of a candy bar, feel guilty about it, and then eat the whole thing! Because stress eating is often done on the fly. If you cannot enjoy every bite and eat slowly, it is not worth eating.

6. Stick to Healthy Portions ~ Often, it's the amount of the food you eat that derails your diet. Serving sizes are surprisingly small, and starches pile up fast. One serving of pasta or rice is only one-third cup. If you eat one cup, which is not a lot, that's already three servings. A bagel equals five slices of bread, and can't be part of your repertoire if you want to lose weight. Just six almonds equal one serving — eat a cupful and you've consumed 1,000 calories!

7. Feed Your Mind and Body ~ So often people eat simply because they're bored and depressed about being on a diet! Shift your focus away from the drudgery of counting calories and find ways to replace eating with fun.

8. Eat Fruits and Vegetables ~ Fruits and vegetables contain phytochemicals and antioxidants to keep you healthy, young, and free of cancer. The goal is "five a day," but to lose weight, keep serving sizes in mind. Many whole fruits are two servings, like a large apple or a banana. Eat both and you've already had four servings. Sugar snap peas and baby carrots are two good snacks. Bolognese sauce on spaghetti squash is a great pasta alternative. But beware of what you put on your produce. Hummus adds fat; a better alternative is low-fat dip or salad dressing. Peanut butter on apple slices tastes great, but adds 100 calories per spoonful.

9. Develop a Better Body Image ~ It's easy to lose motivation if you tell yourself you'll never reach your goal of becoming a supermodel. Realize that most women don't have the "perfect" body — you might have some diet-resistant trouble spots, but that's no reason to quit. Find ways to celebrate every lost pound and set your sights on being the best you can be. Focus on exercise and improving performance and the body will follow.

10. Break the Binge/Guilt/Binge Cycle ~ You're changing your lifestyle, so change your behaviors, too. Promise yourself no more binges, even when you fall off the wagon. Just because you ate a slice of cake doesn't mean you should follow it with slices two and three. One piece of cake is 500 calories, while a pound of fat is 3,500. You'd have to eat it every day for a week to gain a pound. Once won't derail all the work you've done, so don't beat yourself up — just get back on track.

11. Get More Sleep to Lose Weight ~ We all should sleep eight hours a night. Studies show that people who don't get enough rest eat more when they're awake. If you find yourself dragging in the afternoon, you might think, I'm tired, so I'll eat. But you feel tired because you're dehydrated and need to drink more water. Speaking of fluids, if you sip a lot of coffee and caffeinated sodas throughout the day, you might have trouble sleeping at night — plus caffeine further dehydrates you, requiring you to drink even more water.

12. Practice Moderation During the Holidays ~ Exercise at every opportunity. Try for all seven days a week because you'll be eating more calories. Her day-of-the-party strategy is to have your regular meals, with a light snack beforehand "to take the edge off so you don't arrive ravenous and ready to eat the furniture. Watch liquid calories, especially sweet drinks like eggnog, which are high in fat. Set a two-glass limit on wine or wine spritzers, and sip a seltzer in between. Remember, alcohol increases triglyceride levels and slows down your metabolism. Focus on enjoying other holiday activities, like caroling, decorating the tree, and dancing.