Just Start

Your skinny jeans aren't so skinny anymore. In fact, you wish you could just zip them closed and still be able to breathe. You saw yourself in your cousin's wedding photos and wondered when you started to look like that. It's time for a change in your fitness picture. So you start walking every day and starve yourself. After a week, you're a raging pain in the butt and no one can stand to be around you.

You're soon back to your old habits. Downing the coffee. Convincing yourself that diet pop is OK because it has zero calories.  You're eating whatever crap leftovers your office buddies dragged in from their weekend parties. Dining out is the norm rather than an occasional treat. You're too tired to exercise, grocery shop or plan a meal.

And the vicious cycle continues.

Here's the deal. We're like rubber bands when it comes to habits--we want to stretch back to our original shape and size.  It takes planning, will power, and downright determination to make changes that'll last for the long haul.

So give yourself a break and give it time. Set yourself up to succeed in this new lifestyle. Start with a natural cleanse: by removing sugar from your diet and drinking water. No--you don't need a fancy cleanse product.

The average American eats 152 pounds of sugar a year. Yes, read that again. That's 6 cups of sugar a week, or 42 teaspoons a day, according to the group, Health Promotion In Motion. Just paste those donuts on your rear end already.

Start by removing blatant sugar from your daily diet and fill in with two fruits a day. Fruit has natural sugars so you don't want to eat unlimited amounts. But it's also loaded with fiber and vitamins you can only get from eating real food.

Then turn that diet pop habit into water habit, aiming for at least 90 ounces of water a day. Put a slice of lime in it, or lemon, or cucumber.

So much of the sluggishness we feel is actually dehydration. Did you know that just a 2-percent drop in dehydration can zap our energy, create enormous fatigue and make us think we're hungry?

Carry a water bottle around like it's your part time job and chug away. It'll fill you up, make your skin look great and give you energy to exercise. Water is a natural lubricant and pain reliever, cushioning your joints. Every cell in your body needs water to thrive and make you feel energized.

I'll drink to that!