Have you decided that 2004 is the year when you are going to start losing weight, start exercising, stop drinking to excess or try cutting down on a favourite food?

Alas, most New Year Resolutions last for about a week and are then forgotten in the rush and bustle of starting to work again, going back to school or college, or even celebrating the New Year.

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Why are most New Year Diet Resolutions doomed to failure?
The poor success rate of New Year Diet Resolutions is probably due to the fact that human beings tend to either overrate or underrate their capacity for change.

Years ago I underwent various tests to determine if I was suitable for a job I had applied for. One of these tests required the applicants to estimate how far they would be able to maneuver a ball bearing through a maze.

I asked the psychologist who was administering the test, how accurately most people judged their performance. He replied: “Most people either drastically underestimate or overestimate how far they will get the ball bearing to progress through the maze.”,

“But then, how many people estimate their performance correctly?” I asked. “Oh, very few, only about 1%”, he replied.

Realistic dietary goals
So if you are busy writing out New Year Resolutions to go on a diet or join a gym, ask yourself if you are one of those people who overestimate their performance. Be honest and if you can admit that trying to lose 20 kg is totally unrealistic for you, then scale down your goals to a level that you can achieve, for example 5 kg. Once you have achieved this more modest diet goal, the chances are good that you will be encouraged to try losing a few mor kg or to start exercising as you gain confidence in your powers to alter your life.

Conversely those of you who are paralyzed by your perceived inability to achieve in life, start thinking more positively about your powers to bring about change. Don’t underestimate how much weight you are capable of losing or how active you can become if you set your mind to it.

The most important step in making a success of New Year Diet Resolutions is to select attainable, realistic goals - not too difficult and also not too easy.

Examples of attainable diet goals
“Rome was not built in a day”, is a good saying to remember when setting out in 2004 to make changes to your weight, diet, fitness, and/or health.

Biological changes such as weight loss or attainment of fitness take time. It is totally unrealistic to think that you are going to lose those 10 kg that you gained over months or even years, in a few short weeks just because you have set your mind to it and it happens to be a New Year.

Here are some examples of realistic New Year Diet Goals:

• Try to lose 5 kg over a 4-5 week period and then reassess your target weight
• Join a good gym and start exercising at a level that you can handle - no sudden exercise till you drop, but rather a gentle easing into fitness so that you can sustain the level of activity and gradually increase it
• Eat less fat to protect your heart and weight - start off with small changes like using low-fat milk and yoghurt and a Lite margarine spread, then when you are used to these adaptations, start preparing food with as little fat as possible and gradually change to a diet that is low in fat
• Eat more fruit and vegetables - start off by including 1 extra fruit or vegetable a day until you have reached the “5-A-Day” level - you will be amazed how easily you can get used to eating more fruit and vegetables
• Cut down on high-energy drinks like cold drinks and alcohol at the rate of one glass a week if necessary until you are weaned of overloading your system with liquid kilojoules and only drink the odd cold drink and not more than 1 alcoholic drink a day if you are female and not more than two alcoholic drinks a day if you are male and are also not drinking alcohol every day of the week.

You may have noticed that all these changes should be introduced gradually and that the diet adjustments I suggest are small, but significant and if you get used to them, can make the world of difference to your weight, fitness and health.

Instead of starving yourself for the first two weeks of January or suddenly trying to run a marathon and passing out with exhaustion and damaged joints, or trying to be a vegetarian, or a teetotaler overnight, try making modest, realistic changes to your lifestyle and you will be amazed and happy that 2004 is the year when you will achieve your diet goals.

Wishing all the readers success with their diet- and fitness- related New Year Resolutions.

DIETDOC (Dr I V van Heerden, D.Sc., registered dietician)

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