SELF-IMPROVEMENT

Does the phrase New Year's Resolutions make you cringe? If you've resolved -- unsuccessfully -- to start exercising before, you may be a victim of New Year's Resolution-itis. But you can achieve success if you realize what the expert decision-makers know -- that the road to health is marked by slipping and sliding.

I'm proof. As co-author of The Woman's Heart Book, I had to change my couch-potato ways. And I did, losing 30 pounds in the process -- and keeping them off.

Here are my New Year's Resolutions with a Difference. What's the difference? These resolutions can lead to success!

• Make an appointment with yourself to exercise. Don't "squeeze in" exercise; you'll never do it.
  
  
• Don't compare yourself to the slimmest lovely at your health club. View yourself, and others, realistically.
  
  
• Experiment to determine the optimum exercise time for you. Some people prefer mornings, others late afternoon.
  
  
• Treat yourself occasionally to low-cost exercise "goodies" such as exercise videos, pretty water bottles, jazzy T-shirts or neon-colored weights. They'll lift your spirits while you work out.
  
  
• If you must, take an occasional "vacation" from exercise. It takes time to transform an exercise program into a habit. Persevere and you'll get there.

A final word: Remember to check with your doctor before getting started, especially if you haven't been exercising lately or have health problems. But if you follow these resolutions, come next year, when the topic of New Year's Resolutions comes up, you'll feel only pride.