Twelve bells, twelve raisins , it's time to ask for "wishes for the new year".

Twelve bells, twelve raisins (or similar!), it's time to ask for "wishes for the new year".

The probability of a raisin being used to "ask" that the new year brings a weight loss is quite high. Let's see, the percentage of overweight people has been increasing. I don't know anyone who likes and wants to stay fat. I also don't know anyone who has ever thought, in the morning, "here's a nice day to gain weight!". There will be those, certainly. I just never met them.

What ends up happening is that, step by step, day by day, the weight goes up. It may go down, but it goes up. We defend ourselves, buying wider clothes, and convincing ourselves with phrases like "some people are fatter".

Until we decide to try to lose weight, usually in the first days of each year, or less during January, as if the new year will bring us an invincible force that will solve the problem for us.

But it doesn't.

The problem will not be solved alone or just because it is. It is solved if we define a plan, a strategy or a program and, above all, if we stick to it day after day.

It is frustrating to see those who eat, drink and sleep all they want and are always elegant, with their weight under control. Yes, it is, but as they say, "that's life." There's only one way to stick to the plan: have a reason. Have a why and have a deadline, achievable, that has meaning to us. Without that bigger reason, we'll always put it off another day and another day more.

What's your why? Do you want to lose weight? How many pounds? By when? Why?