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" Spaghetti-strap weather is almost here, and you want to shed some winter flab. If you&amp;#039;re tempted to go on a low-cal-diet bender and drop 20 pounds in a week, stop! All you&amp;#039;ll lose is water weight, which you&amp;#039;ll regain faster than you can say, &amp;quot;Richard Simmons should retire.&amp;quot; Instead, says Therese Franzese, director of nutrition at New York&amp;#039;s Sports Center at Chelsea Piers, &amp;quot;Be realistic: Think gradual.&amp;quot;   To set you up for long-term success, Redbook has developed a plan to guide you through the crucial first two weeks. During this time you&amp;#039;ll adopt an I-can-do-this mind-set, jump-start your fat-burning engines and begin dropping pounds.   But before you get started, take a look at your calendar and find a calm 14-day stretch. &amp;quot;All the good intentions in the world won&amp;#039;t help if you try to make a change during the middle of a family crisis or all-night deadlines for work,&amp;quot; says Lauren Slayton of Foodtrainers, a nutrition consulting center in New York. Next, replace temptation with motivation: Ditch the Camembert and potato chips, and stock up on healthy snacks, such as fresh fruit and whole-wheat pretzels. Dig out that picture from your vacation a couple of years ago. &amp;quot;Hang it on the fridge: You can get your beach body back!&amp;quot; says fitness guru Tamilee Webb, star of the I Want That Body video series. Tell your husband and closest friends what you&amp;#039;re up to and enlist their support.   Okay, are you all set? Then get ready: Your new body starts here. Day 1 How you feel: Psyched! You&amp;#039;re ready to do whatever it takes to firm up and get leaner. &amp;quot;This emotional high is what has triggered you to take action,&amp;quot; explains Franzese. Ride it!   What to do:  Go slow. Start with 15 minutes on the stair machine or a brisk 30-minute walk. &amp;quot;If you&amp;#039;re overly gung-ho, you may set out to exercise an hour a day but only last 15 minutes and feel disappointed in yourself,&amp;quot; says Connie Tyne, executive director of the Cooper Wellness Program in Dallas. &amp;quot;If you have a good experience, you&amp;#039;ll want to do it again tomorrow.&amp;quot;   What to avoid:  Your usual (bad) diet. Identify 10 habits you know are bad news (scarfing down your kid&amp;#039;s fries, eating pizza for lunch three days a week) and rank them from hardest to change to easiest. Over the next couple of weeks, knock items off the list one by one, from simplest to most difficult. Day 2 How you feel:  Determined. You&amp;#039;re energized, and your friends and family are cool with your regimen: no teasing.   What to do:  Plan ahead. In the afternoon, you always crave sweets and inhale a Snickers or a big cookie (don&amp;#039;t ask how we know; we just do). Solution: Stash smart snacks (rice crackers, raw almonds, low-fat sports bars) in your purse to prevent junk-food binges. Bring your gym bag to work so you can head straight to the gym, or walk a little longer than you did yesterday. Every little bit helps: Walk for 20 minutes and you&amp;#039;ll burn 90 calories; add 10 minutes of jogging and you&amp;#039;ll burn 110 more!   What to avoid:  Get-fit-quick gimmicks. Don&amp;#039;t fall prey to the false promises of midnight infomercials or wacky diets. &amp;quot;Keep doing small, sensible things,&amp;quot; says Franzese. Things like taking your dog for a run in the park and investing in a good exercise video or an inexpensive pair of dumbbells. Working out to a 30-minute step-aerobics video burns 300 calories; doing a moderate workout with dumbbells while you watch the nightly news builds muscles and blasts away 120 calories!  Day 3 How you feel:  Frazzled! You&amp;#039;ve got a kid home sick, a birthday party to plan and bills about to become overdue if you don&amp;#039;t send off the checks now.   What to do:  Go with the flow. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s okay to do shorter or easier workouts when you&amp;#039;re crunched for time, as long as you balance it out by doing a little more on your high-energy days,&amp;quot; says Gunnar Peterson, who trains such stars as Jennifer Lopez. You don&amp;#039;t even have to do bona fide exercise every day. Just keep moving! &amp;quot;Every bit of activity adds up to calories burned and weight lost over time,&amp;quot; says Daniel Kirschenbaum, author of The 9 Truths About Weight Loss.   What to avoid: Starving yourself -- something you may contemplate in your stressed-out state. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re likely to binge if you go four or more hours without eating,&amp;quot; says Slayton. Don&amp;#039;t skip meals -- especially breakfast. &amp;quot;Within two hours of waking up, eat something, even if it&amp;#039;s a small piece of fruit.&amp;quot; Day 4 How you feel:  Like taking a day off. You woke up exhausted and don&amp;#039;t feel like dealing with the whole routine.   What to do:  Rest up. &amp;quot;You may need a good nap more than a workout,&amp;quot; says Peterson. If you&amp;#039;re sleep-deprived, you won&amp;#039;t get the most out of your workout anyway. But if you just need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, try a rejuvenating meditation in which you focus on breathing deeply and slowly for 10 minutes. Then choose an activity that&amp;#039;s easy, such as walking the dog, instead of taking a spinning class.   What to avoid:  Being too strict about eating. If you obsess about the candy bar or cheddar-cheese sandwich you&amp;#039;re not having, you&amp;#039;re more likely to give in and pig out. &amp;quot;The second a favorite food is banned, you want it more,&amp;quot; says Slayton. So take a positive approach. Love eggs for breakfast? Try an omelette made with egg whites instead of whole eggs and you&amp;#039;ll save 174 calories! Out with the girls? Drink a light beer instead of your usual pi\u00F1a colada and save 153 calories a round.  Day 5 How you feel: Frustrated. You stepped on the scale, and your weight is status quo. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s natural to feel frustrated when you&amp;#039;re not getting the results you want,&amp;quot; says Kirschenbaum. &amp;quot;You may even consider returning to your old ways, since they seemed so much easier.&amp;quot;   What to do:  Be patient. Remind yourself of past accomplishments (finishing college, learning to play a musical instrument, even having a baby), and think of your new healthy-living plan the same way. &amp;quot;You accepted that there would be trade-offs for your time and energy, and that the ultimate reward would require a long-term commitment,&amp;quot; says Tyne.   What to avoid:  Obsessing about how you look. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve never seen one person satisfied by aiming solely for a beautiful body,&amp;quot; says Pat Manocchia, the renowned trainer and owner of La Palestra, a fitness club in New York. &amp;quot;Even when they achieve their personal goal, losing the five pounds or five inches doesn&amp;#039;t bring the happiness they thought it would.&amp;quot; Focus instead on a goal such as preparing for a 10K race, or on mastering a new skill, such as tai chi or tennis. Day 6 How you feel:  Hungry. You&amp;#039;ve mustered up the strength to swap pizza for salad and say no to desserts and midnight snacks. But now you feel deprived.   What to do:  Eat a treat. Figure out what you&amp;#039;re willing to give up (whole milk, extra cheese), but keep a small portion of a favorite food in your plan. &amp;quot;You don&amp;#039;t have to deprive yourself completely if you make smart choices in other areas,&amp;quot; says Franzese.   What to avoid:  Losing control. You treated yourself to some ice cream or a little extra pasta. Now compensate by making your next meal extra-healthy (a generous helping of greens with a piece of grilled fish) or by spending 20 extra minutes on the treadmill. &amp;quot;The trick is finding a balance,&amp;quot; says Slayton. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s worth the effort to get back on track.&amp;quot;  Day 7 How you feel:  Encouraged. You&amp;#039;re feeling more energy by the minute. Great! But your husband dropped a hint this morning: Your extra time at the gym leaves him home alone. Poor him!   What to do:  Ask him to join you. A recent study showed that 94 percent of married couples who exercised together exercised for a year or longer, while only 57 percent of husbands and wives who worked out alone did the same. Here&amp;#039;s another fact: Forty-five minutes of lovemaking (he said he wanted to be together, right?) burns off 240 more calories than you&amp;#039;d spend idly watching the Late Show with David Letterman.   What to avoid:  Too many carbs. Yes, pasta is energy food. But once it enters your bloodstream, it converts to sugar, which turns into fat. You get the picture. Day 8 How you feel:  Lighter. Yes, it&amp;#039;s just a pound or two, but you&amp;#039;re seeing results!   What to do:  Capitalize on your newfound energy. &amp;quot;Your motivation will naturally wax and wane,&amp;quot; says Slayton. &amp;quot;When you&amp;#039;re in a strong phase, be extra-vigilant.&amp;quot; Eat more veggies, skim dairy products and high-protein, low-fat foods (such as fish and egg whites). And add 20 minutes to your workout if you feel really energized.   What to avoid: Getting thirsty. Dehydration is the enemy. Drinking water -- eight to 12 eight-ounce glasses a day -- is key when you&amp;#039;re working out a lot. To start every day on the right foot, try downing a glass right after you wake up. Steady sipping suppresses hunger and elevates your mood and energy, making you less likely to crave fat- and sugar-laden comfort foods. On the flip side, coffee and caffeinated sodas increase appetite, so steer clear. Day 9 How you feel: Bored. You feel like a slave to your workout. You&amp;#039;re tired of eating stuff that&amp;#039;s good for you. You want to have fun again!   What to do:  Change your routine. Try something wild, like a kickboxing class, which will boot an incredible 660 calories out of your system!   What to avoid:  Red meat. Instead of a seven-ounce steak, try the same portion of swordfish and reel in a savings of 203 calories. Substitute a veggie burger for a hamburger and save 300 calories. If you must have a cheeseburger, trade cheddar for feta, which contains 40 fewer calories an ounce. Day 10 How you feel:  Daunted. You were good all day but then fell -- no, catapulted -- off the wagon. Your kids were in &amp;quot;no&amp;quot; mode, and your husband took his irritation from work out on you. Your emotional buffer was three slices of pizza and a late-night Twinkies binge.   What to do:  Bounce back. &amp;quot;Every day doesn&amp;#039;t have to be perfect,&amp;quot; says Peterson. Focus not on your failure but on what you&amp;#039;ve achieved thus far.   What to avoid:  The slippery slope. &amp;quot;People tend to do 10 things wrong if they do one thing wrong,&amp;quot; says Slayton. &amp;quot;Give yourself permission to slip, but don&amp;#039;t go off the deep end.&amp;quot; Need something sweet? Try a frozen Starbucks Frappuccino Bar, at 120 calories, instead of a Vanilla Milk Chocolate Dove Bar, which has 340 calories.  Day 11 How you feel:  A little guilty. You woke up feeling energized and even went on an extra-long bike ride, but you were in a hurry all day, so you downed a big bag of chips and had one too many glasses of wine with dinner. You&amp;#039;re wondering if you can stick to healthy eating habits in the long term.   What to do:  Try the 15-minute test. &amp;quot;Before you succumb to an indulgence, wait 15 minutes,&amp;quot; says Slayton. &amp;quot;Find something else to do: paint your nails, take a walk around the block. Then make a rational food choice -- a high-fiber cracker with low-fat cheese instead of a candy bar, for instance.&amp;quot;   What to avoid:  Negativity. &amp;quot;When I ask clients how their week was, they usually tell me what went wrong: &amp;#039;I had too many sweets&amp;#039; or &amp;#039;I had too much to drink.&amp;#039; Very few focus on what they did right,&amp;quot; says Slayton. The more you focus on the positive (you ran four miles instead of your usual two), the more likely you are to enjoy working out. Day 12 How you feel:  Exhilarated! In your spinning class today, you didn&amp;#039;t have to slow down once!   What to do:  Take stock. You&amp;#039;re living proof that sticking to the plan pays off. Now use your positive attitude to stay on track. &amp;quot;The body loves stability, so it&amp;#039;s important to establish a rhythm you can stick to,&amp;quot; says Franzese. Try working out at the same time every day or establishing a minimum workout time. By now you should be up to about 45 minutes of heart-pumping activity!   What to avoid:  The urge to splurge. Don&amp;#039;t let one super-tough workout a week be an excuse for slacking off on the other six. &amp;quot;Eat well and exercise regularly 80 percent of the time, then live a little the other 20 percent,&amp;quot; says Tyne. Three scoops of ice cream will set you back almost 200 more calories than three scoops of frozen yogurt (hint, hint).  Day 13 How you feel:  Selfish. You booked a mountain-hiking vacation for yourself and your husband and took a yoga class after your treadmill run, and you&amp;#039;re considering going for a massage later on. Is this too much &amp;quot;me, me, me&amp;quot;?   What to do:  Keep your eyes on the prize. You&amp;#039;re doing the right thing. In fact, you ought to capitalize on your revved-up motivation and do even more: Sign up for a personal training session or book a pedicure to show off your fit feet.   What to avoid: Separating fitness and family. Working your kids and husband into the equation will be healthy for you and for them, says Peterson. Ask your husband if he&amp;#039;s up for a salsa class. Check on whether your local gym offers day care. Or make a family activity a workout in itself. &amp;quot;Take the kids for a walk, play tag in the park, pull them around in a wagon -- presto! You&amp;#039;ve snuck in your daily exercise,&amp;quot; says Webb. Keep meals family-friendly and healthy. If you&amp;#039;re eating out, go for a Subway Roasted Chicken Breast sandwich (311 calories) instead of a Big Mac with Super Size fries (1,200 calories!). Day 14 How you feel:  Amazed -- and happy with yourself: You made it! Your favorite jeans feel more relaxed around your thighs, and you&amp;#039;re astonished at all the energy you have. But you wonder, &amp;quot;Will it last?&amp;quot;   What to do: Keep taking baby steps. Sticking to small goals -- such as doing any kind of exercise for at least 15 minutes a day or eating a cup of Cheerios (110 calories) instead of a cup of Raisin Bran (186 calories) for breakfast -- will add up in the long run. &amp;quot;After you get past the first few weeks of a new, healthier routine, try doing a little more,&amp;quot; says Franzese.   What to avoid:  Self-doubt. &amp;quot;Believe you can achieve, because you can,&amp;quot; says Manocchia. &amp;quot;You just proved it, by getting through the first weeks of working out and eating healthier, which in many ways is the toughest part.&amp;quot; From RealAge.com: Eat these 11 foods for faster weight loss. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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