Our Observation

There's a reason why New Year's resolutions pertaining to weight loss often fail. Health experts say much planning is involved in adopting a healthy lifestyle — how many calories are you going to consume? How many days a week are you going to work out? Which fitness routine will work for you? How will you handle diet busters like the chocolate chip cookies your co-worker brings into the office?

But most people don't put that much thought into it, which is why they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar by February.

But more than anything else, becoming healthy is about adopting lifestyle changes and overhauling negative attitudes toward diet and exercise. These are two things Winter Parker Linda Kline, who was featured in the Observer last week, did to lose 220 pounds and keep it off for five years.

Her secret seemed to be a new affinity for triathlons. Since she started pounding the pavement five years ago, she has done four triathlons and is planning one day to participate in the Iron Man triathlon.

Like many others before her, Kline needed a push to find her fitness passion. Her doctor told her she was at risk for sudden death due to the array of health problems she had acquired over the years as a couch potato, including sleep apnea, type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure. For her, finding a personal trainer and a fitness goal kept her focused and excited.

But for many, keeping the pounds off is even harder than losing them in the first place. Studies show that more than 80 percent of people who lose weight gain it all back and then some after two years. According to an article in Women's Health, researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles followed 31 dieters and found that about two-thirds packed on more pounds than they had lost within four to five years.

Luckily for us Floridians, we have a whole host of different fitness options at our fingertips year-round, thanks to the warm climate. Whether it's running with the iPod blaring, hitting the pool for a calorie-torching swim, getting some rowing action in a canoe or pedaling down one of Central Florida's many bicycle trails, there is always an accessible, cost-effective way to get moving. The city of Orlando has a website dedicated to keeping residents active called Get Active Orlando (www.getactiveorlando.com).

But no matter how active we are, if our diets are not kept in check, our waistlines will stay the same. With one-third of American adults obese in 2008, and one-third of the nation's children overweight or obese, there is most certainly a problem with the way we eat.

There are plenty of local resources to help people make smarter choices about food. The Winter Park Health Foundation rolled out an initiative in 2007 called Think, Act, Be Healthy Communities, which inspires community projects that encourage healthy behaviors.

The bottom line is no one is going to be able to help us until we help ourselves. Take a tip from Kline and find your inner health nut by discovering a fun and inspiring way to get fit.