KXXV-TV News Channel 25 - Central Texas News and Weather for Waco, Temple, Killeen | Keep Your New Year's Resolutions With Help From the Internet

By Elizabeth Wasserman , Studio One Networks

At the stroke of midnight this New Year's Eve, did you make a resolution to start anew? Did you pledge to lose weight, promise to stop smoking or vow to save more money? And honestly, did you break all those pledges, promises and vows within a week?

Well, this year you don't have to feel guilty about breaking your New Year's resolutions -- because the Internet could actually help you stay on track and achieve your goals.

On the web, there are a variety of new resources designed to make you stick to your vows. There are web sites to help you generate a new resolution if you haven't already, those that let you meet others who have pledged to make the same changes, and then there are some web sites that will even send you daily emails to encourage you to stick to your program.

"January is a big month of change," says Ariane de Bonvoisin, founder, CEO and so-called Chief Change Optimist at the First30Days, a web site based on her popular book The First 30 Days (HarperOne 2008) which is about making life changes. The web site has identified 60 different life changes that people often try to make -- to exercise, pursue a dream, find romance or sock away some savings.

If you already feel like you're slacking off on your resolutions, here's how you can find support on the Internet and stick to the improvements you want to make this year:

1. Find resources to help you make resolutions
The first step in making a New Year's resolution that you can stick to is to realize that there are others out there who want you to meet your goal too. The federal government, for example, has a section of its official USA government web site listing the top New Year's resolutions that Americans make with links to agencies that can help you get where you want to go. For example, to help you reduce stress, the web site has a link to the National Institutes of Health with stress management tutorials in English and Spanish. To help you get fit, the site has a link to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports with recommended guidelines for physical activity.

Another site, eHow, also offers advice to help you set realistic goals and break them down into smaller feats you can accomplish. So if you want to lose weight, one of the smaller goals may be to join a gym. Or, the American Psychiatry Association operates HealthyMinds, which coaches you to only make resolutions you can attain and to forgive yourself if you get off track.

2. Find specific web sites for your specific goals
Another way to use the Internet is to turn to sites that cater to your particular goals, including these popular resolutions:

• Losing weight If dropping a few pounds is your goal, try signing up for some of the established sites devoted to helping you. Weight Watchers has an online program, costing $65, for the first three months that lets you sign up, find recipes and meal ideas, and get personalized goals without meetings -- you can access the information at home, from the office or via a mobile phone or Internet-enabled PDA.

• Stopping smoking If you want to quit smoking, the site QuitGuide lists various types of programs that can help you quit, from audio and group courses to nicotine replacement therapy. WhyQuit lists 50 tips, including how to avoid cravings and crutches. Smoke Free Society is an online smoking cessation program that costs between $35 and $250 for a variety of types of support, including an online quiz to gage if you're ready and daily email support.

• Reducing debt The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has a web site to help those who want to reduce their credit card or other debt. Step-by-step instructions on the site include: creating a budget, contacting creditors, and entering credit counseling or a debt management program. Or the site simply dubbed "Credit" has resources for creating a spending plan, pulling your credit report and getting the best credit card rates.

3. Find extra support to help you to stick to the program
When you make a new year's resolution, it is often with the best of intentions. But sticking to that resolution is quite another story. That's where online support can help. "Sometimes it is easier to make a change anonymously rather than with friends and family who immediately think you're going to fail because you tried to make these changes last year," says de Bonvoisin. First30Days, for example, is a social network that lets you chat and share ideas anonymously with others so that you can better meet your goals. There is follow-up coaching from experts to keep you motivated.

"We hand-hold people for the first 30 days. They'll hear from us, get an email about their specific goal with a tip from an expert or mistakes to avoid," says de Bonvoisin. "It becomes a little bit of a lifeline for people."

Gary Ryan Blair, who operates a motivational business called The GoalsGuy, also believes that follow-through may mean the difference between making and breaking your new year's resolutions -- and that's more immediate on the Internet. He's started a new online challenge called Got Resolutions, which is a 30-day challenge for $29.95 that spells out a resolution road map, provides motivational CDs and offers online access from anywhere, including cell phones. "The biggest problem people have is that they start with good intentions and usually fall short on follow through after a couple of days," Blair says. By using online tools, he says, "the benefit is that there is immediate access to useful information -- at their fingertips."

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