Now it's official! A pedometer costing just a few dollars (from as little as $2 to rarely over $30) can help you lose weight and get fit according to a study at Stamford University.

For fitness and weight maintenance we are encouraged by the people who look after our health to walk 10,000 steps a day - and although many of us say we are "always on our feet" or "never stop" chances are that you are around the 3,000 to 5,000 mark like most reasonably active people.

Just wearing a pedometer on your waistband can encourage you to do a little more - people end up on average walking an extra mile a day - and those miles add up over time to give results without very much effort at all.

The study showed that pedometers are particularly effective if you give yourself a step goal every day and keep a note of your results.

Why not pop one in everyone's Christmas stocking this year (including your own!).

You'll find a whole range of pedometers on Amazon (or here if you are in the UK)

Following on from the video in the last post, remember your current shape is the result of the sum total of the eating and exercise habits you've had over the course of your whole life.

Think about that!

What would people assume that your habits are from looking at your shape?

Are you happy about that?

Happy or not, it's good news because it means you can change your habits and change your shape whenever you like. You are the one in control.

To make life easier, don't just try to stop doing something if you want to change your eating habits. ( You know that's what makes stopping smoking so difficult - you have nothing to replace that habit with (other than eating and that creates its own problems)).

Instead replace your bad food habit with something else - if you always have cake with your coffee start drinking tea. If you eat too much in the evening in front of the TV - start a hobby, go for an evening class or do your ironing in front of the TV instead (or even some exercise and kill two birds with one stone).

Spend some time thinking of alternatives for whatever you do that you wish you didn't! And some ways of fitting in the activity for your body you know you ought to do and don't.

And before you know it your body will be showing the results of a whole new set of (healthier) habits.

Actually you don't need any advice from me other than to do the opposite of the Anti-Health Plan. There's a serious message behind this funny video. See how many of your own habits you can spot in it.

Browsing through the magazine racks this week I saw all sorts of front covers with headlines like "Drop a dress size for Christmas" or "Lose 10lbs before the party season". My heart sinks a bit when I read these because I know that at least 50% of the female population want to do just that and yet 99.99% of them will be disappointed and will lose only a few pounds at the most (if any) over the next few weeks. And, in fact, most will begin January quite a few pounds heavier than they were when they read those headlines.

The trouble is that these plans are unworkable for most people, especially for people with any kind of life and especially with the kind of social life and frantic state of getting ready for Christmas most of us have around this time of year.

You have to be pretty determined to succeed (and frankly if you were that determined you would not have to read a magazine cover to get started - you would have lost the weight already).

All of these kind of plans fall into the category of weight loss project, where you see your weight as something to be tackled with a temporary solution and not a permanent change in habits.

It's the same with a project to get fit or tidy up the house. Unless you have ongoing maintenance or improvement plans you will be back in exactly the same state you started in no time at all (even if you achieve your aim in the first place).

A project type approach is useful for kicking off a weight loss attempt - for planning how you will approach losing weight, for checking you have everything you need, for clearing the cupboards of poor food choices, for buying a scale, a heart rate monitor or pedometer, for joining a gym (if you want to go the exercise route), for gathering some great recipes together.... you get the picture.

A project type approach is great even for tackling the whole weight loss from beginning to end - at least it gives you some focus.

But the important thing is that you see your weight loss project as one with the ultimate aim of changing your habits as well as your shape and not just one to "lose 10lbs". Not, that is, unless you want to be doing these projects every few months for the rest of your life.

P.S. If you don't have my FREE 24-page guide to enjoying the party season without piling on the pounds you can get it here:-

Christmas Without Piling on the Pounds

I just read a great Weight Control article  from the NY Times by Jane Brody who has lost weight and is maintaining her new shape by eating what she likes but in controlled quantities. For example, she treats herself to ice cream but only in half cup measures and only once a day. Read the article for a lot of common sense that you rarely find in the dieting world.

Forbidding food you like is really not wise because you always end up craving the food and eating it anyway. What has got to go, if you want to lose weight, is overindulging in the stuff you like, in fact overindulging in anything whether you like it or not!

Eat modest amounts of healthy foods and small amounts of foods which are not that great nutritionally but do you good emotionally. And make sure you enjoy them rather than eating them guiltily - guilt just takes away any pleasure in the moment and is just a waste of good calories!