Well, it's a week and a half into the New Year. How's your resolve holding up?

When people launch into the traditional weight loss effort at the beginning of a new year, that effort is very often based on a new gadget, a new diet, a new activity, and - - for a while, at least - - a new attitude.

The trouble is that the attitude is the most important tool, yet it's almost always the first to go. In fact, it's often more perishable than any of the fresh fruits and vegetables it probably came with. But without the right thinking, all that healthy food isn't going to help much.

People deeply underestimate the importance of attitude in their weight-loss efforts. Most just stoically figure that when the initial enthusiasm fades, they'll soldier on through sheer force of will.

But positive thinking isn't just having a cheerful focus or hopeful outlook that could just as easily be replaced with a stern resolve. Positive thinking is actually about our mental and emotional programming, it's about having habits and skills for supporting both our enthusiasm and our will!

Real Brain Power - You Are What You Think

Each of us responds to events in our lives according to how we understand and interpret what is happening to us. This is known as cognitive behavior.

Sometimes it seems like it doesn't matter if we understand what's good for us; we don't do it anyway. We stay stuck in the behaviors we're already programmed with. Of course, a dramatic shift in our beliefs can sometimes immediately change our behavior. For instance, one dog bite could permanently reprogram your attitude about pooches. You might decide to never pet another pup, and not even much miss it.

How much easier it would be to lose weight if that muffin bit back!

Fortunately, there's a lot of research showing that cognitive behavior therapies can also help people consciously change the way they think, to such an extent that they can produce not only new behaviors, but even biological changes in their bodies.

Brain scan technologies have been terrific in showing the dramatic differences cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) has been able to produce for people struggling with everything from insomnia to panic attacks to addiction-very often as well or better than pharmaceutical treatments for the same problems.

And the effectiveness of using specific thinking tools has proven out in treatment of more specifically physical problems, as well, including hypertension and irritable bowel syndrome. CBT has even been shown to extend remissions and improve life expectancy for cancer survivors.

With that kind of potential, it's easy to see why we say that if you want to change your body, you've got to change your mind.

Set Your Mind in Action - You Are What You Think

And that's not just changing your beliefs. You've got to change your thinking habits.

If our brain perceives something as difficult, we respond in a particular way, both consciously and subconsciously. If our brain perceives that same thing as actually dangerous, we've got another set of responses for that.

But ask any performer or athlete or soldier, and they'll affirm that if the brain tells us, "This is a worthwhile challenge, and you can do it," that more positive mindset is far more likely to produce a winning attitude and a positive result.

By making choices to change our conscious thoughts, we can change our subconscious inclinations.

Say you are going to dinner with friends at a little Italian bistro famed for its three-cheese manicotti, but you know you'll be looking for a broiled fish selection with steamed vegetables.

You tell yourself, "I feel good about my weight-loss goals. My dinner is going to be delicious and I'll feel satisfied. I know I can do this." You've spoken positively to yourself and chances are you will come through that meal satisfied, and more than likely, with the admiring encouragement of your pals.

yourself, for instance-your chances aren't so good. If you're thinking, "Why must I suffer? I don't get to eat out that often. Everyone else will be having the good stuff. I'll never make it.' Well, with that attitude, it's a good bet you won't.

You've got to change negative or counter-productive thoughts by replacing them with thinking that will move you toward your goals. If you find that negative thoughts sometimes get in your way, these success strategies can help:

1. Listen to you - We've all got our own little internal dialogue babbling away all the time. Become more sensitive to the messages coming out of that conversation. What seems to bring on counter-productive thoughts? Self-awareness is an important tool in effecting any kind of change.

2. Replace negative thoughts and statements with positive ones - As soon as you hear a negative or harmful message, pause and replace it with a positive one. This may feel contrived at first, but it becomes easier and begins to feel more natural the more you do it. You're just retraining your brain.

So are you supposed to tell yourself you look forward to that workout when you've just finished a grueling day at work? You bet! That's exactly what you do. As soon as "Oh, man, I am not feeling up to this at all," comes up in your head, you consciously counter with something like, "I love the way my body and muscles feel after I've worked out," or "I sleep so much better when I work out." Say anything, but say it right away. If you let a negative thought go unchallenged, it brings its cronies. First it's one, then two, then next thing you know, you're on the couch with the clicker.

3. Practice your positive messages - To effectively break those old patterns and negative behaviors, you've got to practice the new ones again and again. A tit-for-tat with your negative pattern won't do it. You've got to counter with superior firepower. Just as you wrote and rewrote your spelling words as a child, consistent repetition of positive messages is what gets them engrained. For every "I don't feel like it," answer with 10 verses of "I love to exercise!"

And it doesn't hurt to offer up a little positively out of the blue, either. You don't have to wait for negative thinking to come looking for you. Keep up a constant stream of positive messages, and eventually, it will get hard for your negative thoughts to get a word in edgewise.

Through Thick & Thin: You Are What You Think

Studies show that deliberate positive thought has much the same effect on brain chemistry as spontaneous positive experience. You can consciously choose to counter negative thinking or self-defeating rationalizations. But the trick is to respond quickly and forcefully with good self statements. You can't always banish "bad" thoughts, but when they pop up, you can promptly replace them with good ones.