Can you really lose weight and break the pattern in January? Yes — you can do it. Here are a few of the sound, tested, easy-to-follow behavioral principles that can help you stick to your New Year's resolutions, along with Internet addresses for past columns that will be your "how-to" guide for breaking negative patterns: Just remember the acronym BREAK IT!

BACKWARD

Review your past patterns. Taking a careful look at your past can help you determine where you want to go in the future, and it helps you avoid repeating harmful patterns. The past may be behind you, but thinking about and analyzing what happened is the key to your dieting future. Keep an open mind. Think of the strategies that didn't work in your previous attempts to lose weight. By looking at your failures, you learn what NOT to repeat. You probably learned something from every diet you've been on. It's up to you to find out what you gained from all that hard work. Become your own Diet Detective: www.dietdetective.com/column/be-your-own-diet-detective.aspx.

RESPONSIBLE

Recognize that you are the only one who can make something happen in your life. People love to blame. Blame allows us to avoid taking a necessary action. In terms of diet, it allows us to avoid focusing on controlling our weight because there's nothing we can do about it. See: The Blame Game: How "Anti-Responsible" Behavior Might be Hindering Your Weight Control at www.dietdetective.com/columns/the-blame-game.aspx.

ELEVATE

Pull yourself up by setting goals. Most of life requires some planning. But when it comes to losing weight, we don't give it a fraction of the strategic passion it deserves. There are seven characteristics of effective planning and goal setting that you can remember with the acronym SMARTER: Specific; Motivating; Achievable; Rewarding; Tactical; Evaluated; Revisable (www.dietdetective.com/column/getting-smarter.aspx). And go online for a goal-planning guide to help put your goals in action: www.dietdetective.com/columns/get-back-on-the-diet-track.aspx.

ACTION

Develop an action plan by thinking ahead. When pursuing a goal, it is crucial to have a well-thought-out, written plan. You can minimize crises by anticipating obstacles and planning for how you will surmount them. And keep in mind, great things are achieved by a series of small things — micro-choices — that add up. Micro-choices are the ones we make in the moment. To learn more about micro-choices, go to www.dietdetective.com/column/micro-choices.aspx.

KNOCK OUT

Knock out your excuses with excuse busting. Come up with Excuse Busters and Plan Bs. Punch holes in your excuses until they are no longer airtight. Do this by coming up with counterarguments for every single excuse you may have for NOT achieving your goals.

IMAGINE

Create "Life Preservers" that will help you lose weight for good. Researchers at Utrecht University in the Netherlands reported that those who believed they could control their eating and didn't blame being overweight on "bad genes" lost the most weight. It's called "visualization" — an imagined, meaningful, detailed vision of your life after you've reached your goal weight. I call these visions "Life Preservers." To learn how to create your own "Life Preservers" see: www.dietdetective.com/columns/think-and-lose-weight.aspx.

TODAY

Don't delay. Part of making any behavioral change is actually getting started and putting your plan in motion. Start right now!

Charles Stuart Platkin is a nutrition and public-health advocate, and founder of www.DietDetective.com.