Day 1: First step, hitting the cookbooks and then the grocery store. Eating in is always easier if you have a plan in mind. I sketch out a menu of seven dinners, assuming I'll eat leftovers for lunch with a fresh salad, maybe.

Not having a plan is what always un-does me, and I'm not alone. Look at any book or website on dieting advice and one of the first things you'll read is have a plan -- have a plan for what you're going to eat, have a plan for when you're going to exercise, have a plan for what you'll do when things go wrong.

Today, my plan includes grabbing some of my favorite healthy-but-somewhat-convenient foods from the grocery store (check out Bev's 5 and 20 rule for when you're in a hurry) so that when I look in the fridge, my first thought isn't, "There's nothing to eat ... let's go out!"