You Snooze, You Lose. Weight, I Mean.

You think this is some kind of diet trick, don't you? Actually, if you sleep for a few days instead of eat, it might work!

Now I am not trying to be facetious even though I do feel like groaning as I hear yet one more news segment on weight loss. Okay, collectively, how much weight did we gain over the holidays? Now I know that we are less fixated on the news since the election, but do we not know these diet tips yet? Do we really need one more expert suggesting that we eat a little bit of chocolate so that we don't binge? Or that we should make sure we don't stay away from our absolutely favorite foods? (Okay, guilty as charged.)

I know that information is generally helpful. I have no doubt that we as a nation have an abundance, of nutritional information, and we are ready, set go! Let's lose that holiday weight!

I get depressed just thinking about it. Thinking of the upcoming winter months, (okay, you guys out in L.A. and in the South, go ahead and gloat. We in New York are about to face months of grey skies and damp. Yuck. I think those bears had something there. I mean in hibernating.

So here I am back to the central theme of this meandering piece. Sleep. Sweet sleep. Did you know that optimal caloric burn happens when you get 7-8 hours of sleep a night? Now that is not 5, nor 6, it is not 9 or 10, but rather, 7-8 beautiful blessed out hours of zzzzzz's.

Seems less possible than keeping your hand out of the cookie jar, huh? But if you get frustrated with your dieting, go to sleep. Simply, tuck yourself into your favorite pyjamas, hunker down with some good old television, or a good book, settle yourself down, if at all possible, and get some sleep!

You will find all kinds of excuses to avoid this. Stop any attempts at martyrdom, and keep thinking, "Burn, baby burn!" Calories, I mean. Prone. Not moving. Well, shifting some I would guess.

So I urge you as the most important diet tip yet: Find a way to turn the world out, despite all the doom and gloom, and start to dream. You might actually find yourself waking up in a better mood. Feeling a stronger resolve to stick with whatever diet you have put yourself on to shed those holiday pounds.

Happy Sleeping!