Starting a diet or fitness program can be pretty exciting ‑- especially when the first few pounds come off or you get your first glimpse of muscular definition. You're fired up about your program, you think and talk about it to the point of boring your friends, and it would take a team of wild horses to pull you off track. But what do you do when, a few weeks later, you start to tire of counting calories and reps? You can't look at another salad, and you're searching for excuses to skip that lunch-hour workout. Your commitment is starting to flag and, even worse, you're haunted by one particularly dispiriting thought: I'm going to have to do this for the rest of my life! It's called motivation fatigue, and it's enough to send a strong woman shrieking into the night ‑- or to the closest drive-thru.

So how do you regain that laserlike focus? How do you recharge your energy and renew your commitment? And, most important, how do you answer that little voice inside your head that says, Keep this up forever? Forget it! Unfortunately, there's no magic solution. Because weight loss and fitness are more like marathons than sprints, you have to mentally prepare yourself to go the distance, keeping your spirit stoked and your commitment high.