In 2015 we finished the year off with a top 10 list of smutty fitness challenges but as 2016 was coming to an end I had a reader suggest to me that instead of finishing the year off with a top 10 list, I should begin 2017 with 10 days of fitness tips and challenges to help guide you in making 2017 the best year yet. So, here we go.

There is one major problem with New Year’s resolutions – more often than not they set you up for failure. You may have gone to bed with the best of intensions on the eve of 2017 to start the year off right, but if your New Year’s Day was anything like mine, you spent it with ones that you loved, celebrating. Although I did head out for an amazing New Year’s Day snowshoe in Whistler, the afternoon was spent warming up by a fire with some hot toddies and meat pies. Not exactly the healthiest way to start the New Year! But that is what life is, right? Balance. Fun. Making the wrong choices at the right times. 

My brother recently got into body building, which is awesome because for the first time in as long as I can remember I finally weigh less than my older brother! We were sitting around the table on Christmas Eve and we were chatting about his new fitness routine, and we got into a bit of a discussion. For those of you who’ve been reading this column for a while now you know my philosophies on health. I am not about eating boiled chicken and broccoli day in and day out. I am not about cheat days. I am not about your exercise and diet taking over your life. But I am also not about excuses. I believe that your expectations need to meet your actions. That if you want something you must work hard to get it. My brother is 100% focused on his goals right now, which I admire, and the results he has seen are amazing. But that type of approach, all or nothing, does not work for everyone, myself included.

So, as you sit here these first couple of days of 2017, and you think about what you hope to achieve in your fitness routine, make your vision realistic. Pick a goal that is a challenge, something that you must work hard for and make sacrifices for. But make sure it fits your lifestyle and that you are setting yourself up for success, not failure. Your first challenge of these next 10 days of fitness challenges is to get yourself ready for what you hope to achieve. Renew your yoga or fitness pass. Register for the race you have been putting off. Book a session with a personal trainer. Download a fitness app, or two, onto your smartphone. Realistically look at your life and schedule and decide when you can make yourself a priority. If you need help with childcare, plan for it. Take one hour for yourself today, hide away and sit down with your goals and aspirations and begin to plan your pathway to success.

Tune in for the next 10 days and follow along as we kick-start your 2017 together. I will offer you words of advice, fitness challenges, workouts, recipes and whatever else I can do to help you reach your goals. I am always here for you so keep your questions coming. Nothing brings me more joy then helping as many people as I can be the best that they can be. Happy 2017!

Here's Teri Hatcher leaving the gym yesterday in LA.