NEW Year is traditionally the busiest time for gyms as faithful members renew their commitment, and new members hope to change their lifestyles.

But if weight loss is one of your pledges for 2001, there's no need to spend out on the gym...

just look to the hills.

A good spell of hiking will see to the post-festive wobble.

For example, this week's five-mile walk (above) should shed about 1,200 calories if you take it at a moderate pace.

You'll likely need a good woolly hat and some gloves to make hikercising a bearable option but the chances are you'll get far more use out of them than a leotard.

When you return from your walk, treat yourself to some decent food, crank up your PC and use the web to help you on your svelte mission.

First-up, log on to www.caloriecontrol.org.

Here you can use their exercise calculator to work out how much festive fat you've managed to shed.

They helpfully include shopping, cleaning, mowing the lawn and curiously 'mopping up after guests' in their categorisation of exercise.

There's also a wealth of slimming advice to be found here.

With the exercise sorted, you can enjoy thinking about the food.

Plan some slimming meals with www.low-fat-recipes.com, www.e-cookbooks.net or find good vegetarian recipes at www.fatfree.com.

As everybody knows, sticking to a diet is the worst part.

You need to continue to exercise more and eat less - one bracing walk is sadly not enough.

So, you can spill out you dieting woes to your fellow food-deprived in the Slimmers World chat room at www.slimming-world.co.uk.

This is a very good site full of earnest health advice and encouragement but it should have a time-out function.

Spend too long at Slimmer's World and you risk becoming moronically obsessed with your weight.

For a look at how others are coping with slimming, check out some celebrated net diaries.

Try http://www.healthyplace.com/Journals/Dieting/Site/.

There are some very moving accounts in here.

You can even start writing your own diet journal on this site, although this is not a task to undertake lightly.

They do expect you to diligently make regular entries.

If you stick at it, though, you may find you inspire a following, and all that writing will cut into your eating time.

However, writing is sadly not included in caloriecounter.org's exercise counter.

So there's my weight loss plan scuppered.

I had better turn off the computer and take that walk.