New Year's resolutions and the businesses that enforce them

The treadmills, ellipticals, and bikes soon will hum nonstop at Old City's City Fitness. Weight Watchers meeting attendance will nearly double in the Philadelphia region, and local professional home organizers will juggle their own jammed calendars.

Countless well-intentioned revelers may have declared their New Year's resolutions over the weekend, but it's in the coming days that people will start to act on them.

"It's the American psyche - do-it-yourself, Home Depot, 'go West,' Horatio-Alger-way-of-addressing 'We can do it,' " says John C. Norcross, a professor of psychology at the University of Scranton who studies resolutions.

For companies whose missions are intertwined with vows of a better 2011, that means being ready for the onslaught of the Resolved. They will come.

For most of the 40 to 45 percent of American adults who embrace New Year's resolutions, their promises revolve around self-improvement - and nearly half will have stuck with it after six months. Among the top ones: exercise more and eat better foods; lose weight; quit smoking; and reduce alcohol and caffeine consumption.

"January is the biggest sign-up month for diet programs and also health clubs," says John LaRosa, research director at Tampa, Fla.-based Marketdata Enterprises, which has tracked the diet market for 21 years.

To take advantage of that surge, he says, "Every diet company, or most of them, try to come out with a new program or a new twist to their program to freshen up their program and give it some sense of excitement."

Jenny Craig is introducing "weight loss personalized to your metabolism."

Weight Watchers has a new "Points Plus" program and is waiving its membership fee from January to March, says Stu Coren, a spokesman for Weight Watchers of Philadelphia. Just to make sure all aspiring dieters know that, a trim singer/actress Jennifer Hudson seems to be on TV every 30 seconds touting the wonders of Weight Watchers.

Fort Washington-based Nutrisystem has revamped its programs and lowered the price of a month's worth of its diet food.

Many of these marketing moves suggest the diet industry may have made its own resolution: to regain customers it lost in these flabby economic times.

"People are less likely to join structured, expensive programs . . . if their budget is pinched," says LaRosa.

Instead, he says, about 81 percent of the 75 million adult U.S. dieters are doing it themselves, buying diet books, creating their own meal plans, walking or running around the block, and using diet drinks and supplements they get at drug stores. Historically, that figure has been about 70 percent.

Struggling economy or no, City Fitness on Spring Garden Street expects a mid-January uptick in people joining the gym and the return of existing members who haven't worked out in months. Owner Ken Davies says there will be about 750 "check-ins" per day this month, a huge increase over the 50 or so daily check-ins during June and July.

"Most of our members who are here throughout the year say, 'It's so crowded in here. Get more equipment,' " Davies says with a laugh. "If I made equipment decisions based on people's reactions to how crowded it gets in January, I'd be buying a lot of equipment."

The first three months are the most telling. If people still are exercising after March, they are likely to stick with their get-fit goals, says membership and marketing director Jeff Quinn.

Anticipating more members this time of year, City Fitness does add yoga classes, group workouts, and teachers, and prepares to preach the gospel of pairing exercise with a healthy diet.

Consultations between staff and new members often turn into confessions of fears and hopes, with one of the most prevalent admissions being the desire to impress an old flame at a reunion, Quinn says.

Also high on people's wish lists is instituting order in their home, so January is a boom time for professional organizers.

Homeowners may have felt an eagerness to organize their lives before Christmas, but the tipping point often comes after gifts previously hidden under the Christmas tree need to be put away, says Yasmin Goodman, professional coaching consultant and owner of Organized at Last in the Philadelphia region.

"Starting the second week in January, I am pretty booked through till March," she says.

The organizing business of Broomall's Debbie Lillard, 43, is called Space to Spare. At most times of the year, she has three or four clients whose homes she visits regularly. This month, she'll have as many as 10. She'll be busier - but her clients will be more optimistic.

"First you have to change your mind, then you've got to change your habits - that's how you're going to make a lasting change. I think people in January have changed their mind. They're upbeat," Lillard says.

As she prepares for the New Year's surge by updating her list of locations where she can donate clients' castoffs, she's also rearranging the routine and schedule for her household, which includes her husband and their three children. Plus, she believes in new-year beginnings herself.

"My resolution is the exercise thing," she says. "We can't be perfect - I do have an organized home."

The University of Scranton's Norcross offers tips for keeping your resolutions. Don't make them rashly, "at the clink of the champagne glass." Expand your goal year by year - he has worked up to exercising five times a week, and in 2011, he'll try to maintain that schedule even when he's traveling.

Have strategies in place before you embark on your resolution, chart your changed behavior, and reward your successes with "a healthy treat or compliment." Align your surroundings with your goals. If you want to cut down on sweets, avoid bakeries. And expect to stumble.

Norcross advises that "When you slip, you recommit, you get busier, and you move forward rather than giving up."