There's never a time of year when people aren't neurotic and conscious about what they're eating, but after the binge-eating of Christmas and the binge-drinking of New Year's Eve, in a month from now most of us are going to make the resolution to lose weight. Some of us may say as much; some may dress it up in such niceties as "eating better" or "exercising more" or what have you. Which, in and of itself of course is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, at the rate our modern lives (sedentary) and diet (calorific) are going, it would probably do most of us a world of good to move more and eat less. But before you sign up for that gym membership or those Jenny Craig pre-cooked meals, there are all kinds of horrors and frustrations out there you should know about. Horrors and frustrations that go largely ignored or understated. So, allow me to be your calorific Agony Aunt, as it were, to give balance to the chipper SparkPeople Pollyannas. After all, forewarned is forearmed.