The number one most common New Year resolution is to lose weight, since most people from Thanksgiving up to New Year have gained at least a few extra pounds. Most people fail to keep their resolution because of the extra effort, time and/or money required for them to lose that weight isn’t so freely available. Therefore, in order for you to be successful in your resolution or even if that wasn’t your resolution but you still would like to lose those extra pounds, here are the 5 most effective methods that will not cost you any more money or time. Now the only thing that will determine your success is if you are willing to put in a bit of effort and sacrifice some comfort.

Park as far as possible from the doors whenever you go to the store, to church, to work or anywhere else you go that has a parking lot. Your initial response may be, "Hey, well you promised that it will not take any more time to do these exercises but doesn’t walking take more time? The fact of the matter is that you actually spend less time getting to the front door of the store because you are not looking for a "good" parking spot. You will likely find that the far away spots are always available and not only that but you will lose a couple hundred or more calories each time you do it.

Skip or replace one unhealthy snack every day. It is easier to skip your favorite snack once in a while than to stop eating it altogether. So choose a meal, for example breakfast, and skip the donut for a health bar on Monday. On Tuesday have your donut at breakfast, but skip the dessert at lunch. On Wednesday have your donut and dessert, but skip your piece of cake at dinner. This way you do not get the stress of not ever eating your favorite sweets, but at the same time you are cutting down on several hundred or more calories each day, depending on quantity and type of your favorite snack.

Jog up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. I know this one is not for everybody. If you do not work or are not around stairs or you work or live somewhere unreasonable, like on the 42nd floor, than obviously you can’t do this one. Otherwise, instead of waiting for the elevator, just jog up the stairs. It will take about the same amount of time plus you can lose hundreds of calories depending on how many times you will normally go up and down the stairs on a daily basis.

Pack a lunch. You can lose over a thousand calories per day this way. Instead of going for fast food for lunch, pack a healthy lunch from home. The time it takes you to make that lunch you will more than make up by not having to take the time driving to and from your fast food restaurant. This will most likely be the most effective method of losing that holiday weight and perhaps the easiest for most people to do. If you are going to try just one tip from this editorial, then we recommend this one.

Skip the alcohol and soda and go for the water. Beer, liquor, wine and even soda have insane amounts of calories. Beer, for example, has 150 calories per can; a glass of wine can have 120 to 270 calories depending on its sweetness; whereas pop has 100 or more calories depending on the size of your pop. Drinking a glass of lemon water or even unsweetened coffee or tea will reduce your calorie intake by hundreds of calories, some maybe over a thousand if they consume a lot of the above mentioned drinks. On top of that you will end up saving plenty of cash by drinking less of this delicious but horrid stuff.

Now you can see how easily you can save a thousand or more calories just by following these quick and simple steps. Of course the fact that these methods will not cost you a penny more and won’t take any more of your time will allow anybody to be successful in losing those pestering "holiday pounds." Try all of these steps for best results but if you can do just a few, like packing a lunch and switching to drinking more water and less soda pop and alcohol, you’ll still have your sexy beach body back in no time.