SARASOTA - The countdown to the new year also meant the countdown to several people's new year's resolutions.  Those goals are made to start the year off on the right foot but often these resolutions are hard to keep.

Losing weight and shaping up are popular new year's resolutions that many people make -- and sometimes drop.  But it's a resolution Tinsley Tracht made to herself more than three months before the new year...and she says she's got reason to stick with it.  "I was diagnosed with breast cancer in January and went through chemotherapy.  It was really hard on my body...I got really out of shape."

So she joined the YMCA hired a personal trainer and does a weight and cardio workout twice a week.  "For my new years resolution I want to step it up to 3 to 4 times a week."

But while Tracht proved she can maintain a resolution for three months already others with ambitious life changes don't last as long.  The YMCA Berlin Branch gets about one thousand new members after the new year; but 20% drop out by March.

"And the sad part about it is you don't keep that resolution.  Then you end up feeling more depressed after it feeling like a failure.  And that's not the way it should be at all" says Sarasota psychologist Dr. Geoffrey Kanter.

Health experts say resolutions that require dramatic lifestyle changes -- like quitting smoking or weight loss -- are the most difficult to keep.  "The big important thing is you got to plan for it.  None of this comes easy.  It's not magic that will happen overnight" says YMCA health instructor Pam Conner.

And for some these changes require deeper reflection.  "A lot of times it's important to look at what other issues in your life are making it really difficult for you.  If you try to quit smoking but your wife smokes in the house then there's some family issues there."

Both experts say set realistic goals; both short term and long term.  And it's best if you don't go it alone.  "Any help and support someone can get will usually be beneficial and they know that."

For Tracht who's a hospital nurse often working 12 hour shifts you have to make the time...if you're really committed.  "This year I have more motivation to get healthy again and make a quick recovery from breast cancer and lean up.  So I've got a lot more reason to keep my new years resolution."