Clint Hale

I've never been one for New Year's resolutions. They seemed too easy, too clichéd and popular, like rooting for the Dallas Cowboys or watching “Grey's Anatomy.”

Not to say I haven't made New Year's resolutions. I simply made them at random intervals throughout the year.

For instance, there was a time in June 2000 when, as a 255-pound university student, I was patrolling the cafeteria in search of something edible. Nutrition didn't matter as much as filling my rather large belly, and, luckily, this particular establishment operated under an “all you care to eat” system.

As I ventured up to the chow line for serving No. 3, I noticed something written on a placard in front of (insert unhealthy food item). It was this particular food's nutritional info, and in this particular case, it wasn't good.

After all, I had no idea one serving of food could contain so many of these things called “calories.” Or perhaps, in the immortal words of Red from “The Shawshank Redemption,” maybe I just didn't want to.

Either way, I made the decision then and there to start paying attention to such nutritional info.

Within weeks, thanks to diet and exercise, I had lost 10 pounds. And while subsequent weight didn't shed itself quite so easily (hint: the fatter you are, the quicker those first few pounds fall right off), I eventually became what many would call a person of average stature.

Then I moved to San Antonio, where healthy eating ranks right alongside anti-Spurs sentiment in terms of popularity.

No longer was I a person of average stature. I was, at 185 pounds, relatively thin.

Some will tell you, as they once told me, that losing weight is nothing compared to keeping it off.

These people are lying to you.

Staring at one's self in the mirror, wondering when those unwanted pounds are going to dissipate, is a whole lot tougher than staring at your ideal self in the mirror, and simply saying, “You're finally where you want to be. Do you really want all that hard work to go for naught?”

Others will tell you you're perfect just the way you are.

Since it's long been established that no one — save for Tom Brady, God and Angelina Jolie — is perfect, these people (though well-meaning) also are lying to you.

Here is a nugget of truth: You can make a New Year's resolution whenever the mood strikes you.

Should that happen to coincide with the turn of a new calendar year, so be it. Should it happen to coincide with a drunken, river-drenched July 4 bender of a weekend, so be it.

And should it happen to coincide with an airing of “Grey's Anatomy,” don't put much stock in it. Your resolution was probably one mammoth cliché to begin with.