My Thanksgiving-week fast worked. I didn’t gain a single pound between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day and the following Wednesday. I’m using the term “fast” loosely because it only consisted of cutting out gravy, pie and seconds during Thanksgiving dinner, but it was nonetheless encouraging. After all, it was a first victory in my never-ending battle of the waistline bulge that has gone on for most of my adult life.

This minor victory made me think that anything is possible. We’re talking about baby steps, yet I was left dreaming of loftier goals. My early New Year’s resolution is to lose 20 pounds in 2010. Success will be sweeter than any pie. I know what you are thinking coworkers, family members and other skeptics who may have heard this bold assertion before. Albeit, they have every reason to be dubious of my willpower, but I am determined this time not to outgrow any of the new clothes I am sure to get for Christmas – at least not in 2010.

The biggest challenge in the battle is on the horizon, between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Christmas Day has always been an eatfest. As a child, I recall the holiday season as a marathon of eating that ran right through New Year’s Day when it was topped off with heaping helpings of Hoppin’ John [basically, blackeye peas mixed into rice with perhaps a ham hock cooked into it). Of course, this must include collard greens to ensure good luck throughout the year.

Most true southerners are taught that eating the peas-and-rice concoction on New Year’s Day is essential to remind us of the struggle our ancestors endured after the Civil War and throughout most of the Reconstruction Era. Blackeye peas and rice were reportedly about all regular folks had to eat for a long time after being overrun by Yankee troops. The greens, according to southern tradition as told by dear departed grandmother, were added to represent the extra dollars you would earn in the coming year if you ate the peas and rice. Naturally, for my family, this simple meal evolved to include quite a few extras, such as a pork roast, casseroles and pecan pie. Consequently, as if I wasn’t already a few pounds overweight from my customary zeal for the holidays, I could expect to be at least a few pounds plumper by the time the final whistle on football bowl games.

So, I’m not going to wait until New Year’s Day to begin working on my resolution. No desserts will pass my lips during the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, and I’ll eat nothing but pure Hoppin’ John and collards on New Year’s Day and the day after. I plan to weigh myself afterward and, for better or worse, report back on how well I did on weight control in my January column.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming my family’s traditions for my weight problem, or am I?