In its third annual “Best Diets” report, U.S. News and World Report ranks 29 popular diets on their impact and user-friendliness, according to the magazine’s health and wellness editor, Angela Haupt.

“Our goal is to point people to the best diet no matter what their goal is,” said Haupt, pointing out how some dieters want to shrink their cholesterol levels, not their waistlines. “Dieting sounds so dreadful, but it doesn’t have to be that way at all.”

CLICK HERE to find out how to make resolutions stick.

Weight Watchers topped the list for weight loss and being easy to follow, while the DASH diet — designed to lower blood pressure — earned top marks for healthfulness and preventing and managing diabetes. It also earned the “best diet overall” title for a third year.

“It was designed to treat hypertension but it’s also effective for weight loss,” said Haupt. “It’s a smart, sensible plan that’s safe and nutritious and helps control diabetes in addition to supporting heart health.”

This year’s report includes a new category: best plant-based diets.

“There’s a growing interest in vegetarianism and raw food, and we really saw consumer demand complemented by a lot of research suggesting that replacing red meat with plant-based protein has a lot of health benefits,” said Haupt.

The fruit and fish-heavy Mediterranean diet took top spot for plant-based diets, followed by the “Flexitarian” diet.

“You don’t have to abandon red meat,” said Haupt. “Rather, it’s about making positive changes where you can. It’s a sensible eating plan, and it’s realistic.”

After years of diet fads like feeding tubes and raspberry ketones, Haupt said that healthy and sustainable weight loss comes from small, smart changes — not extremes.

“Fad diets aren’t realistic, they aren’t nutritious and some are flat-out unhealthy. Take the feeding tube diet,” she said, referring to the K-E diet in which a dieter ingests 800 calories of protein and fat daily through a tube in their nose. “Nobody should be doing this, and you don’t have to.”

Instead, choose a diet that works with your lifestyle, Haupt said.

“If you go into a diet thinking ‘This is never going to stick,’ it probably won’t. The more tedious a diet is and the more work it demands, the less likely you are to stick to it,” she said.

Look for diets that are flexible and allow the occasional indulgence, Haupt said. “You can do that and still be successful.”

Best Plant-Based Diets

The Mediterranean Diet

Dawn Jackson Blatner’s Flexitarian Diet

The Ornish Diet

Best Weight-Loss Diets

Weight Watchers

Jenny Craig (tied for second)

Biggest Loser Diet (tied for second)

The Raw Food Diet (tied for second)

Best Heart-Healthy Diets

The Ornish Diet

The TLC Diet

The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension)

Best Diabetes Diets

The DASH Diet (tied for first)

The Biggest Loser Diet (tied for first)

Mayo Clinic Diet (tied for third)

The Ornish Diet (tied for third)

The Vegan Diet (tied for third)

Engine 2 Diet (tied for third)

The Flexitarian Diet (tied for third)

Best Diets Overall

The DASH Diet

The TLC Diet

The Mediterranean Diet (tied for third)

The Mayo Clinic Diet (tied for third)

Weight Watchers (tied for third)

Best Commercial Diet Plans

Weight Watchers

Jenny Craig

The Biggest Loser Diet

Best Diets for Healthy Eating

The DASH Diet

The TLC Diet

The Mediterranean Diet

Easiest Diets to Follow

Weight Watchers

Jenny Craig

The Mediterranean Diet (tied for third)

The Flexitarian Diet (tied for third)

CLICK HERE to read the full report, which includes an explanation of the rankings and detailed descriptions of the diets.

The flu season has arrived — and it’s weeks early.

In one week, 16 states and New York City reported high levels of the flu. By the following week, that number was up to 29.

Each day for the past week, more than 500 New Yorkers have descended on emergency rooms with flu symptoms, according to a city website.

According to the Centers for  Disease Control and Prevention, in high flu states  70 percent to 80 percent of the coughs you hear around you right now stem from the flu.

Each cough, sneeze or even conversation puts the virus into the air — and potentially into your lungs.

The virus goes everywhere — onto railings and the salt shakers in the diner; on the keys of the ATM; and on every door anyone touches.

The flu virus can survive two to eight hours on hard surfaces such as  metal and plastic — touch it and you can spread it to your nose and mouth from your hand.

The average person touches his or her  face about 18 times an hour — giving the virus a path to the lungs.

In one meeting, ABC News recorded the number of times people unconsciously touched their faces in more than 25 minutes. The highest number of times: 44.

There are now new tools to track the flu.

The CDC is watching social media flu sites such as Google Flu Tracker, and a Facebook app tries to identify the “friend” that gave you the flu from its searches and comments.

Flunearyou.org has 20,000 volunteers who are tracking their symptoms, narrowing the spread of flu down to your ZIP code.

An office hot spot?  The elevator. One sneeze can spray the flu — in droplets — up to 20 feet, coating the doors and buttons.  And what do you touch in an elevator?  The buttons.

The CDC suggests washing your hands and getting a  flu shot — still available and effective within two weeks.

If you get sick, cover your cough and sneeze with your elbow, not your hand so you are less likely to spread the virus.

Those at high risk for severe disease — young children, seniors, pregnant women, those with medical problems — should see their doctor. Antiviral drugs might prevent your illness from getting worse.

“If we transplant cells in large enough numbers at the same developmental stage, these cells are able to interact with themselves and with the retinal environment to re-form the light-sensing layer,” said Robert MacLaren, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Oxford and lead author of a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Using a mouse model of retinal degeneration, MacLaren and colleagues tested the effects of transplanted photoreceptor precursor cells — an intermediate between stem cells and the light-sensing cells of the adult eye.

“The cells are transplanted through a very, very fine needle,” said MacLaren, describing the “seeding” hundreds of thousands of cells suspended in liquid between the two planes of the retina. “It’s like lifting up topsoil, sowing the seeds and then rolling it back into position.”

After two weeks, the transplanted cells had replaced the retina’s light-detecting layer, complete with connections to the optic nerve. A pupil constriction test found that 10 of the 12 mice showed an improved response to light, suggesting the once-blind mice could actually see — a finding bolstered by behavioral tests in which the mice, which are nocturnal, ran away from light. Before the transplant, they stayed put.

“These mice represent the oldest, most end-stage generation you could get in a patient — someone who has been blind for years,” said MacLaren, describing how the technique might be able to restore vision in people with decades-old degenerative eye disease. He added that the photoreceptor precursor cells could even be prepared from the patient’s own tissue using induced pluripotent stem cell technology, which reprograms skin or blood cells into stem cells that can become multiple tissue types.

“Once we can address the safety issues, we can start clinical trials in patients,” MacLaren said. “If we can get to that stage, there is every potential that patients that are completely clinically blind will be able to see again to some extent.”

In a study that could make you lose your own lunch, researchers have created a projectile-vomiting robot to research how far the highly contagious norovirus particles travel when somebody with the illness throws up.

Norovirus causes severe projectile vomiting and diarrhea in those infected for up to three days starting 12 to 48 hours after exposure. The symptoms can last up to 62 hours. On average, someone infected with norovirus spreads it to about seven other people through direct touch or contaminated surfaces and food. The virus sickens as many as 21 million Americans each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leading to 70,000 hospitalizations and 800 deaths.

Researchers at the Occupational Hygiene Unit at the Health and Safety Laboratory in Britain created “Vomiting Larry” to get a better idea of how the virus is able to spread so easily and quickly from person to person.

Vomiting Larry consists of a cylinder body filled with water mixed with florescent liquid, a head with an open mouth, and a pump to shoot the water through the mouth, similar to projectile vomit.

After Larry throws up the florescent water, researchers measure how far the airborne vomit particles travel.

“Under normal lighting, you can only see the main area where Larry actually vomited,” Catherine Makison-Booth, Larry’s creator, told ABC News. “However, under UV light, you can see the particles spread much further than that – in excess of three meters.”

That means the area that needs to be sanitized when someone with norovirus throws up is bigger than previously thought.

Earlier studies indicate the virus could live for 12 days or longer in the environment where somebody vomited, so the entire area needs to be cleaned with bleach as soon as possible after the vomiting occurred in order to stem the spread of the illness.

Because norovirus spreads quickly and easily from person to person, it can rapidly infect hundreds of people in a short amount of time.

“It can knock out a whole school, hospital, military base or off-shore rig, and there is currently no vaccine for it, so you really just have to let it run its course,” Makison-Booth said.

Makison-Booth said she doesn’t know of any illness that spreads quite the way norovirus does, because it takes so little for a person to contract it.

“One only needs to ingest 20 to 25 viruses to become ill, compared to the hundreds of viruses it takes to contract influenza,” Makison-Booth told ABC. “When someone with norovirus vomits once, that’s millions of viruses.”

Norovirus is also resistant to many typical cleaning products, like the kinds generally used to clean kitchens and bathrooms, as well as normal hand sanitizer. In order to really clean up after someone with norovirus throws up, “bleach is definitely the way to go,” Makison-Booth said.

People infected with norovirus should try to stay away from other people for at least 48 hours after the symptoms stop.

The studies could soon become especially relevant, with news that norovirus cases in England this winter are up 72% from last year, according to the Health Protection Agency, including on ships making transatlantic crossing to the United States.

The FDA proposed new rules today that would require US food distributors to implement additional measures to combat food-borne illness. The guidelines are aimed at improving food handling in both the agriculture and manufacturing sectors after a series of recent disease outbreaks in peanuts, cantaloupe, cheese, and leafy green vegetables that killed scores of Americans.

Food safety organizations welcomed the new rules after a long delay.

“Under the old rules, we’ve been reacting to food contaminations after they happened,” Ami Gadhia of Consumers Union said in a statement. ”The goal here is to prevent deadly outbreaks before people get hurt.  We’re anxious to dive deep into these proposed rules so we can review and comment on the details.”

One rule would require growers, manufacturers and distributors to develop formal plans for preventing contamination, including techniques for cleaning equipment and keeping animals out of crops. Mandatory contingency plans for outbreaks would also be required of businesses, to be approved by the government. The rule would apply to both foreign and domestic suppliers, provided their goods are bound for US consumption.

Another rule proposes enforceable safety standardization in the production and harvesting of produce.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 3,000 Americans died last year from food-borne illnesses, with an additional 130,000 hospitalized.

In an effort to stave off industry protests Food and Drug Administration officials stressed the rules would be implemented on a risk-based scale, with higher emphasis placed on foods intended to be eaten raw. For example, fresh tomatoes bound for supermarket produce aisles would be held to much stricter standards than beans intended to be cooked and canned.

The FDA estimates it will take roughly a year for the government to move toward implementing the rules, including a 120-day period for public comment. After adoption the largest agriculture businesses will have two years to comply, and small-scale producers will have extensions well beyond that time frame.

Most American food distributors are already in compliance with many of the regulations set out today, but many are voluntary and the government believes stricter enforcement could have prevented deaths from recent highly publicized outbreaks. For example, during the 2011 listeria outbreak in cantaloupes federal investigators found dirty processing equipment and standing pools of old water on the floor of the Colorado farm that produced them. The contaminated produce was linked to 33 deaths.

But these measures are part of the Food Safety Modernization Act, a sweeping series of regulatory changes to the industry that have been tied up in the Obama administration for well over a year. As the first major overhaul of the FDA in decades, President Obama signed the legislation into law with modest Republican support from Congress two years ago to the day, with a one-year deadline to see its first policies put into practice.

Speculation of political motivations at work cropped up during the delays, fueled after the rules were hung-up at the Office of Management and Budget in the review process. Some industry watchers suggest the administration may have sought to deny Republicans an additional talking point during an election year by tabling new proposals.

Pew Research reports there have been 15 major outbreaks regarding FDA-related products since the FSMA was signed into law, resulting in 40 deaths.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Charlie Beljan plans to fight panic attacks with food. (Image credit: Cal Sport Media/AP Photo)

Charlie Beljan, the golfer who played through a panic attack to clinch his first PGA victory in November 2012, has a plan to stay calm in 2013: eat more.

Beljan, 28, a self-proclaimed picky eater, said his potassium and sodium levels were dangerously low when he was hospitalized after the first round of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

“I used to laugh at guys on the tour, always pulling candy bars out of their bags in the middle of the round,” he told the L.A. Times. “Now I know why.”

Beljan said he would go up to 24 hours without eating — a habit he has ditched in favor of frequent snacks in hope of fending off future panic attacks.

“I thought I was having a heart attack,” he told ABC News, describing how he played 18 holes through anxiety symptoms so severe he thought he might pass out. “I told the caddy, I said, ‘I’m not leaving here until I’m getting carted off from the middle of the fairway or somewhere.’”

Beljan eventually was carted off to a nearby hospital, where doctors ruled out heart problems and said he had a sudden onset of anxiety, also known as a panic attack.

“There’s no question there’s a relationship between eating and mood,” said Dr. Jeffrey Janata, division chief of psychology at UH Case Medical Center in Cleveland. “Eating or failing to eat isn’t going to cause anxiety or panic, but it can be a contributor in the sense that if we don’t eat on a regular basis and we’re hungry, it may increase our risk.”

Beljan was also a new dad, juggling do-or-die tournaments with a 7-week-old son.

“In general, the more you stressful events that coexist, the higher the risk of anxiety,” said Janata, who was not involved in Beljan’s treatment.

After leaving the hospital, Beljan returned to the links for two more rounds, finishing 16 under par to become the fourth rookie to win on tour in 2012.

“It was probably a blessing in disguise,” he said of his panic attack, “because I spent more time worrying about breathing and slowing things down.”

Beljan has lost 10 pounds from his 6-foot, 4-inch frame despite the new snacks, the L.A. Times reported. And on Tuesday, while practicing for this weekend’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Maui, he surprised friends by pulling out a banana on the second hole.

“They all agreed,” he said of which sight was more surprising: his appearance at the tournament or his fairway snacking. “It was me eating a banana.”

Credit: Minnesota Department of Health/AP Photo

The pharmacy at the heart of the fungal meningitis outbreak says a cleaning company it hired should share the blame for the tainted steroid injections that caused more than 600 illnesses in 19 states, killing 39 people.

Click here to read about the road to recovery for fungal meningitis victims.

The New England Compounding Pharmacy, which made the fungus-tainted drugs, sent a letter to UniFirst Corp., which provided once-a month cleaning services to the Framingham, Mass., lab, “demanding” it indemnify NECC for the meningitis outbreak, according to a UniFirst filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Based on its preliminary review of this matter, the company believes that NECC’s claims are without merit,” UniFirst wrote in its quarterly filing.

The New England Compounding Center recalled 17,000 vials of tainted steroid injections on Sept. 26 before recalling all drugs and shutting down on Oct. 6.

The Food and Drug Administration investigated NECC’s lab and found that a quarter of the steroid injections in one bin contained “greenish black foreign matter,” according to the report.  The FDA also identified several cleanrooms that had bacterial or mold overgrowths.

UniFirst’s UniClean business cleaned portions of the NECC cleanrooms to NECC’s specifications and using NECC’s cleansing solutions, UniFirst spokesman Adam Soreoff said in a statement. It provided two technicians once a month for about an hour and a half.

“UniClean was not in any way responsible for NECC’s day-to-day operations, its overall facility cleanliness, or the integrity of the products they produced,” Soreoff said. “Therefore, based on what we know, we believe any NECC claims against UniFirst or UniClean are unfounded and without merit. ”

Click here for our fungal meningitis outbreak timeline, “Anatomy of an Outbreak.”

NECC was not immediately available for comment.

The House of Representatives subpoenaed Barry Cadden, who owns NECC,  to a hearing in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 14. He declined to testify when members of Congress pressed him on his role in ensuring that the drugs his company produced were safe and sterile.

“On advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer on the basis of my constitutional rights and privileges including the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States,” he said at the hearing.

Members of Congress also questioned whether the FDA could have prevented the outbreak.

Compounding pharmacies, which are intended to tailor drugs to individuals with a single prescription from a single doctor, are typically overseen by state pharmacy boards rather than the FDA because they are so small. However, in 2006, the FDA issued a warning letter to NECC, accusing it of mass-producing a topical anesthetic cream, and jeopardizing another drug’s sterility by repackaging it.

When the  Shawnee High School basketball team is down on the scoreboard, players know to throw the ball to Josh Borelli.  Borelli is not only the team’s star player, but also the player most adept at overcoming adversity.

Borrelli, a senior at the Medford, N.J., school, has a condition called Mucha-Habermann, an extremely rare skin disorder that causes lesions to develop all over the body.

Borrelli developed the autoimmune disease out-of-the-blue in eighth grade.

“One day I woke up in the eighth grade and I had red lesions all over my body so I went to the doctors,” he told ABC News.  “It was the first or second case he’s seen in his 40 year practice.”

According to the NIH, Mucha-Habermann strikes males more often than females and occurs more frequently in children, specifically between the ages of five to 10.  Borrelli’s father told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he was believed to be the only person in the country to have the disease at the time he was diagnosed.

“This disease is so rare that most dermatologists don’t see it in their entire practice,” Dr. Doris Day, clinical associate professor of dermatology at New York University Medical, who does not treat Borrelli, told ABC News.  ”It’s something that we read about but don’t see.”

Borrelli’s own case went into remission as he entered high school, only to return at the start of his senior season.  This time, his doctor ordered a new treatment in addition to his prescribed medication:  daily visits to the tanning salon.

“My dad went with me the first couple of times to the tanning salon because I was a bit nervous,” he said of the first of his now-routine eight minutes per day in the tanning booth.

The treatment worked and Borrelli’s skin is now smooth, although enhanced with a Coppertone complexion.  Doctors say the ultraviolet technique is so effective that Borrelli cannot miss a single day of tanning, especially since the disease can resurface at any time and cause life-threatening complications in adults.

The treatment has not hurt his basketball game.  He continues to average nearly 20 points per game and is just two points shy of scoring 1,000 points in his career.

“If anything it’s probably helped,” Borrelli said.  “There’s people out there worse off than I am so I’m real lucky.”

Borrelli’s year-round tan has even inspired his fans to create a tagline of their own, donning “Fear the Tan” t-shirts at the school’s basketball games.

“It’s a tough situation and it’s been very challenging for him but I’ve seen him rise to the occasion,” Borrelli’s father, David Borrelli, told ABC News.

Nicolle Clemetson

Chris Powell, the uber-trainer who has helped people lose hundreds of pounds and change their lives on ABC’s “Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition,”  appeared on “Good Morning America” today to share his fitness tips and answer your weight loss questions.

Jumpstart Your Weight Loss: CLICK HERE to Ask a Celebrity Trainer a Question!

You Asked, Chris Powell Answered!

ADDICTED TO SUGAR

Kathy asked:   I am addicted to sugar. I have been since about age 13. I will binge on sugar, sometimes up to 1,000 grams per day. What is the best way to break this, and what food will take the craving away until sugar is out of my system?

Chris answered: I personally believe the best approach is not to go cold-turkey. You need to believe that you CAN remove sugar from your life.  The only way to realistically do this is a little bit at a time.  Right now I want you to think of one source of sugar for your day.  Perhaps it is soda.  Don’t remove it altogether, but your commitment to yourself should be to remove just one or two sodas a day from your pattern.  Once you successfully do this for a week or two, you will begin to realize and BELIEVE that it is possible.  Then you’ll be ready to commit to removing a little bit more.  Take your time with this. It may take months to eventually come off of sugar altogether, but you will be getting healthier each and every day. Be sure to drink plenty of water, as it is one of the strongest ways to curb cravings — at least half your body weight in ounces daily!

WOMAN AT ‘ROCK BOTTOM’

Cassandra from Meridian, Miss., asked:  I am 37 years old and morbidly obese. I had a massive heart attack at 35, and another lesser heart attack almost a year later. I am terrified I won’t live to see my 11-year-old daughter grow up. I plan on starting Atkins again because I lost 17 lbs. The first2 weeks I tried it last year. Exercise scares me. I get out of breath so easily and just don’t know what I can do. I have reached my rock bottom. I have to change now. I need your help and know how to teach me a new way to live. Please help me learn how to LIVE!

Chris answered: Pick one thing to change with your nutrition — maybe it is to eat breakfast, maybe it is to drink more water, maybe it is to remove soda from lunch.  When it comes to exercise, walk in place while watching TV for just 5 minutes every day.  That’s it.  That’s how you begin your journey.  Once you realize that you can do that, then you will realize that you can do more. This is where it all starts!  Just these small changes will change your body more than you can imagine.  Little changes over time are the secret to long term weight loss success!

MORE: Extreme Weight Loss: How One Woman Lost 395 Pounds

I LOST 95 LBS. HOW DO I TONE MY ARMS? 

Frankie from Cape Coral, Fla., asked: Good Morning! I have lost 95 pounds (woot woot)! Since Nov. 1, 2011. I started out by walking, watching what I eat and every day when I walked I would add another street in my neighborhood. I would also do some exercises in my home. I then found a boot camp and started that, 3 days a week. I have a HUGE problem area, my upper arms. They are horrible. With the weight loss, I just have this excess skin that just flaps! At boot camp when I run, you can actually hear it. I intentionally run either faster or slower than fellow campers, again you can hear my arms flapping! Is there ANYTHING I can do aside from surgery (not an option $) that I can do to at least shrink them a little bit? I won’t wear anything strapless because of them. BTW I am 45 years old. Thank You.

Chris answered: First and foremost, a HUGE congratulations on your amazing success!! Here’s the catch — when it comes to the skin, there are two possible ways to tighten it up: surgery, or develop the muscle underneath!  It is like blowing up a balloon underneath some wrinkly sheets. It eventually pulls them tight!  Depending on how much skin you have, you may only be able to develop the muscle to a certain point — then surgery may need to do the rest.  Regardless, you should be DARN PROUD of that skin and the work you put in to get it!!

FITNESS 101

Danielle from Middlesex, N.J., asked: What are the best foods to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks? Also how long should I stay at the gym for?

Chris answered: Lean proteins, fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, some light dairy, and whole grains are the way to go!  When at the gym, stay as long as you promise yourself you will be there.  This can be 5 minutes or 50 minutes. Remember, any movement is going to send you in the right direction.  Health and fitness are totally a choice for a better quality of life — you WANT to do this, you don’t need to!

READ MORE: Chris Powell’s Tips for Eating Carbs to Drop the Pounds

ADVICE FOR WOMAN WITH THYROID PROBLEM

Debbie from San Bruno, Calif., asked: My question for you is what kind of advice can you give to someone with Hashimoto’s disease (underactive thyroid)? I work out three times a week doing kickboxing and boxing, so exercise is not the issue. I eat reasonably healthy, but have an issue with weight, I’m 5-foot-2, 56 years old and weigh about 145 right now. My problem spot has always been my tummy. No matter what I do it never goes away, and weight comes on super fast if I don’t watch it. Any advice?

Chris answered: First and foremost, check with your doctors to make sure your thyroid medication is stabilized. Once it is, you can make a few small changes to your diet to see how your body responds.  Try removing most dairy and grains.  Some people are sensitive to these foods and they can cause inflammation in the gut, leading to unwanted water retention and poor absorption of your foods.  See how that works for you!

MOM SEEKS DIET PLAN THAT’S EASIER THAN ATKINS

Loralee from Ohio asked: I lost 40 pounds on the Atkins diet. Then we got pregnant. After baby arrived I lost all the weight but now it’s back. How does a working mom who works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. — plus does all the house chores and cooking — get on a good diet again? The Atkins diet just isn’t feasible at this time because of money issues — we can’t buy the expensive meat all the time like before. Any advice would help. By the time I pick up the baby and get home, cook, clean, give a bath and playtime, it’s time to go to bed. I don’t sit around and eat junk. I hardly sit down at all in the evenings. I also have polycystic ovaries so I definitely need to lose weight. Thanks

Chris answered: Have you tried carb cycling?  I’m personally a big fan of it, and it yields pretty amazing results!  For your protein sources, try eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese or whey protein — they are MUCH cheaper than meat, and a LOT easier to prep — especially since you have your hands full with the baby.  Because of the PCOS, you should stay away from processed and refined foods, sugar, etc.  Keep it to whole grains, vegetables, and healthy fats like avocado, nuts and olive oil.  Hope this helps!

HOW DO I KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF?

Julie from El Dorado, Ariz., asked: What is the best way to maintain your weight once you’ve achieved your ideal weight? I am 5 feet and hover around 107 to 110 pounds. It is very easy for me to be go above and below my ideal weight. Being so short, a few pounds either way can be obvious. My goal is really to target those problem areas and tone and build a little muscle. Currently, I run to stay in shape. Thank you for any advice you can offer.

Chris answered: In my experience, finding “maintenance” is a highly customized process.  You must feel rewarded on a regular basis, whether it comes from personal confidence, feedback from others, reward foods or an event (shopping, nails, massage, etc). If you like to run, you should keep running!  Make sure it is something that you truly ENJOY, though.  If not, maybe it is time to “date” a few other types of exercise (maybe tennis, hiking, rowing, Crossfit?)  If you want to “tone and build,” it is time to pick up some iron — that’s the way we can get a muscle to grow. Keep up the great work!

RELATED: Apps to Help With Weight-Loss Resolutions

WHAT EXERCISES TO DO WITH BACK PAIN, BAD KNEES?

Dorothy from Princeton, N.J., asked: How do I get started with exercise when knees hurt, I’ve had one knee surgery, back pain and weak hand strength with numb fingers at age 60? Please give me an exercise to do for stomach weight removal that I can handle.

Linda from Exmore, Va., asked: Seven years ago I had gastric bypass surgery and I did super great and am very proud of my accomplishments. I lost 170-something pounds. I weighed 363 and got down to 189 with no problems. I was very happy with my accomplishments because I was able to shop in regular shops/stores and loved to be able to walk without heavy breathing or sweating. After my husband’s death I started to put the weight back on slowly, not realizing until after I reached225 and kept going up, now weighing in at 248. I want and need to lose this weight but I have very bad knees (and am) waiting to have both knee replacements done. I can’t do walking or active workouts. Question: What is the best way to work on losing the weight that will not put pressure on my knees? Also working on changing the foods I eat? I still can not eat large meals at one sitting, plus I live alone. Please help!!!!!

Chris answered: One word: Swim!!  Find a local public or private pool nearby and jump in (er, actually use the stairs).  You will feel amazing.  You will use every muscle in your body.  You will absolutely love it! I have worked with several people who couldn’t even walk — had them swim for their entire transformation and they lost 100 to 200 pounds!

‘GMA’ Jumpstart January: Playlists to Stay Motivated During Workouts

NEW MOM SEEKS EXERCISE TO DO AT HOME WITH BABY

Deven from Clearfield, Ky., asked: I am 21 years old, am 5 feet, 2 inches tall and am just about 200 pounds. I recently had a baby. What are some ways that I can start losing baby weight? I would like it to be something I can do at home with my baby.

Chris answered: Congratulations on your baby!  How exciting!  To lose the baby weight, breast feed if you can (it burns 500 to 600 extra calories every day!) and walk.  That is the best place to start.  Get a stroller or baby carrier and start doing laps around the area.  If weather doesn’t permit or it isn’t safe outside, then simply walking in place while watching TV is actually a pretty darn good workout.  Drive those knees up high and keep breathing.  Try making it through an entire sitcom — go get ‘em!

DISCOURAGED WOMAN HAS ‘NO MOTIVATION’

Debra from Hendersonville, N.C., asked: I’m so discouraged. My doctor has told me I am a stroke or heart attack waiting to happen. Today is my birthday — I am 49 and weigh 334 pounds. I am so self-conscious — I hate going out in public. I am taking medical leave as we discovered how I had let my fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue grow steadily worse, and of course my weight has been a factor in that. My doctor wants me to consider surgery — where they tie in a band or something like that. I have no motivation and I wish I had someone to show me the way, coach me along the way, and urge me on in the difficult days.

Chris answered: Debra — remember, this is your choice!  There is no right or wrong decision in this.  There will be difficult days; we all have them.  That’s life!  But you gotta start small.  Lost motivation means that you broke promises to yourself and haven’t corrected them yet.  You need to believe in yourself again.  This can only happen when you start fulfilling the small promises you make to yourself.  Pick one thing with your nutrition that you choose to change.  Start by moving just 5 minutes a day.  Once you realize that you can do those things, you can make bigger promises.  Little by little, you will keep bigger promises (and, oh yeah, the number on the scale will start dropping like a rock).  But it’s not about the diet and exercise; it’s about keeping the promises to yourself.  Let everything else fall into place!

                                                                              (Image Credit: Courtesy Tiffany Rinehart)

When Tiffany Rinehart moved to Los Angeles to work as comedian Kathy Griffin‘s assistant, the job came with more than she had bargained for. Griffin was shooting her hit Bravo reality show “My Life on the D List,” and Rinehart was soon making regular appearances.

The fun of suddenly being on TV was overshadowed by another concern, Rinehart said.

“I started watching it, and I’m like, Wow I’m fat! And I need to do something about it.”

Watch this and other weight-loss stories on “20/20: Half Their Size” Friday at 10 p.m. ET

Rinehart decided not just to slim down but to get healthy, and began the slow process of losing weight through diet and exercise. She has lost more than 80 pounds.

“I’ve lost an Olsen twin, I like to say,” Rinehart said. “They’re about 80 pounds, right?”

Soon everyone, including her famous boss, was noticing her metamorphosis.

“I just started to notice that … she was leaving in workout clothes,” Griffin said. “Then other people would say, ‘Tiffany’s lost a lot of weight.’ But what was so smart about the way she did it was, she didn’t come into the office one day and say, ‘I’m gonna lose all this weight by this time.’ She just started doing it.”

Griffin knows how important being thin is in an industry that places enormous emphasis on how you look.

“I have to be thin and funny,” Griffin said. “I could be fat and funny, but it would be harder to get gay men to appreciate my outfits.”

Rinehart has lost more than 80 pounds but knows losing it is only half the battle.

“I think it’s more of a lifestyle change and not just a fad diet,” she said. “You have to commit to something for the rest of your life.”

Her goal is to lose 100 total, and then to celebrate with a personal first.

“I never wore a two-piece bathing suit in my life, so I would like to one day do that.”

Watch this and other weight-loss stories on “20/20: Half Their Size” Friday at 10 p.m. ET