With each January 1st comes the ritual of the “New Year Resolution:” the commitment, more or less strong, to modify one’s behavior in the incipient year, typically positively, and oftentimes to better oneself. The practice is not new: people as far back as the ancient Babylonians had their own version of New Year Resolutions. These days, Americans regularly rank weight loss among their top objectives, which doesn’t seem too surprising if you consider the rates of overweight/obesity, and the socially-sanctioned, year-end national exercise-in-gluttony that starts around the fourth Thursday in November.