Don’t forget to sign up this weekend for the X-Weighted National Challenge. Nothing spurs progress and holds you accountable like a contest and a deadline.

As I wrote earlier this week, Slice’s award-winning documentary series is urging all out-of-shape Canadians to log onto xweighted.ca/the-national-challenge. It’s a free six-month health and fitness challenge designed to create lasting lifestyle improvements and stimulate sensible weight loss.

Start with baby steps, advises Dr. Eric Plasker.

But before you start, check out this timely advice from Dr. Eric Plasker. The best-selling author of The 100 Year Lifestyle Workout and The 100 Year Lifestyle, Plasker warns exercisers to watch out for the following five fitness traps:

1. Exercising For Someone Else — If you are exercising because someone else wants you to, it won’t last.

Quick Fix: Be sure to understand why it is you’re working out. Do you crave more energy? Improved health? Better-fitting clothing? Or are you trying to satisfy your partner, your boss or your doctor? If it’s the latter, think about how exercise can help YOU, and cement that reason in your mind before you embark on an exercise program.

2. Starting Too Fast — You used to run five miles a day, so when you decide to start running again, you push and push until you get injured.

Quick Fix: Be realistic and start slow with baby steps. You can’t expect to instantly bounce back to your old pace when you haven’t worked out in months. Start at a pace that feels comfortable and after a week or two, gradually increase the frequency, intensity and duration of your workouts.

3. Insufficient Quality Sleep — If you sleep less than seven hours a night, your body isn’t getting the recovery time it needs to perform at its best and maintain health. Plus, you’ll have less energy to power your workout, and you’ll be chronically tired, less focused and more disconnected from people, too.

Quick Fix: Prioritize sleep and make sure you have a supportive pillow and mattress. Seven to nine hours a night is ideal.

4. Poor Eating Habits — If you feel sluggish or find that despite your best workout efforts, your clothes are getting tighter instead of loser, you are falling into a common fitness trap. Exercise does not give you an excuse to pig out; nor, does it give you a reason to starve yourself.

Quick Fix: Fill your diet with Superfoods like blueberries, salmon, whole grains and almonds to get the proper nutrition and energy you need. Figure out how many calories your body burns in a day and adjust your eating habits accordingly. A “normal” diet consists of 1,500 to 2,000 calories per day.

5. Unclear Goals/Poor Monitoring System — Is your goal to become healthier, define your muscles or lose inches? How are you tracking your progress? Looking in the mirror is not a reliable test and will not succeed in keeping you on track.

Quick Fix: Define your goals and create a schedule for assessing your progress. Measure yourself regularly on a scale, as well as with a tape measure and body fat caliper. You should also track your length, duration and intensity of workouts to make sure you are consistent.

Wanted: Canadian couch potatoes.

From the producers of X-Weighted comes a heaping helping of motivation to get off the futon or chaise lounge and make 2010 your fittest year ever.

Slice’s award-winning documentary series is urging all out-of-shape Canadians to sign up for the XWeighted.com National Challenge. It’s a free six-month health and fitness challenge designed to create lasting lifestyle improvements and stimulate sensible weight loss.

“We’re looking for Canadians to get serious about getting healthy in 2010,” Paul Plakas, X-Weighted’s fitness expert, says in a press release.

“Don’t be afraid of change: you are worth the effort. Get your body moving and eat healthy – what are you waiting for?”

Registration takes place Jan. 9 and 10 at XWeighted.com.

For a little more incentive, public weigh-ins will be held at fitness centres in seven cities across the country on Jan. 9, with X-Weighted personalities making special appearances. Cities hosting the weigh-ins, which include a timed obstacle-course fitness test, are Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Halifax and Saint John. The first 50 participants at each location will receive a special gift bag. Those who weigh in will then be invited back to the same fitness centre six months later — on July 10, to be exact — to gauge their progress.

Here’s a complete list of fitness centres hosting weigh-ins on Jan. 9:

• Calgary, Eau Claire YMCA, 101 – 3 Street SW, 11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

• Calgary, Shawnessy YMCA, Suite 400, 333 Shawville Blvd. SE, 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

• Calgary, Crowfoot YMCA, 8100 John Laurie Blvd NW, noon – 4 p.m.

• Calgary, South YMCA, 11 Haddon Road SW, 12:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

• Edmonton, Custom Fit Personal Training Studio, 11807 – 105 Avenue NW, noon – 4 p.m.

• Halifax, YMCA Greater Halifax/Dartmouth, 1565 South Park Street, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

• Kelowna, Global Fitness & Racquet Centre, 1574 Harvey Avenue, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

• Saint John, NB, Delta Brunswick Hotel (hosted by Saint John YMCA-YWCA), 39 King Street, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

• Toronto, Extreme Fitness Yonge & Dundas Square, 319 Yonge Street, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

• Toronto, Extreme Fitness East Pickering, 1755 Pickering Parkway, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

• Toronto, Extreme Fitness Interchange Club, 90 Interchange Way, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

• Vancouver, YWCA Health & Fitness Centre, 535 Hornby Street, noon – 4 p.m.

Organizers tell me that you do not have to attend a fitness centre to enter the challenge. Just make sure to go online on one of the two registration days and create a personal profile. Then you’ll be qualified to win a range of prizes that are up for grabs. But if you ask me, there’s no better prize than improved health.

Visit Xweighted.com for more.