How goes the New Year's resolutions?

It's just three days into 2009 and some of you already have blown that darned resolution.

The diet, the fitness regimen, the nutritious meal plan flew out the window. And you have a cabinet full of excuses but little willpower to get back on track.

Well, Bob Greene — one of the world's best-known nutritionists and personal trainers — wants you to know those slip-ups and the urge to quit are normal. Unbelievably normal.

"The average successful person tries and fails eight times [with dieting], and that's just the average," he says of Americans who attempt to lose weight. "That's the nature of this."

Heck, just look at Oprah Winfrey, who recently admitted she has regained 40 pounds after a high-profile 90-pound weight loss under Greene's tutelage. He says he understands why her latest attempt to lose weight has caught the nation's attention. Greene will be on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Monday, when she once again addresses her weight concerns. (The show airs at 4 p.m. weekdays on WFLA, News Channel 8.)

"The irony is that people forgot that she lost 90 pounds. And she gained 40 of it back and is on her way to getting it back in control," he says. "To be honest, would you put that in the success category or failure category? I think in many measures she's still a success."

Greene says Winfrey is a phenomenally popular celebrity who makes an intimate connection with her audience by offering them great candor. As a result, her struggle motivates a lot of people.

"It's like they know that person. It's like they lived their life along with her through the years," he says.

Greene's best-selling "The Best Life Diet," which helped Winfrey lose her original 90 pounds, aims to adjust what and how you eat. Its three phases focus on exercise and portion control of more healthful foods. You know, the whole "U.S. Recommended Dietary Guidelines" plan: more veggies, fruits and whole grains, and fewer processed, enriched flours and excessive fats.

But what may appeal to New Year's dieters most about Greene's plan is its gradual introduction of the full-scale diet. Phase one's mandatory four-week plan targets changing eating habits and boosting physical activity. You're eased into the changes to reduce odds of failure, he says.

"That easing in and making adjustments that are palatable — and that you are going to maintain for the rest of your life — I find is kind of the key as to why this plan is different," he says.

Sales of the original best-seller and a similar subscription-based online plan have spawned Greene's latest publications: a paperback version of the "The Best Life Diet" (Simon & Schuster, $25) and "The Best Life Diet Cookbook" (Simon & Schuster, $25). He's pitching both at appearances in the Tampa Bay area on Jan. 9 and 10.

The 175-recipe cookbook includes three detailed two-week menu plans. And in a twist, it offers recipes using three very different cooking approaches: quick and easy, family friendly and more difficult recipes from a selection of world-class chefs.

"This book isn't as much about weight loss as it is about leading this healthy, balanced life," he says.

Greene says he meets people all the time who struggle with the urge to lose weight quickly. And that's especially true during this time of resolutions and weight-loss aspirations.

But diets that count calories do nothing to deal with nutrition or the most dangerous threat to dieting. Emotional eating is the real issue, he says.

"It's not even about the weight at the end. It's about what's causing it," he says. "What are you missing in your life? What are you balancing that is causing the stress or conflict or emotional distress that's causing you to run to the refrigerator? That's the crux of why most people aren't successful."