SHERMAN, Tex. ― If you have ever made the New Year’s resolution to lose weight and get in shape, you are not alone. But several people this year are finding a new way to stick to it.

A recent survey by nutritionists and dieticians shows less people are signing up for gym memberships than in previous years and more are instead turning to fitness books.

Many folks are turning to bookstores and buying fitness books instead of buying gym memberships to save money. Bookstore managers say they see an increase in this type of sales every year, but especially to begin 2009.

“With all the new healthy trends, diets, nutritional, it just seems like every year this time people have New Year’s resolutions and people want to start getting healthy again,” Sherman Books-A-Million general manager Kenny Glatt says.

Several area bookstores say health and fitness books have been the hot sellers for the past two days.