3. Stop caring what others think
Everyone knows that dropping your pregnancy weight is tough. Debra tried to do it while the entire world was watching. "It was written about in the tabloids a lot," she says of her post-baby body. "On one page it showed all the actresses who got skinny in six weeks or less, and on the other page was me!

I was so depressed and frustrated." It wasn't that she didn't try to lose the extra 42 pounds. Right after her son was born, Debra went to a personal trainer. "It helped me drop the first few pounds, but I was exhausted! I couldn't work out three hours a day and do my job as a mother and an actress. So I took the pressure off: I cut back on seeing the trainer but started eating healthier." It took her three years, but she got back to her pre-baby weight. "Ultimately I'm very proud of how I dropped the weight because I think it was the healthy approach," she says. "I've finally taken ownership of my body."

4. Spend quality time with your partner
In her latest film, Nothing Like the Holidays, which opens this month, Debra plays a Jewish girl spending Christmas with her husband’s Latin family. In one scene, she gets to salsa dance with John Leguizamo, which she says gave her the bug to take lessons with her own husband. “I started out as a dancer and my first goal was to be that triple threat: singer, dancer, actor,” she says. “Now I’d just like to take salsa classes with lots of other people, because you need a partner.” Like her husband? “Oh, he’s a great natural dancer and I’ve wanted to take lessons with him for ten years!” she says. “That would be a great New Year’s resolution for us.”

Click here for a sneek peek of Debra's new movie.