To lose weight by eating healthily.
Uh-oh: I ate half the menu at a family function.

How to get back on track:  “Don’t be too strict on yourself as that can just lead to deprivation and self-sabotage,” says psychologist Stephanie Lagos.
Instead allow yourself to have some of the foods you normally enjoy but in smaller portions and continue to eat healthily from your next meal.
For example, this could be a light, protein rich tuna salad with a small portion or brown rice.

• Re-evaluate your healthy eating goal and this time write it down, being specific about exactly what you want to achieve. For example it may be something like:

I want to eat healthily 90 percent of the time. Specify how many kg you want to lose and be realistic e.g. 2 kg in 1 month, not 20kg.

• Write down the steps you will take to achieve it e.g. eat 6 small meals a day, aim to include 5 serves of vegetables every day, exercise at least 30 minutes a day.

• Ensure that these steps are measurable, such as weighing yourself weekly, writing your meals in a food diary, organising a blood pressure and blood lipid test in 2 months time.
Aim to write your goal down daily or even keep the goal on ‘post-its’ on your mirror to reinforce it in your mind. –

To quit smoking.
Uh-oh: My mate offered me a cigarette and that turned into 10.

How to get back on track: Learn from your mistakes by thinking about what went wrong and plan for situations that you know make you want to smoke. You might want to redefine your goal.

For example, do you intend to go cold turkey, use nicotine replacement therapy or reduce your cigarettes slowly?

Write down the steps you will take to achieve your goal, ensuring that they are realistic and that they have a timeline.

For example the steps could include: throwing away all cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays in your home and car, declaring to everyone that you are planning to quit, calling the Quitline for some advice, attending a Quitline group course, etc.

Write a list of all the reasons you want to stop smoking and refer to this list whenever you feel tempted.

Throw away all cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays in your home and car. Stay focused by writing and reading your goals every day. For more help, ring Quitline on 13 7848.

To get out of debt
Uh-oh: Your eyes got bigger than your brain and you bought the new plasma television at Myer.

How to get back on track: One way is to get back on track is to put aside a specified amount into a separate savings account or directly into your mortgage debt, says Agamenon Nikolopoulos of INVEQ corporate advisory.

“You can also organise to have salary crediting, which means all your wages will go directly into a loan account,” he adds.

“The advantage of weekly salary crediting is that it will not only save you money on interest, but you can still access funds as you need it.

It will discourage you from going out at spending because when you are physically paying off debt, you very rarely want to take money out of your loan.”

Another smart option is to consolidate all debts (such as car loan and credit card) into one loan account. This will streamline your ability to service debt and makes budgeting a lot easier.-

To get fitter and build lean muscle
Uh-oh: You haven’t gone to the gym yet this year.

How to get back on track. Start by re-writing your goal and be specific e.g. do you want to be fit enough to run a 5km marathon? How much muscle do you want to build?

Make it easier by breaking your goal down into manageable steps within a designated time frame.

For example, during week 1, your goals might be to walk 1km a day and go to the gym 3 times per week to carry out your specific workout plan.

And hey, if you don’t like the gym, you can always do strength training at home, or choose a more enjoyable form of cardio such as swimming/soccer/jogging in the park.
During week 2, you might aim to walk 2km on most days, breaking it up with half jogging, half walking (or interval training).

By week three, your goal could be to walk 4km on most days and increase the resistance of your weights during your weight training and so on. Don’t forget to review these goals every day.