Often, we have things in life we want to achieve or things we want to stop doing in our lives. When we set goals, how do we go about achieving them? Is it pure bloody mindedness, or do we share our goals with others to enable us to gain support to have accountability and enable us to achieve?

There is no right answer to the question posed above, however, when eradicating things from your life, such as smoking, drinking, drugs or even limiting snacks or takeaways, it can give us motivation if someone is willing us to achieve it. At Christmas, and after 1 too many celebrations I really thought about why I eat chocolate. After a few minutes I couldn’t think of a benefit to eating it, only negatives like a telling off from my dentist and an expanding belly. Also, being nearer 50 than 40 now, and diabetes in the family, I wanted to ensure that my lifestyle wouldn’t be the cause of it for me.

When setting out on this, I had a clear game plan that I put in place, anything with chocolate was a no, with 1 exception. On birthdays, I would have some birthday cake as usual and if it has chocolate in that’s fine, as a one off. The first birthday in mid-February came and that was the first big test, eating chocolate after 6 weeks. I needed the support of my family on this one. They encouraged me saying you have done 6 weeks, and you can continue again. The next few days were really hard, as once the sugar hit hits it makes you crave for more.

The family were helpful, by now not offering me sweets, or eating in front of me, where possible and I got back into my routine. Easter, with the eggs for the children was a massive hurdle, as they got over 10 eggs between them (and there are still 5 left today). This has shown me that it must have been me that ate the eggs in previous years, and it has helped me be even more determined to succeed.

Over the period of 4 ½ months, I have shed 5kg in weight, have more energy to play football with my son. Have a much healthier lifestyle and indirectly has influenced my alcohol intake, to reduce it week on week.

When you start a positive cycle, it can lead to other positive effects, and you wonder why you didn’t try before. Today could be the time for a change, but two things to ensure when embarking on it. Willpower will get you so far, but support will enable you to continue, especially when that first set back or hurdle happens.