No matter how well-prepared you are, when it comes to making positive and ongoing changes to your health, fitness and weight loss, sometimes things just don’t seem to go to plan.

It’s important to acknowledge that when you begin a health and fitness journey like 12WBT, it’s all about the long game, rather than just aiming to score quick wins.

While we’ve all had moments when we’ve shrieked with joy at the weight loss results reflected on our scales, the fact is that losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is an ongoing process which doesn’t just happen overnight.

Here’s a simple four-step plan to help you get back on track, and achieving your goals over the long term.

Step 1: Realise/Recognise

The first step you should take when your weight loss plan starts to falter is to realise and recognise that you are not the first person to have had their plans derailed. In fact, it’s extremely common when a person makes a marked change to their lifestyle that there will be speed bumps along the way – and that these bumps in the road are not the end of the world.

Being able to realise this, and have critical awareness of what’s going on around you is ‘reality checking’ , and is a really valuable skill to reduce the risk of you getting sucked into a negative mindset tailspin (which happens to all of us).

Step 2: Regroup

Ok, so you’ve had a tough week – or maybe even a tough month – and the landscape has changed around you. For 12WBT Members, this is a great time to go back and revisit some of your Pre-Season Tasks such as ‘Get Real – No More Excuses’, and start to be really honest with yourself and your situation.

In my experience, this is a critical time, as it’s the moment when many people use the changes around them as an excuse to throw in the towel. I recommend that people experiencing this should ask themselves, ‘What do these changes mean in practical terms for me?’ and take stock of the situation, in preparation for Step 3.

Step 3: Revise

Now, it’s time to revise your weight loss plan of attack. For 12WBTers, this is a time you can look back at the practical tools 12WBT has provided you with, such as the Pre-Season Task ‘Organise and Diarise’.

Remember that reviewing and re-doing your Pre-Season Tasks is something that Mish recommends you do regularly during the Round, whether there’s been a definite derailment or not, so making these revisions is not something to feel bad about.

Step 4: Recommit

Finally – recommit to your goals. This is hugely powerful and allows you to keep focused on the big picture.  While the original plan to achieve your goals might have had to be revised and recalculated, your goals are still your goals, and they provide you with your inspiration to keep on keeping on.  

So take actual action to recommit to your goals. Write them out again and put them up somewhere visible, or record them on your phone and listen to them when you’re in the car or walking to work. Say them out loud to your supporters, so they can keep supporting you to make them happen.

For more guidance on goal-setting and tips to achieve REAL, lifelong change, check out 12WBT.com.