According to the running website Strava, January 19 is Quitters’ Day – the day on which their data suggest you will be quitting on your health and wellness resolutions. How can we avoid becoming a statistic? Here are some ideas.

1. Find an accountability buddy. It’s so much easier to disappoint yourself than somebody else. Sad, but true. If you make a date with a friend to go walking, you are much more likely to stick to it, than if you are going out by yourself.

1. Adjust your resolutions, as necessary. That’s not quitting – that’s being sensible, and adjusting to reality so you can keep going. If you declared that you were going to go to the gym every single day, and you wake up feeling exhausted and sore, listen to your body and adjust the schedule. Maybe only work out 3 days a week, and go for a restorative walk or gentle run on the other days. Muscle growth actually happens on the rest days, did you know that?

1. Set a reasonable goal – and make sure you know why you want it. Be specific – instead of saying “I’m going to lose weight in 2020”, decide on a reasonable number to go for, by a certain date. Be sure and remind yourself of the reason for this goal – and a little black dress may not be motivation enough. Do you want to enjoy a long and healthy life, and be able to chase your grandchildren around the living room? That might be reason enough to forego dessert.

1. Give yourself a break. This might be the most important tip of all. Stop beating yourself up if you haven’t been perfect. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. If you’ve fallen off the wagon, get up, dust yourself off, and start again. To repeat a quote that has been attributed (apparently with no evidence) to George Eliot, it’s never too late to be what you might have been. Forgiving ourselves is much harder than forgiving other people, but we can do it.