It's the little things in life that make a difference - and that's the same when it comes to changing habits and achieving your fitness and weight loss goals.

Take this fictional family for example - Every week The Johnson Family treat themselves to a Chinese take away meal. Mr Johnson telephones through their usual order and then drives 5 minutes down the road to collect it. The Johnson Family, Mr and Mrs Johnson and their two children, usually order 1 main and 2 side dishes each (a total of 12 dishes) and manage to eat them all by the end of the evening.

The Johnson Family have become increasingly concerned about their health and want to make some changes to help them feel better and perhaps lose some weight. Rather than tell them to cut out their weekly take-away meal all together I suggest they make some small incremental changes which are more likely to lead to long-term change.

Week 1, I suggest that the instead of Mr Johnson driving to collect the take-away meal they should walk to pick it up instead. They can still order the same foods, but will be adding in 30 minutes of exercise.

Week 2, The Johnson Family can still telephone through their order, but this time only ordering a main dish each and only 1 side dish each. They should then walk to collect it.

Week 3, The Johnson Family may want to look at what choices they are making - for example meat in batter and egg fried rice will add more calories and fat than opting for lighter dishes such as prawns and chinese vegetables and boiled rice.

Week 4, The Johnson Family will this week walk to order their meal and rather than sitting and waiting for the food to be prepared, they go for a walk around the block and return to pick the food up 15 minutes later and then walk home. The Johnson Family are then getting 45 minutes of exercise.

In week 5, The Johnson Family are already noticing a difference and choose to keep making small changes to help further their progress. This week they decide to have 4 main meals and only 2 side dishes between them. They all opt for healthier main dishes and share the less-healthy side dishes (example: spare ribs in BBQ sauce)

In just over a month, The Johnson Family will have cut their calorie intake in half for that Saturday evening meal. Not only fewer calories, but less fat and more exercise too. Why not try what The Johnson Family did and make some small simples changes each week and really notice the difference.

It may seem tempting to make drastic changes like scrapping the take away meal completely as this will see fast results - but will they lead to long-term change? No. Would The Johnson Family still crave the Chinese take-away meal every saturday night? Yes. Would they eat more of other food (perhaps equally as unhealthy) to compensate for their cravings? Perhaps. It's important to remember that change is for life, not just for January.

I challenge you to try The Johnson Family Challenge and make some really simple changes to your daily habits and notice the difference within 4 weeks. Other ways you might want to make a change:

- If you drink 2 glasses of wine in an evening, most evenings, just have 1 and make it last the whole evening (saving 100-250 calories!)

- If you usually have a chocolate bar at 4pm every day, swap it for a cereal bar or even better a banana and save yourself upto 20g of fat and 200 calories!

- Or maybe you usually drive to work, yet the office is only a 10 minute cycle a-way. 20 minutes of cycling everyday will help burn over 250 calories a day plus help improve your cardiovascular fitness and provide you with an energy boost first thing in the morning and again in the evening.

If you would like any more information on how to make changes in your life, please use the contact us page to get in touch and I shall be happy to answer any questions you may have.