IF YOU have made the choice to start a new 'health' or 'weight loss' programme then it may take a few weeks for you to kick the bad habits and create a new healthier lifestyle and regime.

Focus and determination levels tend to start high but can tend to waiver a couple of weeks into a regime, especially if your results aren't happening as quickly or dramatically as you'd like.

Here's a few helpful tips to keep you on track, and to ensure those results keep happening.

Eating out can be a huge challenge if you've just started to change your eating habits, however it really doesn't need to be.

Although there are many more temptations when we dine out, a healthier lifestyle is about being in control of your eating habits and being aware of what you eat.

This is the perfect opportunity to put your new skills to the test!

Meals at a restaurant tend to be larger than meals at home, so be aware of this.

Enjoy socialising with the people you eat with, taking your time to eat/drink so you don't over-eat.

Share a starter or a dessert, or try to have just one or two courses, not three. If you can drink soda with your meal instead of wine your food will digest easier and reduce the amount of fat stored.

Sleep and overtraining: Lack of sleep will effect your weight loss results as will over-training, if you are eager to achieve results you may start to do more and more, but remember, your body only changes when you rest.

Without enough sleep (more than seven hours) the hormones that regulate fat loss are disrupted.

This will effect your fat loss results, making it harder to lose fat and also making you hungrier and causing your brain to want sugary foods.

Skipping meals may reduce your calorie intake but, don't be fooled, sooner or later this will catch up on you and have an effect on your weight loss results.....not the effect you'd like!

Depriving your body will give the opposite effect at some point, causing you to over-eat.

It will also affect your motivation, concentration and mood which, you'll know if you've ever started a new regime, makes things much harder!

l To get in touch with Claire, follow her on Twitter @CLKpt or email ckopicki@me.com