Already slipping on your New Year's health resolutions? Here's how to get back on track

Do you feel your New Year’s resolution is already getting away from you? If so, you are not alone: it’s estimated that 80 percent of resolutions fail by the second week in February.

This problem goes beyond the start-of-year frustrations of trying to change our own behaviors. Larger scale, longer-duration clinical trials for health behavior change have found that 95 percent of diets fail and only 1 percent of those who lose weight keep it off for five years.

As researchers on how to change health behavior, we’ve learned that successful behavior change and maintenance lie in breaking old and forming new habits. Knowing you have a science-supported strategy can keep you enthusiastic and refocus your efforts if you experience a slip-up.

To achieve a broader goal, like losing 20 pounds, you need to focus on changing your behavior. Here are the most promising strategies for sticking to your behavioral goals that we’ve seen:

 Monitor your existing behaviors: When, where, and in response to what do slip-ups occur? Do you grab a bag of chips whenever you sit in front of the TV? Crave chocolate whenever you have an argument? Sit for long periods of time at work or in the evening? Existing “bad” (counter-intentional) habits get in the way of behavior change, because they occur automatically, often without our awareness or control. We default to those behaviors in times of stress or when “willpower” is low. Knowing our triggers will help us overcome those automatic behaviors. Keep a journal to track the time and location of your eating, activity, and/or sitting behaviors, and make note of things that seem to trigger cravings. Commercially available activity trackers can help you determine when and for how long you are sedentary.

Avoid or utilize your behavioral triggers to start a new habit. Avoiding triggers is best done by a complete change in context (for example, if you move house or change jobs) and is not always possible. Perhaps you can start a new evening activity that isn’t associated with snacking. If avoidance of triggers is not feasible, we can utilize them. Two techniques are called substitution and piggy-backing. Substitution entails replacing an old action with a new one, which can work well for things like snacks: Eat frozen grapes instead of chocolate chips; drink carbonated water or kombucha (fermented tea) instead of high-calorie drinks. Piggy-backing is tying a new behavior with an existing routine. The routine will occur regularly, so the new behavior will too, if you can piggy- back successfully. Walk extra laps around the store when you shop; take the stairs when you use the restroom; stand up during TV commercials.

Not all health behaviors are easily substituted or piggy-backed into one’s existing daily life. The next strategies are particularly helpful for “big ticket” behaviors that can help you be healthier, like getting regular, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.

 Start with something challenging but do-able: You will get a boost in self-confidence. Then as you succeed, up the ante.

 Pick what you like and can see yourself doing long-term: The more you enjoy a behavior, the more successful you will be at sticking to it. While this is common sense, people still choose behaviors that are particularly challenging for them and that they even hope are temporary! Pick something you are going to want to keep doing and that you can be proud of accomplishing. “This is who I am” = “I will not give this up." Social interaction can be the fun part of an activity.

Be patient, and look for little rewards: Enjoyment can develop over time, with practice and “successes”. But you can also build in earlier rewards, like noticing that you sleep better the same night you exercise and that you feel less stress each time you engage in your new health behavior.

Plan the details and contingencies. Be specific about what, when, how, with whom, and where you are going to do the new behavior. Pick a schedule that can last through any season-related or other changes. Next, imagine yourself carrying out these plans. What will you do when things don’t work out?  Update plans as you experience new challenges, and be mentally prepared for initial challenges (such as being sore from new exercises), which can lower your self-confidence.

Practice and update goals/plans. Habits form through repetition of behavior in context.

The more you know about barriers and possible solutions, the better off your own behavior-change attempts will be. Each time you try something, you learn more about yourself, and that increases your chances for success in the long-term. Combine knowledge from research with your own, lived experiences, such as challenges you may have already faced to your New Year’s resolution, to become an expert in your own health behavior.

Dr. Alison Phillips and Dr. Laura Ellingson are faculty members in psychology and kinesiology, respectively, at Iowa State University. They are experts in health behavior change in multiple populations.