For those about to embark on changing your lifestyle, I salute you. It is, after all, that time of year where so many assess where they’ve been, where they are, and where they want to be. Even though I’ve been on this journey for over two years, I still find myself assessing, looking to see what needs to be corrected.

Please note… this isn’t me!

I started my weight loss journey at a different time of year, but possibly for the same reasons many do — I was disgusted with myself, I knew I could feel and look better, and although I had absolutely no faith that I could succeed, I knew I had to do something. Although I’m a big believer that you have to be in the right place, mentally, to succeed at anything, there are times where faking it until you make it works. Dieting is one of them.

If I have one piece of advice to offer, it’s this: give yourself time in small increments. Don’t look a month, a year, a hundred pounds down the line; set your sites on getting through today only. Make your plan, and do your best to stick to it for today; worry about tomorrow when you wake up in the morning. For now, anyway. Make it through the next meal. Make it through the afternoon. Go to sleep, tonight, satisfied that you’ve done all you could to be successful, just for today.

A change in lifestyle isn’t just one choice; it’s a string of little choices, mostly good and some bad, that connect and produce a larger change. It’s not embarking on a 100-day workout program; it’s making the choice to roll out of bed and go to the gym. It’s not buying a month’s meal plan from some diet company; it’s making the choice to not eat that chocolate cupcake.

So if you’re looking to start changing yourself, start small. Take the first step and don’t worry about whether that first step will result in a marathon. Do that enough times, and you’ll look back to discover you’ve surpassed the marathon.