One of my children (who shall be nameless to protect the guilty) has tried everything to get out of handing in homework. Actually, they've all gone through that phase, so much for my brilliant parenting. And as a lecturer I know that I've heard all the excuses before!

Over the past few weeks I have heard all sorts of excuses from my clients:

I was celebrating and it had to be chocolate.

It snowed and I couldn't exercise (some allowance here - the weather has been weird. But the snow melts very quickly and what do you do the rest of the week?)

It snowed and I didn't feel like it. (Strange logic here - snow = winter = comfort food)

I forgot (forgot to diet? Forgot that when you have one bit of the cake you eat the lot? Forgot you have 60lbs to lose?)

I've been busy. Look, you'll always be busy. And you're going to eat the rest of your life. So eat sensible stuff. Otherwise you'll be too ill or too dead to be busy)

I was away with the family. (Family get togethers are difficult - it's so easy to overeat. But if you stick to the right food groups and the right quantities you can do it. Have one celebratory meal; don't over eat the whole way through the weekend.)

A sensible eating plan isn't technically difficult. Lean meat or fish, veg and salads, a little fruit. Any food that looks as if it grew on a tree or in the ground or grazed in a field or stream. You don't have to count calories or fat grams, weigh or measure foods and it does allow the odd celebratory meal or comfort fest.

But you do have to be disciplined and apply some common sense to your eating habits on a day to day basis. It is the consistent behaviour in your diet that makes the difference. Consistently eating well, you'll get away with the odd lapse. Consistently loosening your waistband, slumping on the sofa and troughing out when you don't need to will end in misery.

It's also important to identify why you are eating the food. Is it to meet your physical needs (hunger) or are you using it to deal with your emotions? You'll be trying to feed your emotional hunger if you eat when you are sad, lonely, frustrated or simply bored. You may even feel your emotions in your stomach and mistake that for physical hunger!

So ask the question before you eat - "If I eat now, what am I feeding, my body or my emotions?" If you don't deal with these feelings you'll have to use incredible willpower to stay on a diet. Look at your emotional eating patterns, decide now to be consistent in your eating habits, take one day at a time and consistently shed the pounds!