Hmmm ... let's explore this a bit deeper.

If January, time of the new years resolution, and this year you're going to do it. So, you get the gym membership, measure the body fat - and you're all hyped and rearing to go. It's time for the fat to go, and the muscle to form

Every morning (or evening) you dutifully haul your behind to the gym, working up a sweat on the circuit or in the spinning class and you walk out of there feeling great. You measure your portions, drink your shakes and avoid the temptation of the Chocolate Gateau at your weekly coffee date with your best mate. In short - it's going brilliantly. And it goes really well in week two and three. It even lasts well into week five.

Come week six, you've had a lousy day at the office - your hard drive crashed, you've lost everything and the IT support guy will only get to you sometime next week. You've got the worst case of PMS blues you've had in years. Oops - the workout today will have to wait - you just can't face that too.

And tomorrow, the workout gets shunted again because your best friend's called, she's getting a divorce and you need to be the shoulder to cry on - after you've popped into the local bakery to get some really decadent chocolate croissants on the way over to her place. Feeling a little guilty, you promise yourself that you'll get to the gym next week Monday - this week's over and done with and it's better to start fresh.

Next week Monday rolls around and this week is worse than the last ... so you'll get to the gym next week ... You can see the cycle by now.

So what happened?

It was Einstein who said that it takes a lot of energy to get a stationary body moving. And in the beginning, you invested that energy to get your body moving. You were fired up and raring to go. It was fun and exciting because it was something new. But just like gravity will eventually bring everything back down to earth, the reality of expending all that energy on a daily basis can wear you down and bring you back down to earth with a bump. The alternative is that something or someone else brings you to an abrupt standstill. And you just can't quite seem to work up the energy needed to get yourself moving again.

Don't feel despondent - we all have those days. There is a way to get over this little hurdle.

"Little hurdle? Little?!? It's a huge problem!" - is usually the first reaction I get to that statement. "I've fallen off the bus, I've blown it" is a close second. Here's the secret - you've only stumbled; it's only a minor setback.