Did you make a New Year’s resolution to become fitter and healthier? Losing weight and doing more exercise are commonly the number one goals for Scots on January 1.

Yet, as optimistic and committed as we might be at first, just weeks into the year our enthusiasm starts to wane.

According to the sports and social network platform Strava, there is a certain day each year that people who have made fitness resolutions are most likely to give up. In 2022, the aptly named Quitter’s Day was January 17.

Strava works out the date by assessing the data of 95 million members worldwide. Quitter’s Day is actually two days later than in 2021, although two days earlier than in 2020. You can see the pattern.

Yet, I’m not surprised that “new year, new you” goals so quickly fall apart. January in Scotland is short of daylight and usually cold and dreich. If snow falls, it then turns to ice.

None of these factors are motivating, especially if you need to leave your home to exercise, whether outdoors or at the gym.

Far better, in my opinion, to leave your fitness resolutions for the spring. Of course, I’ve made personal goals in January, just like everyone else, but I now find I’m more likely to stick to a target if I wait for warmer weather, sunshine and longer days.

I might enter a couple of races later in the summer. Paying a fee and marking a date in my diary creates a specific and accountable focus.

Various studies, including one by Harvard Business School in Massachusetts and another by the Dominican University in California, reveal that defining a goal and writing it down will lead to a better outcome.

Another important key in my on-going motivation to be fit and healthy is making plans with friends.

I regularly attend a running club session with like-minded people and I organise with friends to head off for walking, running or cycling adventures.

I find it much easier to achieve my goals of spending more time outdoors staying fit if I have committed to do so with other people.

Another driving force is having a list to tick off. Working my way through the 282 Scottish mountains known as Munros and the 222 Corbetts has given me the perfect impetus for years of health-giving hiking.

Additionally, if I decide to take up a new hobby, I do so in the summer. Last May, I began swimming in my local loch and the nearby Moray Firth. Even then it felt very cold, but I was determined to keep going because of the well-being benefits.

I’m still taking weekly dips, even as the water temperature falls to 4C, but the idea of embarking on this activity as a New Year’s resolution makes me shiver as I sit in my warm home.

I remember decades ago, a sports coach telling me of the SMART acronym – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely – for best results.

I’d suggest that January is neither realistic nor timely to make fitness pledges, which is why so many people have quit already. It’s lucky, then, that we have another 50 weeks ahead in 2022.