How do I stay on track when life gets busy?

You decide on Monday that you're going to eat more vegetables this week. It's a clear, sensible intention. And yet, by Friday, somehow it hasn't happened.

This is one of the most common patterns in behaviour change: good intentions that dissolve the moment real life gets busy. It's not a lack of commitment. It's usually a lack of a plan for the exact moment the action needs to happen.

When you're tired, rushed or hungry, your brain looks for the easiest option. If the healthy choice requires a lot of thinking at that moment, the easier option will usually win. Planning ahead takes those decisions out of the moment, so your future self doesn't have to rely on willpower.

One of the best-researched tools in behaviour change is a very simple type of plan that links a specific situation to a specific action. It takes seconds to create, and it can make a remarkable difference. You'll learn exactly how to write your own in this course.

Every day, we make hundreds of decisions, and many of them are about food. What to have for breakfast, what to buy for lunch, what to cook for dinner, whether to have a snack. By the end of a long day, we're often too tired to make another considered choice, and that's when the takeaway menu or the biscuit tin starts to look very appealing.

Planning reduces the number of decisions you need to make in the moment. When the plan is already in place, the healthy option becomes the default, rather than something you have to fight for.

Many people set goals that are vague ("eat better") or very ambitious ("never eat chocolate again"). Neither tends to work. Vague goals don't tell you what to do, and overly ambitious goals set you up to feel you've failed. Week 7 introduces a simple, well-established framework for setting goals that are specific, realistic and motivating, so you know exactly what you're aiming for and can see your progress.

"I'll eat more vegetables" is a general intention. It doesn't tell your brain when, where or how it should happen. A more specific plan links a particular moment to a particular action, and research has shown that this simple change makes people significantly more likely to follow through.

It works because it hands the decision to your future self in advance. When the moment arrives, you don't need to think, weigh up options or summon willpower; you already know what you're going to do. In Week 7, you'll learn how to create your own plans for the situations you find most challenging.

Planning doesn't need to mean hours of batch cooking every Sunday. It's about finding practical approaches that fit your life: meals that work on your busiest nights, a shopping list that saves time and money, and a budget that makes healthy eating affordable.

Christmas, holidays, birthdays and celebrations are part of life, and they should be enjoyed. A little forward planning means you can enjoy them fully without feeling that all your progress has been undone.

With food prices rising, many people worry that eating well is more expensive. It doesn't have to be. A bit of planning can actually save money, by reducing waste, cutting down on convenience food and takeaways, and making the most of affordable, nutritious ingredients. The programme includes practical guidance on budgeting and shopping that works for individuals and families alike.

Week 7 can be especially helpful if you:

• Often find yourself at 6pm with no idea what's for dinner
• Rely on takeaways or convenience food on busy days
• Start each week with good intentions that don't survive until Friday
• Find holidays and special occasions knock you off track for weeks
• Want to eat more healthily but worry about the cost

Of course, even the best plans sometimes fall apart. A child gets ill, a meeting runs late, the shopping delivery doesn't arrive. That's why the course also helps you plan for the unexpected, with simple back-up options for your busiest and most unpredictable days.

The aim isn't to plan every meal of your life in perfect detail. It's to have enough structure that, when things get hectic, you're not starting from scratch.

Some of the hardest moments for healthy eating are the ones we look forward to most: holidays abroad, Christmas, birthdays, weddings and long weekends away. These are times for enjoyment and connection, and they shouldn't be spent worrying about food.

Yet many people find that a single holiday can knock them off track for weeks afterwards. Not because of what they ate while they were away, but because the routines that supported them were interrupted and are hard to restart.

The final session of Week 7 looks at how to approach special occasions with a relaxed, flexible plan, so you can enjoy them fully and slip back into your routines easily when they're over.

Think about the meal or moment in your week that most often goes off track. Is it Wednesday evening, when you get home late? A Saturday lunch out? Simply identifying that moment is the first step. The course will show you how to build a plan around it.

Planning for Success is one of 12 weekly courses in the Raiys Weight Management Programme. Each course is broken down into short sessions of around five minutes, one for each day of the week, so you can fit them around work, family and everything else. Each session ends with a short reflection, something to think about, and a simple action, something to try that day.

You can work through the programme in order, building each week on the last, or, if planning for success is the area you most want to work on, you can go straight to it. Either way, the sessions are designed to be used alongside the BeChange app, which helps you put what you learn into practice in everyday life.

In Week 7 of the programme, you'll learn:

• How to write if/then plans for your most challenging moments
• How to set SMART goals that are realistic and motivating
• Simple approaches to meal planning and prepping
• How to eat well on a budget
• How to write shopping lists that work
• How to plan for busy days, holidays and special events

Do I need to spend my Sundays batch cooking?

Not unless you want to. The course offers a range of planning approaches so you can find one that suits your lifestyle.

Can I still enjoy Christmas and holidays?

Absolutely. The aim is to enjoy special occasions fully, with a little forward planning so they don't undo your progress.

What if I'm not a natural planner?

Many people aren't. The course keeps planning simple and practical, so it doesn't feel like another chore.

Can I use these planning tools for other goals too?

Absolutely. The planning and goal-setting skills in Week 7 are useful for all sorts of changes, from becoming more active to improving your sleep. Many people find themselves using them at work and at home as well. They're among the most transferable skills in the whole programme, because they work for almost any behaviour you want to change.

I'm cooking for a family. Will this help?

Yes. Meal planning and shopping strategies can save time and money for the whole household, and the course is designed with family life in mind.

The Raiys Weight Management Programme is a 12-week, clinician-led digital programme designed to be used alongside the BeChange app. Each week focuses on one course, broken into short five-minute daily sessions, each with a reflection and a simple action to take into your day. It's built on current NICE and SIGN guidance and on proven behaviour-change approaches, and it's written to support you, never to judge you.

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for personal medical advice. If you have a health condition, take regular medication, are pregnant, or have concerns about your weight or eating, please speak to your GP or healthcare professional before making significant changes. If you have had, or are preparing for, weight loss surgery, please follow the advice of your specialist team.

Dr Laura Coia is a GP Partner in NHS Scotland with over 25 years of clinical experience, and Co-founder and Medical Director of Raiys Digital Health.

Dr Izzy Howat is a Consultant Endocrinologist and NHS Weight Management Specialist, and Weight Management Lead at Raiys Digital Health. She is the author of the Raiys Weight Management Programme.

• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) (2014). Behaviour change: individual approaches (PH49). London: NICE.
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) (2025). Overweight and obesity management (NG246). London: NICE. (Replaces CG189.)
• Jensen MD, Ryan DH, et al. (2013). 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS Guideline for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults. Circulation, 129(25 Suppl 2), S102–S138. Co-sponsored by The Obesity Society.
• Gollwitzer PM, Sheeran P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119.
• NHS. The Eatwell Guide; and How to lose weight safely. nhs.uk
• Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) (2010). Management of obesity (SIGN 115). Edinburgh: SIGN. (Some recommendations may since have been superseded; read alongside NICE NG246.)
• British Obesity & Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS). Clinical guidance for patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Relevant only to readers who have had, or are preparing for, weight loss surgery; this programme is a non-surgical behavioural programme.