By Danielle Kloap

Fall can be a tough time to stay on track with your health and fitness goals. There are holidays, parties, gatherings with family and friends and all of that holiday baking to get you off track when it comes to eating healthy and working some exercise into your busy schedule.

This year will be the first year I’m consciously trying to continue eating healthy and sticking to my fitness schedule through the holidays. Most years, by this point, I’ve long forgotten about my New Year’s resolution to lose weight. If you’ve gotten off track, or need some suggestions on how to stay motivated through a busy fall, there’s still time to get back (or stay) on track!

Here are 10 tips for staying on track during the fall:

1. Write down your plans/goals each month. At the beginning of every month, I make time to sit down and either make or re-evaluate my health and fitness goals. Every time I open my planner, I’m reminded of the goals I made for the month.

2. Schedule out your workouts and plan out your meals. I’m obsessed with planning and lists. Organization and planning is a great thing when it comes to staying on track! I write down all of my workouts each week in my planner so I know that it’s scheduled. I also plan out all of my meals for the week. I write down my meals, make a shopping list and I only shop on Sunday afternoon. I try to limit the number of grocery store trips I need so I won’t buy food I shouldn’t be eating.

3. Get an accountability partner. Find someone you trust who will hold you accountable. Make sure your tell this person your health and fitness goals, and be sure to check in with them periodically. Find someone you feel comfortable going to when you need to confess if you’ve gotten off track, reassess your goals and talk to them about how you plan to get back on track. It really helps me to have a workout buddy, someone who holds me accountable for showing up to workouts. Even though I schedule them, sometimes it’s easy to make excuses about how busy I am and use that as a reason not to keep the promises I made to myself about working out.

4. Mix up your workout routine. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut and get bored. Try doing something fun that doesn’t feel like a workout: a Zumba class, yoga, playing a game of football or soccer with a group of friends or another type of exercise class. Motivating myself to get up and go running at the track can be really tough, but when I have something fun to do for exercise, I’m much more likely to do it. If you go to the gym, try getting outside in this beautiful weather! Now that the weather is a lot cooler, it makes taking a walk or going running so much nicer. Plus, there’s pretty scenery like the turning leaves to look at while you work out.

5. Prep all of your meals. Meal prep is a huge part of being successful at staying on track. If you’re going to attend holiday parties or other gatherings where you know you will be tempted by unhealthy food, bring your own! I try to prep all of my meals (I eat five small meals three hours apart) at the beginning of the week, or at least at the beginning of the day, so I know that all of my food is ready to go so I’m not tempted by fast food. Having those meals prepared in advance also helps me stay on track if I know I’ll be somewhere with unhealthy food choices. One of my favorite foods that are easy to take on the go are Quest bars. They have great flavors like Cookies and Cream and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

6. Drink more water. Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces each day. It may sound daunting but my favorite trick is to get a Rt. 44 cup of water from Sonic and refill it throughout the day.

7. Start tracking your food and exercise. You could use an app like MyFitnessPal or try a cute tracking book like this one from May Designs. Tracking my calorie intake was very eye-opening for me. I just didn’t realize how many calories I was actually consuming in a day. Grazing all day and snacking can really add up!

8. Find some health and fitness motivation. I follow several social media accounts that provide tons of motivational tips and tricks: Chris Powell, Heidi Powell, Bruce Pitcher, Georgeanna Johnson, ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss and Kate at Finally Alive after 25. Surrounding yourself with positivity, both on the Internet and in real life, makes a huge difference when you’re trying to stay on track and be healthy.

9. Set yourself up for success. When you make your goals, don’t be unrealistic! If you don’t have time to work out for two hours a day, don’t make that a goal for yourself. You’re only setting yourself up for failure. Instead, start with small changes and make realistic goals. Start off with just changing your water habits and change one meal a day to be healthier. Those small changes will add up to be big changes that will be much easier to maintain as a lifestyle change rather than a “diet.” When you start meeting those goals and keeping the promises you make to yourself, that will motivate you to keep going!

10. Learn to fall without failing. You’re going to mess up. It’s inevitable. All of the planning and preparation in the world won’t stop you from going to a Thanksgiving dinner and overindulging, or skipping a workout when you’re tired from a long day, or grabbing fast food because that’s easier than cooking dinner. In the past, I’ve been the queen of the philosophy that if I mess up and eat poorly at lunch, the whole day is shot. Now I’ve learned that it’s okay if I mess up, I can get back up, keep going and get right back on track.

Danielle started blogging at Dani’s Transformation in May 2014 after being selected as a finalist for ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss as a way to hold herself accountable for losing half her body weight at home this year. She hopes to help motivate others and help pay forward the experience she had during EWL casting week. Danielle lives in Monticello with her husband and two fur babies. Connect with her on Facebook, Instagram at @danikloap and Twitter at @danikloap.