Hello 2016! I am Linzi, a money-saving, positive-thinking, teetotal, non gluten eating vegan. Well, at least until next week.

We are four days into the new year and the ill-fated resolutions are bound to be in full swing.

It is now impossible to skulk around the gym without bumping into budding new starts queuing to use machines.

Inspirational quotes are littering my social media feeds along with pictures of healthy meals sifted through a Valencia Instagram filter with a tin of Roses just out of shot.

I am pouring scorn from experience on this one. And I am personally responsible for the last example.

Because I, on Boxing Day, whilst half way through a chocolate snowman that wasn't even mine, decided enough was enough.

This, the annual dawning of the perceived realisation that my life needs a dramatic change, was echoed by most.

Every year promises are made while on the wrong side of a selection box binge and while drunken crying on New Years Eve.

Or, a few days later, while trying to squeeze into work clothes shelved during the festive season in favour of Christmas pyjamas.

I started early this year and, in all my wisdom, decided to embark on a gluten-free vegan diet on December 27.

The intentions were good - to eat healthier and feel better. And actually, so was the food.

This new culinary world had its highs (hummus chips - they taste just like crisps) and lows (the smell of vegan cheese that spent most of the day in my handbag).

But, of course, it wasn't entirely sustainable.

And sadly, the inevitable cheat came faster than I had hoped.

Three days.

I lasted three days before being completely overcome by the temptation of buttered toast.

I don't have a great track record of sticking to strict food regimes, I should have known.

There was the time I managed to succeed at vegetarianism for a three months until I genuinely forgot and unwittingly ate a Cumberland sausage.

Also, I have no patience and I was craving immediate health benefits from my diet revolution. Perhaps this is the problem?

Achieving big goals is hard. Most of us are pretty busy already.

Research has shown that 90 per cent of people who make new years resolutions will fail to see their goals come to fruition.

But I guess there is a lesson to be learned in the failed attempts. Sweeping changes are probably unsustainable.

And unless the behaviour you are promising to change is putting you in immediate danger, maybe just phase it out gradually?

I'm sure the success rate will be much higher.

So, let's all cut ourselves some slack.

Finish off the After Eights and buy some bigger trousers.