Sixty nine per cent of women resolved to start a new diet or fitness regime at the beginning of the year, but more than a third consider it as an ongoing, permanent effort rather than a quick-fix with a celebrity-inspired fad diet.

The study also revealed that these New Year’s resolutions on average last for 78 days, which makes 18th March the day most people finally give in to temptation.

According to PruHealth, female dieters fail to keep to their resolution because they struggle to resist the lure of their favourite food, with 31 per cent giving cravings for sugary snacks as their biggest challenge. Only 10 per cent of all dieters found keeping up regular exercise such as going to the gym or participating in sports activities hardest.

Eighteen per cent of people stated that looking good for the summer season on the beach was their main motivation for starting a diet or enrolling in a fitness programme, whereas for 16 per cent it took a major health scare to improve their lifestyle.

However, says PruHealth, there seems to be a promising change in attitude as 35 per cent of all questioned women gave a general desire for a healthier lifestyle as their reason.

Katie Roswell, PruHealth’s Marketing Manager, says: “It’s encouraging to see a common move towards a long-term healthy lifestyles, rather than people opting for more short-term fixes, such as unhealthy, fad diet plans.”

She concedes that a permanent lifestyle change is hard work and takes a lot of resolve: “However, it’s also clear how important it is to maintain momentum and motivation to stick to a permanent lifestyle change,” she says.

“We believe it’s vital to give our members the incentive they need to make a long-term change to their lifestyle.”

Prudential Health Insurance is one of the many private health insurance providers which has partnered with some of the country’s major gyms.

The scheme offers customers a discounted membership if they go to the gym frequently, and aims at increasing their customers’ awareness of how important long-term lifestyle changes are for their health.

© Fair Investment Company Ltd.