With 2017 in its infancy, many are in the process of upholding New Years' resolutions.

Popular resolutions include going to the gym or dietary changes.

For those wanting to maintain their new goals, the Cypress Health Region has a goal-setting acronym which could come in handy.

SMAART goals, or Specific Measurable Attainable Action-Oriented Realistic Timely goals, is implemented to set achievable goals for 2017.

Anna Angelina, a Health Educator with the Cypress Health region, explains the difference between a common New Years resolution, and a SMAART goal.

"You want to set a goal that you can actually change, so it should be an action - not an outcome.

Making a goal that you want to lose 20lbs isn't really an action or something you can necessarily go and change.

What you can do instead is be more specific - how are you going to lose 20lbs? If it's by eating healthier then maybe your goal is to eat more vegetables and fruit," she said.

The Health Educator encourages individuals to continue with their goals, but says people wanting change don't necessarily need to wait until January 1st to start.

"It doesn't have to be a new years' resolution. Goal setting is important to do with any aspect of our life on a regular basis. You don't want to tackle too much at once - maybe start with 1,2, or 3 goals.

Just start small and once you accomplished that, and are maintaining those changes, then it's time to maybe pick another goal - find what else is in your life that you'd want to work on," she said.

Those wanting more nutritional tips and information, as well as contact information for Registered Dietitians, click here.