Planning for change

Some people are more prepared to change than others, and this is perfectly normal. If you’re not sure how ready you are, you can find out about the stages of change.

Planning for change is an important part of achieving a healthy weight. Once you’ve set a goal you need to work out how to get there.

Planning may sound complicated but it can be pretty easy. It is not hard to think about or jot down a simple plan to increase your weekly activity and make some changes to what you eat and drink.

For example, say you decide to do two hours of planned, extra physical activity a week. This could be 30 minutes of walking the dog twice a week and an hour’s gardening on Sunday.

You might decide reduce or change your takeaway food. You might do this by choosing vegetable toppings on pizza rather than extra cheese, ham or salami. Or you might decide to choose rolls, wraps or sandwiches rather than commercially baked or fried foods like fried chicken, battered and fried fish, fried chips or sausage rolls. Or you might eat a salad with dinner instead of having dessert. Maybe on weekends, you’ll decide not to have an alcoholic drink.

But it is important to think about what you can do in advance and to write it down. Be honest with yourself. If you don’t do something you planned to do, make another plan. If possible, try to do something extra the next day.

When things haven’t gone according to plan, have a think about what went wrong and what you could do differently next time. Are there some different things you could try?

Meal and physical activity planners can be useful. You can fill them out and carry them around or stick them on the fridge.  Or, if you register with the Healthy Weight Guide, you can use the interactive planner to fill them out, update them, and keep a record of what you’ve been eating and drinking, and how active you’ve been online. 

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