Ways of staying on track to a healthier life in Norfolk

But there always seems to be something that trips up our efforts towards a healthier life.

Whether it’s friends offering cakes, alcohol or cigarettes, or us simply not feeling in the mood for an exercise class or for swapping a beer for a soft drink, those hiccups can upset our best efforts.

Planning for those challenges before they happen makes all the difference, says the new Ready to Change platform, which is helping Norfolk people reach their healthier life goals.

If the selection of non alcoholic drinks fails to diminish the desire for your usual tipple, having a 'what if...then..' action plan means you know what to do Picture: Getty (Image: Getty)

From moving more, eating well, stopping smoking, cutting back on alcohol or losing weight, Ready to Change, developed by Norfolk County Council with experts from the University of East Anglia, puts the emphasis on making small changes and building on those to reach and sustain our goals.

The platform includes lots of help to set goals and make action plans to consider what changes we will make and what we will do when our plans go awry.

For example, if we’re aiming to move more and have set a goal of two exercise classes a week but one is cancelled, our ‘what then’ action plan will mean we immediately book another. Or if it’s raining for our planned walk, we go anyway.

The idea is to plan for all possible hurdles, so if a friend offers us a cigarette when we’re trying to quit smoking, we tell them we’re stopping and ask them not to offer us one again.

The online platform guides users through goal setting and ‘if this happens then I will..’ plans, trying to encourage people to think about solutions to situations when they may be faced with a challenge to their goal.

It may be replacing all alcoholic drinks in the house with non-alcoholic options, or ensuring you don’t eat an excessive amount of unhealthy snacks by labelling them with the names of other family members.

The idea is to plan so people have confidence that they can continue making those little steps towards a heathier life, and even when feeling discouraged can turn to their plan for motivation.

As they reach each goal they make new challenging yet achievable goals, until they get to their overall target, which by then should be straightforward to maintain.

if it’s raining when you’ve planned a walk, your action plan will ensure you know what you will do, such as simply grab an umbrella and go (Image: Getty Images)

I set myself the goal of eating healthier and cutting down on alcohol using the little changes ideas with Ready to Change. I want to eat a lot less fat and sugar, and cut out the habitual weekday beer after work.

Gradually eating less fat is going well. I swapped my morning pastry for toast and butter, then swapped the butter for a thin scraping of spread. I’ve stopped adding double cream to soups and puddings and have switched mild cheddar for mature so I get the same flavour with a smaller amount.

I’m also having poached eggs instead of fried, I just need to get better at making them!

Easing back on sugar is tougher, but my ‘if this happens then..’ action plan is helping. I’m trying to cut sugar out of tea by gradually giving myself less, and stopping the biscuits. If I forget I make sure I top my tea up to dilute the sugary taste. As I know an open packet of biscuits shouts ‘eat me’ I have put the biscuits in the garage and only get them out to offer others, and then put them back again.

I’m doing the same with chocolate, and I’ve written the children’s names on their chocolate plus how much is left, so I know I’m accountable if any is missing.

My weekday alcohol is purely habit, and I’m trying to replace it with a non-alcoholic beer. If that doesn’t work and I’m still thinking about a drink, I have a written list of distractions including alternative drinks, playing music, doing a quiz on my online language app, sorting photos in my phone, doing a household chore, reading - and putting on lipstick, which I still associate with not drinking thanks to the days when lipstick smudged very easily!

My willpower isn’t great, so these ‘if and then’ self made rules are working for me.

It's getting easier. Making small behaviour changes towards a goal, along with having an action plan for times those changes could fail, does make sense.

The Ready to Change online platform aims to help people improve their health (Image: Norfolk County Council)

The idea of Ready to Change is to work towards a healthier lifestyle that will be kept up. The platform recognises that we may have tried and been unsuccessful at changes in the past, and suggests adapting our approach, looking at what went wrong and what we could do differently this time.

“The most important thing with slip-ups is to know they're likely to happen at some point and prepare for them,” say the experts.

Find out more at www.norfolk.gov.uk/readytochange