Are you Ready to Change for a healthier future?

Going online may only exercise your fingertips but can open up a whole new lifestyle of good health and well-being if you check out Norfolk County Council's Ready to Change online platform.  

The platform helps you identify your goals and create action plans to put you in a position to make the changes you are striving for, but goes one step further, offering tools based on behavioural science to help you make changes that will make a difference. 

It also offers a wealth of information and advice to help you make the changes to feel fitter and happier - whether you're starting out afresh or wanting to re-learn good habits. 

Already, nearly 14,000 people in Norfolk have used the Ready to Change online platform since its launch in July this year. In addition, the health behaviour quizzes have been completed by more than 1,500 people - the first important step to changing a health behaviour.  

Weight loss and drinking less are the two most popular aims of those people wanting to change their lifestyle and the Ready to Change online platform will be invaluable to help you break those habits you find hard to kick, including issues with: 

• Dieting and losing weight 
• Alcohol and drinking less 
• Stopping smoking 
• Getting active - especially in the darker, winter months. 

Ready to Change will support you in making the changes needed to improve diet and physical activity levels, and to reduce or stop other lifestyle habits such as drinking or smoking.  

Check it out online, choose what you'd like to improve, take the health quiz, and it will guide you through your goal setting and action plan. It includes tips on what to do if you miss a daily target. To find out the extensive range of topics covered go to the Ready to Change online platform.

Councillor Bill Borrett, NCC Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, said: "The Ready to Change online platform will really help to support you in achieving your health and fitness goals. The only time you need to be sitting is when you go online to check it out, but you'll find it a great source of motivation to get out and get active and make the changes you want to see, whether it's losing weight, stopping smoking, or just getting more exercise." 

Resident doctor on ITV's GMTV, GP Dr Hilary Jones, said: "Making changes to your health habits is never easy and taking that first step can be daunting, which is why the Ready to Change online tool is so useful. I'd encourage you to think of the end goal and how much better you'll feel when you get there.  
"Ready to Change offers tips and advice on how to set a realistic target and what to do if you don't get there straight away. It's a practical approach to health improvement - even small changes such as going for 30-minute walk three days a week or cutting out that afternoon snack will really make a difference to your overall health. Why don't you set your personal health target today and give Ready to Change a go? It's one of the best free practical health improvement tools I've seen." 

Resident doctor for ITV's This Morning, Dr Zoe Williams, who is also supporting the initiative, said: "Ready to Change is a useful tool to help you break those unhealthy habits you find hard to kick such as yoyo dieting, mid-week drinking is creeping up again, you're finding it hard to move more now the darker evenings are here or you can't seem to kick your smoking habit. This behaviour change tool can really help.  

"The Ready to Change online platform can support you in making the changes needed to improve diet and physical activity levels, and to reduce or stop other lifestyle habits such as drinking or smoking. It combines science with practical tips and guidance that can really help you stay on track with your health goals. Check it out online, choose what you'd like to improve, take the health quiz and it will guide you through your goal setting and action plan. It even includes tips on what to do if you miss a daily target.  

"It's certainly one of the best behaviour change tools I've seen - it's incredibly simple, and completely free too!" 

Smokefree Norfolk Operations Manager James Wade said: "This is an excellent resource, enabling both staff and clients to enhance the support that is delivered to our Norfolk smokers. Clients will be able to self-manage their quit attempt by using the resources on the site to better understand their smoking addiction, learn more about their smoking habits and behaviours and how to plan for their quit attempt. The Ready to Change site is a perfect resource for when you are considering making a change in behaviour." 

Professor Felix Naughton, Professor of Health Psychology at the University of East Anglia, said: "The support provided by the Ready to Change online platform draws on high quality behavioural science evidence. This resource aims to support people to make meaningful changes to their lives using a range of effective behaviour change techniques. Many of these techniques will be new to people, including those who feel they have tried everything they can to maintain healthy changes without success. Importantly, the tool uses quizzes, based on validated scientific measures, to assess where you are on your behaviour change journey to help ensure the techniques it provides matches what you need to start changing your behaviour and make these changes stick."