• Put patients at ease by letting them know you are having lifestyle conversations with all your patients.

• Gently gauge your patient’s interest in having the conversation to assess if they are ready for change.

• Focus on the positives from the patient’s point of view to foster a constructive, two-way conversation.

• If patients are not interested, invite them to make a follow-up appointment when they are ready to chat.

Assess if your patient is ready to commit to healthy changes with some simple questions. Patients are more receptive to change when they feel their clinician has listened with empathy.

• Would you like your health to be different, and, if so, how?

• How do you feel about improving your physical activity?

• Could you manage some small regular exercise activity, starting today?

Identify your patient’s barriers and enablers to physical activity within their social and physical environments, to support a conversation about potential strategies and improve their potential for success.

Potential barriers to physical activity might include:

• Limited time, fatigue, family obligations or other competing priorities

• A lack of safe paths or open spaces for activity away from traffic

• Gyms or sports clubs which are too far away or too costly to join

• Feeling self-consciousness about being active in a public space

• Cultural expectations regarding the type of activity and its location

• Safety issues, especially for women exercising alone in public spaces

Potential enablers of physical activity include:

• Simple and easy to use self-tracking tools like Healthy Habits to foster motivation

• Friends and family to exercise with together, or to provide support and childcare

• Virtual support groups to challenge, motivate and encourage adherence to goals

• Encourage patients that any positive changes to diet and exercise they make will help, no matter how small.

• Make change more achievable by reiterating the importance of starting small and working up to bigger goals.

• Motivate patients by letting them know that even a modest weight loss of just 5-10% can have a positive impact on health.

• Make patients more open to change by letting them know that even a small increase in their physical activity levels can improve their health.

• Get an idea of your patient’s current activity level and suggest and agree on small changes to their existing levels.

• Know your patient’s motivations, and work together to set achievable goals. Do they want to run 5 kilometres? Climb stairs more easily? Pick up grandkids without pain?

The Healthy Habits app is a simple and easy way to get your patients started

• It guides patients to set small, achievable physical activity and nutrition goals

• Your patient can choose their own goals and increase their goals over time

• The app gives your patients simple tips and tricks to help them stay on track

The Healthy Habits app allows patients to link their data to your dashboard

• You will be able to see how your patients have been tracking

• Discuss behaviours and revise goals at their next appointment