Patients are receptive to brief interventions for obesity and will usually lose weight in the year following the intervention. This is why the NHS has encouraged health and care professionals to give brief advice – no more than 30 seconds – around weight management. It can also see a five-times increase in the proportion of patients engaging in weight management services.17,25

While simple advice can increase people’s intentions to lose weight, referral to weight management schemes can more than double the amount of weight lost.

An important first step is initiating the conversation: “You don’t need to be an expert in weight management to incorporate this into your routine consultations with patients who are overweight or obese and you don’t need to spend a lot of time to make a difference,” says Public Health England.