Are you at a healthy weight? Do you worry about your health? How’s your family medical history – any heart disease or diabetes in there? There are many reasons to strive for a healthy weight. All this month, we’ll review why and how to finally lose that weight.
Why Weight Matters
If you’re overweight, especially if you eat an unhealthy diet, you’re at greater risk for life-threatening disease. High blood pressure can cause a stroke, which is the fourth-leading cause of death. Diabetes can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, blindness and kidney disease. High cholesterol can lead to a heart attack. And so on.
Beyond the medical concerns, there are psychological concerns. Do you feel your best when you’re overweight, or do you feel ashamed or embarrassed? Do you feel like your weight holds you back from doing certain things? How often are you sitting on the sidelines while others are participating in the activities you want to do?
And then there’s quality of life. Can you walk without losing your breath? Do you always choose the elevator over the stairs? How about playing with the kids in your life – what are you able to do with them?
All of these reasons and more matter when it comes to talking about being overweight. The good news is that it is possible to lose weight and keep it off, making you a healthier and happier person.
There’s a lot of good information available from participants in the National Weight Control Registry which tracks people who have maintained a weight loss of at least 30 pounds for at least one year. Researchers with the registry studied a sub-set of participants and have identified the strategies participants say work for them:
- Eating breakfast regularly.
- Walking about an hour a day or burning an equivalent amount of calories in other activities.
- Weighing themselves at least weekly.
- Tracking food intake.
- Counting calories and fat grams.
- Limiting eating out to an average of three times per week including all meals.
- Limiting fast food to less than once a week.
- Limiting food variety, mostly eating similar foods from week to week and not splurging much on holidays and special occasions.
- Watching fewer than 10 hours of television per week.
- Eating an average of 1,800 calories per day, with less than 30% of those coming from fat.
A long list to be sure, so this month we’ll break it down into do-able chunks along with strategies to implement each one. Get ready to finally lose that weight!
