There are many ways to lose weight, but it is not always easy to keep
weight off. The key to successful weight loss is making changes in your eating and physical activity habits that you can keep up for
rest of your life. The information presented in this article may help put you on
road to healthy habits.
Some of
more common weight-related health problems include: diabetes, heart attack or stroke; high blood pressure; high cholesterol; gallbladder disease; some types of cancer; osteoarthritis (wearing away of
joints and bone weakness); sleep apnea (interrupted breathing during sleep).
Health experts agree that you gain health benefits from even a small weight loss if: you are obese based on your body mass index (BMI); you are overweight based on your BMI and have weight-related health problems; or you have a waist that measures more than 40 inches if you are a man or more than 35 inches if you are a woman. A weight loss of 5 to 15 percent of body weight may improve your health and quality of life, and prevent some of
above mentioned health problems. For a person who weighs 200 pounds, that means losing from 10 to 30 pounds.
YOur body weight is controlled by
number of calories you eat and
number of calories your body burns each day. To lose weight, you obviously need to burn more calories than you take in. You can do this by creating and following a plan for healthy eating as well as a plan for regular physical activity.
The average calories needed to maintain current weight are as follows: about 1,600 calories a day for an inactive woman; about 2,200 calories a day for inactive men and active women; about 2,800 calories a day for active men. If you truly want to lose weight and keep it off, you need to reduce your caloric intake and maximize
number of calories used.
A weight-loss "diet" that limits you to very small portions or that totally exclude certain foods may be hard to stick with and probably will not work over
long term. Instead, a healthy eating plan takes into account your likes and dislikes, and includes a variety of foods that provide you enough calories and nutrients to maintain good health.