Healthy Weight

Overview

What is a healthy weight?

A healthy weight is the weight your body naturally settles into when you consistently eat a nutritious diet, are physically active, and balance the calories you eat with the physical activity you do. Reaching a specific weight is not as important as the lifestyle changes you make to become healthy.

Why is a healthy weight important?

Being at a healthy weight can reduce your risk of weight-related diseases, such as coronary artery disease, sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and stroke. But weight is only one part of health. Even if you carry some extra weight, by eating healthfully and getting plenty of physical activity, you will feel better and have more energy. In fact, you may be healthier than a thin person who eats poorly and isn't physically active.¹

Why is losing weight so hard?

Although a weight-loss diet may help you lose a few pounds quickly, following a restrictive diet long-term is unrealistic and requires extraordinary commitment. Once you stop dieting and exercising, the weight comes back. Some people fall into an unhealthy cycle of losing and gaining weight, which may be harder on the body than just being overweight.

It may be difficult to overcome the roadblocks to weight loss: lack of time for exercise, family and work commitments, easy access to less-healthy foods, and illness or injury.

Research shows that people who are most successful in improving their health have made the broader and more significant shift to a healthier lifestyle rather than targeting weight loss alone. A lifestyle of healthy eating and regular physical activity will improve your health and quality of life, no matter what you weigh.

How do I change my lifestyle?

First you'll need to learn the skills to make lifelong changes and find the support you need to create a healthy lifestyle that's right for you. Look for balanced, realistic, and enjoyable ways to fit healthful changes into your life.

Making small changes, such as being aware of your portion sizes, eating more fruits and vegetables, and adding more physical activity to your daily routine, can add up to significant improvements in your health.

Walking is an activity that most people can do safely and routinely with family members, friends, coworkers, or pets. Keep track of the number of steps you take with a step counter or pedometer, which you can buy at a sporting goods store. If you have a desk job, you'll see how little you actually move in a typical day. Wearing the step counter may motivate you to accumulate more steps during the day.

To be successful in making lifestyle changes:

• Don't diet. Abandon the idea that you'll go on a diet and quickly lose a certain amount of weight. This approach almost always fails. Instead, try to make healthy eating choices that work for you.
• Think about your relationship with food. Do you eat when you are bored, stressed, or sad? Do you use food as a reward? Try making a list of other ways you can comfort or reward yourself that don't involve food.
• Slowly change your eating habits. If you are ready to improve your nutrition, you may be tempted to do a diet overhaul and change everything about the way you eat. But you will be more successful at staying with the changes you make if you pick just one eating habit at a time to work on.
• Establish goals you can reach. Set small goals. Your goals should be specific, within your reach, and flexible. A goal to simply exercise more is too general. Instead, make a specific plan to be active for a certain amount of time each week. For example, start with a goal to walk for 15 minutes 3 times a week, and then slowly increase it to 20 minutes 4 times a week. When you reach this goal and it has become routine, set a new one. But realize you may have setbacks now and then; it doesn't mean you've failed.
• Make daily physical activity a part of your routine. Identify what keeps you from being active or exercising. Are you juggling a demanding job with raising kids? Maybe you can start a walking group at work during lunchtime. Arrange for someone else to pick up the kids from day care or soccer practice 1 day a week so you can make time for physical activity. Or pick an activity that your family can do together, such as taking a bike ride or playing Frisbee.

How can I fit physical activity into my busy day?

Try to make physical activity a regular and essential part of your day, just like brushing your teeth or going to work. Start slowly and be sure to consult your doctor first if you aren't active at all. Consider scheduling your activity in the morning if you tend to talk yourself out of it later in the day.

Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park far away and walk to your office or the grocery store. Make a plan to ride your bike to work once a week. Instead of e-mailing a coworker, get up and walk to his or her desk. If you don't have time to take one 30-minute walk, break it up into three 10-minute walks.

If you want a more structured way to get exercise, consider joining a health club or community center that offers fitness activities. Find an activity that you enjoy and feel you can stick with, and then vary it with other activities so you don't get bored. For example, 3 days a week, take a brisk 30-minute walk with a friend and then lift some weights together. On other days, take a water aerobics class, ride a bike, or take the dog for a hike. Join a softball, volleyball, or basketball league. The more you can find activities you like, the greater your chances for success. Use this interactive tool to find out how many calories are burned during various activities .

Frequently Asked Questions

Health Tools 

Health tools help you make wise health decisions or take action to improve your health.

	Interactive tools are designed to help people determine health risks, ideal weight, target heart rate, and more.
	Interactive Tool: How Many Calories Did You Burn?
	Interactive Tool: Is Your Weight Increasing Your Health Risks?

What Is a Healthy Weight?

A healthy weight is the weight your body naturally settles into when you consistently eat a nutritious diet, are physically active, and balance the calories you eat with the physical activity you do.

But weight is only one measure of your health. People who are thin but don't exercise or eat nutritious foods aren't necessarily healthy just because they are thin. A person who is overweight according to body mass index (BMI) charts may be healthy if he or she eats a variety of healthy foods and exercises regularly.

How much you eat is not the only determinant of your weight. Your age, metabolism, genetics, and physical activity level also play an important role in your weight, health, and risk for disease. So it's important that you avoid comparing yourself to others and that you determine the lifestyle changes you need to make to maintain a healthy weight.

Nutrition is an extremely important component of being healthy. Consistently eating a balanced diet is far better than dieting for quick weight loss and then returning to your previous eating habits.

Physical activity is key to improving your health and preventing serious illness. Experts advise doing either of these things to get and stay healthy:²

• Do moderate activity for at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week or more. Moderate activity is equal to a brisk walk, cycling about 10 to 12 miles per hour (mph), sailing, or shooting hoops. You notice your heart beating faster with this kind of activity.
• Do vigorous activity for at least 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week or more. Vigorous activity is equal to jogging, cycling at least 12 mph, cross-country skiing, or playing a basketball game. You breathe rapidly and your heart beats much faster with this kind of activity.

Being active in several chunks of 10 minutes or more throughout the day can count towards the above recommendations. You can choose to do one or both types of activity. Always ask your doctor whether it is safe for you to start a fitness program.

Regular moderate-intensity physical activity reduces the risk of:³

• Coronary artery disease.
• High blood pressure.
• Stroke.
• Type 2 diabetes.
• Obesity.
• Breast cancer, colon cancer, and cancers of the female reproductive system.
• Anxiety.
• Depression.

Other things to consider about your weight include:

• Your body mass index (BMI), which is based on your height and weight. Your risk of weight-related diseases may increase if your weight is above or below the recommended BMI range. BMI measurements may be misleading if you are muscular or if you have lost a lot of muscle mass. To calculate your BMI, see the body mass index (BMI) chart.
• Your waist circumference, which is the distance around your body at the level of your belly button. Waist measurement can help find out how much fat you have stored around your belly. People who are "apple-shaped" and store fat around their belly are at increased risk for diseases associated with being overweight compared with people who are "pear-shaped" and store most of their fat around their hips.

What to think about

Body fat testing is sometimes used to help find out if a person is at a healthy weight. But it can be inaccurate. It is also more expensive and time-consuming than measuring BMI or waist measurement. For these reasons, health professionals rarely use body fat percentage to measure a person's risk for weight-related diseases.

Why Pay Attention to Your Weight?

Being obese increases your risk for several diseases. If you don't know whether your weight puts you at risk, the first step is to find out your body mass index (BMI) . Keep in mind that BMI should not be used to determine your "ideal" weight. Instead, use it as the first step to check whether you are at a healthy weight.

According to the BMI, which is based on your height and weight, you are considered overweight if your BMI is between 25 and 29.9. If your BMI is 30 or above, you are considered obese.⁴

Based on federal obesity guidelines, an elevated BMI alone is not an adequate measure of your risk for disease. Other risk factors, such as a large waist measurement, inactivity, and smoking, are part of the equation.⁴

If your BMI is higher than recommended, your doctor may then measure your waist. In men, a waist measurement greater than 40 in. (101.6 cm) is considered a health risk. Women who have a waist size larger than 35 in. (88.9 cm) are considered at risk for disease.

Diseases associated with obesity and a large waist measurement include:

• High cholesterol and cardiovascular disease (including coronary artery disease and stroke).
• High blood pressure (hypertension). People who are obese have a risk for high blood pressure that is 2 to 3 times greater than that of people who maintain a healthy weight.⁵
• Sleep apnea and respiratory problems.
• Type 2 diabetes.
• Gallbladder disease (gallstones). People who are overweight have a risk for gallbladder disease that is 2 to 3 times greater than that of people who maintain a healthy weight.⁵
• Metabolic syndrome. Research has shown that having this syndrome increases your risk for coronary artery disease (CAD), even beyond that caused by high cholesterol alone.⁶
• Osteoporosis.
• Osteoarthritis.
• Some forms of cancer, such as colon, breast, and prostate.

For more information on health risks, see the topic Obesity.

What Affects Your Weight?

Your weight is affected by three major factors: your genetic makeup, what you eat, and your activity level.

Genetics

Your genetic makeup affects your basal metabolic rate, your appetite and point of satiety (feeling full), your weight range, how your body fat is distributed, and possibly the tendency to be active or inactive.

• Basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR is the rate at which your body uses energy (calories) at rest, and therefore, it affects your total energy needs. Some people have higher BMRs than others (based on heredity, height, body composition, and age). A lower BMR makes it easier to gain weight. Your BMR can change slightly in response to certain conditions. For example, starvation or very low-calorie diets will decrease your BMR. Overeating increases BMR, as do fever and severe physical stress, such as recovery from surgery or from extensive burns.
• Body signals. Hunger, satiety, and appetite are body signals that tell you how much to eat. These signals can be influenced by your environment or ignored for short periods of time. However, they are powerful hormonal drives, and trying to ignore them for a long period of time (as in dieting behavior) can cause you to become obsessed with food.
• Fat distribution. Your weight distribution changes as you age. Aging leads to decrease of muscle mass and an increase in fat. Men store more fat in the abdomen as they age, and women store more fat in the hips and thighs. Repeated weight loss and weight regain can change the proportion of fat to lean tissue in your body and actually increase your percentage of body fat.

Nutrition

A balanced, healthy diet includes lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein (lean meats, eggs, legumes, and nuts), and low-fat dairy products. This supplies your body with the nutrition it needs and lowers your risk for some diseases, like heart disease, some cancers, and osteoporosis.³ In addition, you will generally feel better and have more energy if you practice healthy eating habits.

The average American diet contains too many calories and too much fat, cholesterol, animal protein, salt, alcohol, and sugar. Many of us don't get enough whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

It can be hard to make healthy food choices. Factors that influence our food choices include lack of time to cook and easy access to fast foods and packaged snacks. In addition, sometimes foods that seem like a healthier alternative may not be. For example, a low-fat cookie may have less fat, but it is usually high in sugar and often has the same number of calories as a regular cookie. Potato chips labeled cholesterol-free are still a high-fat, high-calorie, low-nutrient snack food.

People who eat regular meals tend to be more successful at maintaining a healthy weight than people who eat on an irregular schedule or skip meals. More importantly, planned meals are usually more nutritious than meals grabbed on the go or at the last minute. Also, skipping meals may make it more likely that you will overeat at the next meal or eat a less-than-nutritious snack.

Physical activity

Physical activity is very important for preventing obesity and improving health. Staying active is the best way to maintain a healthy weight that's right for you. Regular physical activity (moderate intensity or vigorous intensity) can improve blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, reduce blood sugar, improve other indicators of disease, and increase your fitness level. Moderate-intensity physical activity is equal to a brisk walk.

If you're depressed, regular physical activity can help lift your mood. It can also boost your self image and self-esteem.

Even if you are overweight or obese, you will benefit from being more physically fit. In a study of more than 25,000 volunteers, researchers at the Cooper Clinic found that a person's fitness level was a stronger predictor of death than body weight. Men in the study whose BMI classified them as overweight or obese but who were physically fit had a lower death risk than men who had a BMI in the recommended range but were not physically fit.¹

Where Are You Now?

Before you start making changes, find out where you are with your weight, relationship with food, eating habits, and fitness level. Think about your readiness to change. What are the benefits you want to achieve? What are your barriers to making lifestyle changes? What healthy lifestyle habits do you have already? What do you need to change?

Are you overweight?

Check your BMI. See the body mass index for adults .

If your BMI is elevated, the next step is to measure your waist. You can do this by placing a tape measure around your body at the level of your belly button. You may be at increased risk for health problems if you are:⁴

• A man with a waist measurement greater than 40 in. (101.6 cm).
• A woman with a waist measurement greater than 35 in. (88.9 cm).

If you are:

• Within the recommended BMI range and your waist measurement is lower than the number that is considered a health risk, maintain that weight.
• In the overweight category (BMI of 25 to 29.9) but your waist measurement is lower than the number that is considered a health risk, maintain that weight.
• In the overweight (BMI of 25 to 29.9) or obese (BMI of 30 and above) category and your waist measurement is too high, talk to your doctor about other weight-related health problems you have. Weight-related health problems include coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. If you have more than two risk factors, your doctor will probably advise you to lose weight and change your eating and physical activity habits.⁴

No matter what your BMI and waist measurement are, it is important to your health to eat well and be physically active.

What are your eating habits?

Think about what, when, and where you eat. What are the social and environmental influences that affect your eating?

• Do you eat regular, planned meals or do you grab food on-the-go?
• Are you eating a balanced, healthy diet that contains whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products, legumes, and lean meats?
• Do you drink more than a moderate amount of alcohol ? Drinking too much alcohol contributes to weight gain. If you are a man and drink more than two alcoholic drinks a day or a woman and drink more than one alcoholic drink a day, reduce the amount you drink. If you need help cutting down or stopping your drinking, see the topic Alcohol Use and Dependence.

What are your physical activity habits?

Do you need to be more physically active? Are you active almost every day? You may be able to lower your risk of developing many illnesses, especially long-term (chronic) diseases, if you are physically active. If you already have a chronic disease, being physically fit may keep the disease from getting worse. If you are not physically active or want to become more active, see the topic Fitness.

What is your lifestyle like?

Consider the following:

• Do you need to stop smoking? Weight gain is a big concern for many people who want to quit smoking. However, many people don't gain weight when they quit smoking. Becoming more active can help prevent weight gain and increase your chances of successfully quitting smoking. For more information, see weight gain while quitting smoking and the topic Quitting Tobacco Use.
• Do you need to lower your stress level? Stress can have a serious impact on your health, especially if it lasts for a long time. If you have a lot of stress in your life, it can be hard to focus on making healthy changes to your lifestyle. For more information about how to deal with stress, see the topic Stress Management.

Preparing for Change

The following will help you prepare for making changes to improve your health.

See your doctor

If you have any medical conditions or you are not physically active, see your doctor before you begin to exercise. Your doctor may want to check your blood pressure and blood cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar levels. If you have heart problems, are at high risk for heart problems, or have joint problems, your doctor may want you to have some additional testing before you begin an exercise program.

Change your thinking

Instead of focusing on weight loss programs, which are rarely successful over the long term, change your focus to improving your health. Focus on other health aspects you can improve, such as raising your fitness level and reducing your blood pressure, reducing your blood sugar if you have diabetes, and reducing your cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Becoming active and improving your eating habits are the two major ways to improve your health.

Heredity plays a role in your body type and your weight. Avoid comparing yourself to others. Healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes.

Learn to celebrate your body for what it is and the fitness and health you can achieve. Use measures other than weight or clothing size to track your progress in reaching your health goals. Realize that our culture overemphasizes extreme thinness, which makes people feel bad when they cannot achieve such an unrealistic body size.

Set goals you can reach

Focus on small, cumulative changes in your physical activity and eating habits that will lead to long-term healthy changes. Your goals should be specific, within your reach, and flexible.

Tips for setting goals:

• Write down your goals. This gives you a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Also, reading your goals can serve as a helpful reminder.
• Make your goals specific. A specific goal can help you measure your progress.
• Focus on achieving one goal at a time. This can keep you from feeling overwhelmed.
• Set goals other than weight loss, such as improving your eating habits, increasing your physical activity, or lowering your blood pressure.

Tips for setting activity goals:

• Fit in physical activity whenever you have time. Your physical activity does not need to be done all at once. If you do not have time to walk for 30 minutes, instead try to fit in 10 minutes of walking 3 times a day.
• Keep track of the number of steps you take each day with a step counter or pedometer, which you can buy at a sporting goods store. Wearing a step counter may motivate you to be more physically active. Write down your daily step count on a calendar to track your progress.
• Find creative ways to add physical activity to your day. Park your car at the far end of the parking lot when you go to the mall or grocery store. If you ride the bus, get off one stop before you usually do and walk the rest of the way. When you watch TV, walk in place or do jumping jacks during the commercial breaks. Instead of e-mailing a coworker, get up and walk to his or her desk.

Tips for setting healthy eating goals:

• Add foods to your diet instead of taking something away. For example, try adding more fruits and vegetables to your meals. Taking things out of your diet (for example, all desserts or sweets) may leave you feeling deprived, which may make it harder for your to stick with the change.
• Make a list of foods you already like and find ways to make them healthier. For example, if you like pizza, make pizza at home with low-fat mozzarella cheese and lots of fresh vegetables. Or, order a vegetarian pizza with half of the regular amount of cheese.

Measure improvements in your health

If weight loss is one of your goals to improve your health, it is not necessary to lose all your excess weight to improve your health. Research shows that improvements in health can be achieved by losing as little as 5% to 10% of your weight.⁴

Losing weight slowly will help keep the weight off in the long run. A reasonable rate of weight loss is about 1 lb (0.5 kg) to 2 lb (1 kg) a week. People who try to lose weight at a faster rate are more likely to regain the weight they have lost. Very fast weight loss also may harm your body.

Blood tests are one way to measure improvements in your health. Before you lose weight or make lifestyle changes, ask your doctor to check your cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and blood sugar. Then have them checked again after you have lost 5% to 10% of your weight or made lifestyle changes. Testing your:

• Blood sugar levels can tell you whether your lifestyle changes or weight loss are helping to control your diabetes.
• Cholesterol and triglyceride levels can tell you whether your lifestyle changes or weight loss are decreasing your risk for heart disease.
• Blood pressure can tell you whether your lifestyle changes or weight loss are decreasing your risk for heart disease and stroke.

Another way to measure improvements in health is to look for changes in your fitness level. For example, are you able to walk longer and on more days than when you started? Can you climb a flight of stairs without getting as tired or out of breath? Do you have better strength and muscle tone? Do you have more energy?

Healthy Eating

Eating a healthy, balanced diet is far more satisfying than following a strict weight-loss diet that leaves you feeling deprived, hungry, and obsessed with food. Everywhere we turn, however, we get conflicting advice on what foods are good for our health. Knowing where to start once you've decided to make a change can be difficult.

Components of healthy eating

A healthy, balanced diet provides the proper amounts of fat, carbohydrate, protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

• Fat. Choose fats that are monounsaturated like olive and canola oil, nuts, and fish. Limit the amount of saturated fats and trans fats you eat.
• Carbohydrate. Choose carbohydrate that comes from whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and low-fat dairy products.
• Protein. Choose lean protein as often as possible. This means protein that is low in fat, especially saturated fat. Some examples of lean protein include all types of fish, poultry that has the skin removed, low-fat dairy products, and legumes.
• Fiber. Fiber is found only in plant foods. Most people need between 20 and 35 grams of fiber each day. Fiber is found in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts.

Getting started

Make changes in your eating habits slowly and stick to them. Try some realistic and balanced changes you're ready to make and can fit into your lifestyle. Changing the type of snacks you eat can be an easy place to start. Keep nutritious and satisfying snacks, like fruit or nuts, available at home and work. When you plan your snacks ahead of time and have food on hand, you are less likely to pick a less nutritious snack when you get hungry.

Another way you can begin to improve your nutrition is to pick low-calorie drinks instead of higher-calorie versions. For instance, if you drink a lot of sugar-sweetened soft drinks, try sugar-free or low-calorie fruit-flavored sparkling water, or unsweetened iced tea instead.

Once you find that your new eating habit has become a normal part of your everyday routine, you can add a new nutrition goal.

Overall, you will receive the most health benefits if you routinely choose mostly foods that are plant-based. This means eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains.

To have healthy eating habits, try to:

• Eat at least 2 cups of fruit and 2½ cups of vegetables each day.
• Eat at least 6 ounces of grains each day. Make at least half of those servings whole grain. An ounce serving of grains is equal to about ¾ cup dry cereal; 1 small slice of bread; or ½ cup of cooked cereal, pasta, rice or other grains.
• Eat 2 to 3 servings of low-fat dairy products every day. A serving of dairy is 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of yogurt, or 1½ ounces of natural cheese. If you do not eat dairy products, choose nonmilk sources of calcium such as calcium-fortified orange juice, calcium-fortified soy milk, and calcium-fortified tofu.
• Limit your meat, fish, and poultry intake to no more than 6 ounces each day. This is about the size of two decks of cards.
• Choose homemade and fresh foods instead of packaged or processed foods to limit the amount of salt you eat.
• Use monounsaturated fats such as olive or canola oil when cooking instead of shortening, butter, or margarine.
• Choose a calorie goal that is right for your body and activity level.

If you are not sure what calorie level is right for you or how much you need of different types of food, you can use the MyPyramid Plan to help you make healthy choices.

Choose sensibly

If you have been struggling with your weight, you may have some negative feelings about food. Many people classify foods as "good" and "bad" based on their calorie content and, sometimes, their nutrient content. But, all kinds of foods can fit into a healthy diet.

Here are some tips for choosing your food sensibly.

• Watch your portions. Simply cutting back on the size of your portions can be a very effective way to manage your weight without giving up any of the foods you enjoy. Keep in mind that restaurants often serve portions that are 2 to 3 times the size of one serving.
• Limit high-fat foods. A low-fat diet (less than 30% of calories from fat) will help you manage your weight and reduce your risk for disease, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer. See tips for cutting fat and choosing lean meats and meat alternatives to help you decrease the amount of high-fat foods you eat. Don't forget, though, that the total number of calories you eat—and whether they come from fat, carbohydrates, or protein—is still important.
• Limit foods and liquids that are high in sugar. Beverages and foods that contain sugar add calories but may not add much nutrition to your diet. Substitute water for high-sugar drinks (including high-sugar juice drinks).
• Eat plenty of foods high in iron and calcium.
• If you are a woman of childbearing age, be sure you get plenty of folic acid to reduce your chances of having a child with birth defects.
• If you drink alcohol, drink moderate amounts (no more than two drinks a day for a man or one drink a day for a woman). Drinking excess alcohol increases abdominal fat, raising your risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Alcohol also increases the risk of liver disease.

Use the guide for a balanced diet to make your healthy eating plan.

For more information, see:

• Factors that influence eating behaviors.
• Keeping an eating journal and a food diary (What is a PDF document?).
• Getting your family involved in changing your eating behavior.
• Planning meals (What is a PDF document?).
• Overcoming barriers to eating well.
• Overcoming barriers to starting a fitness program.

Physical Activity

Research shows that regular moderate-intensity physical activity reduces the risk for many chronic diseases. Physical activity has the strongest protective effect against heart disease. It also significantly reduces risks associated with high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity, anxiety, depression, osteoporosis, and cancers of the breast, colon, and female reproductive system.³

So why don't many Americans get regular exercise, when it is so beneficial to our health? We have many barriers—work, kids, social lives, and lack of motivation. It may help to think of things you loved doing as a kid. Did you like to roller-skate, swim, or ride your bike? Do you hate the idea of going to a gym or health club? Think about your preferences for physical activity, and try to identify some activities you'd enjoy.

Walking is one of the best ways to be physically active. You can do it with friends, at work, with your dog, or by yourself. All you need is a good pair of shoes. Choosing fitness activities that are right for you can help boost your motivation.

Most experts agree that there are three components of fitness:

• Flexibility. Flexibility is the ability to move joints and use muscles through their full range of motion. Stretching is a flexibility exercise.
• Aerobic capacity. Aerobic fitness strengthens your heart and lungs. It increases the amount of oxygen that is delivered to your muscles, which allows them to work longer. Brisk walking is a type of aerobic exercise. Brisk walking means walking fast enough to increase your pulse and breathing, but not so fast that you can't talk comfortably.
• Strength. Muscle strengthening includes building more powerful muscles and increasing how long you can use them (endurance). Weight training builds stronger muscles and strengthens bones.

Getting started

Make physical activity a regular, essential part of your day, just like brushing your teeth or getting dressed. Start slowly (if you aren't active at all, make sure you consult your doctor first), and set small goals. Be creative. You may find that it works best when you schedule your activity in the morning. That way, you won't have to worry about it later in the day when you're tired and have other demands on your time. Or you may prefer exercising midday or in the evening to give you an energy boost.

• Set a 1-month goal you can reach. For example, plan to walk for 10 minutes at lunch 3 days a week or to stretch for 5 minutes each morning. Avoid setting goals that compare yourself to someone else; when you are just starting out, comparisons to others can be frustrating or can cause you to try to rush your progress.
• Keep a record of what you do. Circle the days on a calendar when you exercise. If you want a more detailed record, use a notebook to write down your moderate physical activity every day, including informal things like walking an extra block to work or a game of soccer in the yard with your kids. Or use a step counter to keep track of your steps.
• When you reach your first goal, reward yourself. Promise yourself that if you make an entry in your journal every day for 30 days, you will reward yourself with something special, but do not use food as a reward.
• Stay motivated. Develop your own program tailored to your needs and abilities. Find an activity that you'll enjoy and stick with, and then vary it with other exercise so you don't get bored. For example, 3 days a week, take a brisk 30-minute walk with a friend and then lift some weights together. On other days, take a water aerobics class, ride a bike, or take the dog for a hike. Learn to square dance. Take surfing lessons. Join a softball, volleyball, or basketball league. Sign up for a organized walk or fun run. This will give you a goal to work toward.

No matter what you do, the key is making it a regular, fun part of your life. And once you start seeing the results, you'll be even more motivated to stick with it.

Once your doctor has given you the okay to exercise, you may want to add weight training to your program. If you've never done it before, try to find a certified trainer to teach you how to do it properly. See the following illustrations for help:

• Basic muscle-strengthening exercises
• Muscle strengthening with surgical tubing or resistance bands
• Muscle strengthening with hand weights

Tips for success

If it helps your motivation, find a workout partner. A buddy can keep you going just by expecting you to show up. He or she can also motivate you by watching your progress, discussing your training schedule with you, or socializing after a workout. Pick someone who is at about the same level of fitness as you. Working out with someone who is much farther along than you are can be discouraging, while someone who is at a much lower level of fitness can cause you to fall back or fail to improve. Changing or adding workout partners can sometimes renew your motivation as well. On the other hand, you may view a walk or other activity as your time to be alone to plan your day or solve a problem.

• Find out which activities you like before you purchase a lot of fitness gear. You will be more likely to make wise purchases after you have learned which activities you enjoy.
• Increase your efforts gradually with the eventual goal of doing moderate activity for at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week or more, or vigorous activity for at least 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week or more. Don't try to fit in all your activity on the weekends.
• Replace the fluids you lose through sweat during exercise by drinking plenty of water.
• Make an appointment with yourself to exercise. Consider your physical activity efforts a scheduled part of your day. Block it out on your calendar or day planner. Do several months in advance if you can, so that you become used to thinking of that time as already scheduled.
• Remember that weight loss or how your clothes fit is not the best measure of progress with a fitness program. Gauge your progress by improvements in your fitness level, what you are able to do, and how much energy you have.

Facts About Weight-Loss Diets and Programs

Many different diets and programs, such as the ones below, promise rapid weight loss but rarely work for the long term. Some might even be dangerous. Learn more about:

• Rapid weight-loss diets.
• Low-carbohydrate diets, including the Atkins diet.
• Food combination diets, including the Zone diet.
• Over-the-counter products, such as nonprescription weight-loss pills, liquids, and supplements.

Emotional impact of dieting

The pressure to be thin takes its toll on our emotions. We have a tendency to feel bad about our weight because thinness is stressed by the fashion industry, the media, advertising, health professionals, and our culture. Dieting may make you feel like a failure if you cannot lose weight. Instead of blaming the diets, overweight people tend to blame themselves. The thinking goes, "If I could just stay on that diet, I would be thin." This doesn't take into account that your body has powerful regulators that affect your weight. Repeated diet failures set up a cycle of negative thoughts and often weight gain.

Depriving yourself of food may eventually cause you to become obsessed with food. You will be much more likely to overeat when you finally give yourself permission to eat. Many people who have dieted repeatedly have experienced the symptoms of food deprivation, which include hunger, preoccupation with food, lack of energy, and guilt after finally eating. It is important to make healthy eating changes that you can stick with, instead of dieting.

For more on the emotional issues that impact weight management, see:

• Managing stress and eating.
• Managing your environment.

Weigh less often

Your weight can fluctuate by a few pounds from one day to the next. The adult body is about 60% water, so small changes in water balance can easily alter body weight. For example, it is normal for many women to have some water retention around the time of their menstrual period, so their weight increases temporarily by a few pounds during this time.

What you eat can also influence how much water your body keeps. If you eat a very salty meal, your body will retain extra water for 1 or 2 days to keep your body fluids from being too salty. Afterwards, your body will get rid of both the extra salt and water through your urine.

Because of daily fluctuations in your weight, avoid weighing yourself every day. If you want to monitor your weight, weigh yourself no more often than once a week unless directed by your doctor to do so more often because of a health problem.

Other Places To Get Help

Online Resources

Organizations

Related Information

• Dietary Guidelines for Americans—2005
• Fitness
• Healthy Eating
• Obesity

References

Citations

1. Barlow CE, et al. (1995). Physical fitness, mortality, and obesity. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, 19(Suppl 4): S41–S44.

2. Haskell WL, et al. (2007). Physical activity and public health: Updated recommendation for adults from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association. Circulation, 116(9): 1081–1093.

3. Simon HB (2003). Diet and exercise. In DC Dale, DD Federman, eds., Scientific American Medicine, Clinical Essentials, chap. 4. New York: WebMD.

4. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health (2000). The Practical Guide: Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults (NIH Publication No. 00-4084). Available online: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/prctgd_c.pdf.

5. Willett WC, et al. (1999). Guidelines for healthy weight. New England Journal of Medicine, 341(6): 427–434.

6. Grundy SM (2001). United States cholesterol guidelines 2001: Expanded scope of intensive low-density lipoprotein-lowering therapy. American Journal of Cardiology, 88(7B): 23J–27J.

Other Works Consulted

• American Heart Association (2006). Diet and lifestyle recommendations revision 2006. Circulation, 114(1): 82–96.

• Corbett EC (2007). Principles of nutrition in ambulatory care. In LR Barker et al., eds., Principles of Ambulatory Medicine, 7th ed., pp. 228–240. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

• Dansinger ML, et al. (2007). Meta-analysis: The effect of dietary counseling for weight loss. Annals of Internal Medicine, 147(1): 41–50.

• Heymsfield SB, Baumgartner RN (2006). Body composition and anthropometry. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 10th ed., pp. 751–769. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

• Laquatra I (2004). Nutrition for weight management. In LK Mahan, S Escott-Stump, eds., Krause's Food, Nutrition, and Diet Therapy, 11th ed., pp. 558–588. Philadelphia: Saunders.

• Riedt CS, et al. (2007). Premenopausal overweight women do not lose bone during moderate weight loss with adequate or higher calcium intake. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 85: 972–980.

• Truby H, et al. (2006). Randomised controlled tial of four commercial weight loss rogrammes in the UK: Initial findings from the BBC "diet trials." BMJ. Published online May 23, 2007 (doi:10.1136/bmj.38833.411204.80).

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