Weight management

Weight management involves reaching and maintaining a healthy body weight. Being overweight or obese is linked with a higher risk for a number of chronic illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers, while being underweight is linked with an increased risk for anemia, osteoporosis, lowered immune system function, and problems with fertility. Weight management does not refer to fad diets, products, or surgeries that promise rapid weight loss; instead, weight management is a lifelong approach to eating well and exercising regularly in order to achieve a healthy weight and lifestyle.

Overview

According to data from the World Health Organization, approximately 13 percent of the world’s adult population was obese and 39 percent were overweight in 2014. Furthermore, approximately 44 percent of the worldwide diabetes burden, 23 percent of the ischemic heart disease burden, and between 7 and 41 percent of certain cancer burdens have been attributed to overweight and obesity. However, simple changes to an individual’s diet and exercise regime can significantly improve his or her health outcomes.

The first step to weight management is to determine a healthy weight range. One of the simplest and most widely used methods for determining whether an individual is at a healthy weight is to calculate his or her body mass index (BMI), by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters squared. BMI scores between 18.5 and 25 are considered to be within a healthy range. Although there are more accurate methods than the BMI for determining whether an individual is underweight or overweight, such as underwater weighing or dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), these techniques require specialized equipment and trained technicians and are therefore less frequently used.

It is important to determine the appropriate daily caloric intake based on a person’s age, gender, and activity level. The US Department of Agriculture recommends 2,000 calories per day for the average woman aged nineteen to thirty who gets less than thirty minutes of moderate physical activity on most days; for men in the same age range, the recommended intake is 2,400 calories per day.

The key to weight maintenance is to achieve a balance between calories consumed and calories expended through physical exercise and metabolic activity. To lose weight, experts recommend consuming two hundred to four hundred fewer calories per day than the recommended caloric intake. A journal, calendar, or smartphone application can be used to track all the foods an individual eats throughout the day; when counting calories, it is important to remember to account for the calories in sauces, condiments, and beverages as well as foods. Eating nutrient-rich and high-fiber foods can help individuals feel fuller longer. Skipping meals or overly restricting calories has been shown to slow the metabolism, thereby reducing weight loss.

Weight management is a lifelong endeavor that can be relatively straightforward when individuals focus on healthy foods and exercise regimes that appeal to them and slowly introduce changes to form strong habits. However, sustaining significant weight loss in the long term has been shown to be particularly difficult. Studies have found long-term changes to the levels of metabolic activity and appetite-suppressing hormones in individuals who have achieved significant weight loss, making weight maintenance difficult. Nevertheless, most of the benefits of weight management cannot be seen on the scale. Research indicates that low cardiorespiratory fitness is the most significant predictor of early death, more so than being overweight or obese, smoking, or having high cholesterol or diabetes. Thus, even simple lifestyle changes, such as taking a thirty-minute walk every day, can have a major impact on health incomes, even without sustained weight loss.

Bibliography

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