Weight Management: Fast Facts
Reviewed By:
Susan Janoff, MS RD LD/N
- Weight and obesity are major factors in determining a person's
overall health.
- Obesity is a condition in which a person has a body mass index
of 30 or greater.
- Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death.
- People who carry excess weight are prone to a number of health
conditions, including coronary heart disease, high blood pressure,
type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer.
- Several factors contribute to excessive weight gain or
obesity.
- At its essence, weight gain is the result of consuming more
calories than are burned through day-to-day activities that require
energy.
- Excess calories in a person's body are stored as fat.
- While women are far less likely than men to be overweight, the
genders share roughly equal rates of obesity.
- There are many factors to successful weight management and a
healthy diet is only one component.
- Temporary, restrictive diets followed by a return to regular
eating habits and routines do not work.
- It is important to design a long-term, healthy-eating and
healthy-living plan that fits your individual goals and
lifestyle.
- Experts recommend a gradual and systematic program of weight
loss, with a typical goal of losing 10 percent of weight within a
six-month period.
- Changes to your long-term diet and lifestyle should be
maintained and built upon.
- Setting realistic goals is an important step toward healthy
living and managing weight successfully.
- Changes in diet, exercise patterns and lifestyle can all
significantly reduce the risk of health disorders associated with
obesity.
- In rare cases, people may require medications or surgery to
help bring their weight under control.
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