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Achieving a healthy weight is more than just counting calories or the kinds of food you eat. It’s a combination of things that make up who you are. It’s also about how much you move, the quality of your sleep, and about how you feel about yourself.
The following tools and resources are provided to help you achieve a balanced approach to finding a healthy weight in combination with the nutritional information provided in the “Understanding Your Options” section of our website.
Health Benefits of Exercise
Regular physical activity provides immediate and long-term health benefits. Being physically active can improve your brain health. Other benefits include stronger bones and muscles and better ability to perform everyday activities.
Physical activity also helps:
- Improve sleep quality
- Reduce high blood pressure and risk of heart disease and stroke
- Reduce risk of type 2 diabetes
- Reduce risk of several forms of cancer
- Reduce arthritis pain and associated disability
- Reduce risk of osteoporosis and falls
- Reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety
For overall health, adults need at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity.
- This could be brisk walking 22 minutes a day; 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week; or what works for your schedule.
- Alternatively, you could do 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity each week, such as swimming laps.
Adults also need at least 2 days a week of muscle-strengthening activity.
Additional information and guidelines can be found on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website.
Talk to your doctor about an exercise program that’s right for you!
Reading a Nutrition Facts Label
You’ve seen them on most everything you buy at the grocery store. A Nutrition Facts label lists the nutritional content, serving size, and the calories for a recommended serving of a food product. While you may have seen them, have you ever read them?
Maybe they look complicated or confusing. Once you get the hang of it, these labels can be an important tool in helping you choose the foods you not only buy, but the choices you make for meals throughout the day.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration offers a variety of helpful information on reading a Nutrition Facts label. Check this out and start on a better path to eating healthy.
Food and Beverage Diary: A Place to Start
When thinking about changing your diet, consider starting with a food diary.
By writing down the choices you make during the week for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, you may begin to see opportunities for change – like cutting down on sugary drinks, re-thinking the kind of snacks you are choosing – substituting them with healthier choices, etc.
A food diary can also be helpful in tracking ongoing changes – providing an “at a glance” history of the new choices you’ve made to achieve your health and wellness goals.
Get to Know Your Body Mass Index (BMI)
Body mass index (BMI) is a tool that healthcare providers use to estimate the amount of body fat by using your height and weight measurements. It can help assess risk factors for certain health conditions.
Want to know your BMI? Try this tool and explore other topics to help you understand your BMI and steps you can take to manage your weight.
Please note that your BMI may not be an accurate representation of your health and some additional tools to consider are using a waist circumference measurement, waist to hip ratio (WHR), Dexa-Scan (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry) and/or hydrostatic weighing. Check with your doctor on which method is best for you.
Managing Stress and the Power of Positive Thinking
Getting to a healthy weight can be challenging. At times, you can get discouraged, feel overwhelmed and stressed, which are all natural feelings. It’s important, to recognize how stress can impact your weight and to remember the most valuable tool you have to achieve your goals – your thoughts and how you feel.
There are many techniques you can learn to manage your stress and replace negative thoughts. With a little practice, you can strengthen these methods and find ways to keep yourself well balanced and motivated.
Find a variety of helpful tips, an informational video and other resources.
Additional Resources
To help with your efforts to achieve a healthy weight, additional resources are available – offering tips and tools to make smart and sustainable healthy lifestyle choices.
U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. 9th Edition. December 2020. Available at DietaryGuidelines.gov.