Obesity has become a major problem in America. Americans are getting fatter and fatter. We are putting pounds and pounds of weight at an alarming rate. We don’t want to give up the biggie drinks, and two-for-one value meals at the cost of our health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than 60% of the adults are obese and about 15% of children and adolescents between the ages 6 to 19 yrs are overweight.
In America more than 400,000 premature deaths are caused due to physical inactivity and poor diet which the second only to the deaths caused due to smoking each year, as per the CDC. People who are overweight or obese are more susceptible to develop heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, gallbladder disease, and joint pain caused by excess uric acid (gout). Excess weight can also cause interrupted breathing during sleep (sleep apnea) and wearing away of the joints (osteoarthritis). Carrying extra weight means carrying an extra risk for certain types of cancer, including endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon cancer.

But there is hope for the people suffering from obesity. Let’s look out for few ways which can help us attain good and healthy weight.

Overweight refers to an excess of body weight. It does not necessarily mean body fat whereas obesity means an excessively high proportion of body fat. A health professional uses BMI (Body Mass Index) as the measure to indentify whether the person weight is healthy, overweight or obese. Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to both adult men and women.

BMI Categories:

• Underweight = <18.5
• Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
• Overweight = 25-29.9
• Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

Higher the BMI greater the risk of health problems. In addition to BMI there are other factors like having excessive abdominal fat is also a health risk. Men with a waist of more than 40 inches and women with a waist of 35 inches or more are also at the risk of health problems.

Obesity is now termed as a disease. The NHLBI calls it a complex chronic disease involving social, behavioral, cultural, physiological, metabolic, and genetic factors. Although the experts have different theories as to how people become fat, but the key to lose weight is to eat less and move more. Your body needs to burn more calories than you intake.

The BMI ranges on the right shows how your height contributes to your weight. The range might not be the exact but it shows how the risk increases with the weight. Even if your weight lies in the range on healthy weight it might be a problem if you put on weight more than that.

The trend of the BMI Graph

Find out your exact weight at the bottom of the graph and go right up until you come to the line which shows your height. Then look for the weight group.

• Underweight = <18.5
• Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
• Overweight = 25-29.9
• Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

Successful ‘losers’

Though many people think that when they lose weight they gain it back too, this a myth which people think happens to everyone.

How to do it?

Well, a successful loser is one who eats low calorie, low fat diet, they monitor their weight frequently; they are physically active and eat breakfast. Yes, there are a lot of people who wake up in the morning and says,” I am going to start my diet from today” and eat little or no breakfast. Then have little food in the lunch and then they end up feeling hungry and eat more food in the later part of the day. Successful weight losers have managed to change the pattern.
Even after you lose weight you must carry on the same diet, exercise daily at least for an hour or more and burn around 2,800 calories on a variety of activities.

Setting a Goal

The first step to lose weight is to set a realistic goal. Find out your healthy weight by using a BMI chart and consulting your health physician. Studies show that you can improve your health conditions by losing less amount of weight.
Plan to lose weight gradually is the safest way to reach your goal. A weight loss of one-half to two pounds a week is usually safe, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2000. This can be achieved by decreasing the calories eaten or increasing the calories used by 250 to 1,000 calories per day, depending on current calorie intake. See your health care professional before you begin a weight-loss program, if you plan to lose more than 15 to 20 pounds, have any health problems, or take medication on a regular basis.

Changing Eating Habits

Experts say, you need to change your lifestyle to be successful in losing weight. Diet doesn’t mean that you should starve the whole day; instead you can enjoy all kinds of food but do not overdo it. This involves cutting back on the number of calories you eat by choosing food which are low in calories. This also means that you need to be physically active.

Consider limiting the portions in size which contains high calories like cakes, cookies and other sweets; fried foods, like fried chicken and french fries; and fats, oils, and spreads. According to the NHLBI's guidelines on treating overweight and obesity in adults, reducing dietary fat alone--without reducing calories--will not produce weight loss.

Choose the Food Guide Pyramid developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and HHS to help you choose a healthful collection of foods. Include bright colored vegetables and fruits (like dark red, yellow, green and orange), grains (especially whole grains), low-fat or fat-free milk, and fish, lean meat, poultry, or beans. Choose from the fruits and vegetables which are naturally high in fiber such as fruits, vegetables, legumes (such as beans and lentils), and whole grains. The high fiber content will make you feel full with less content of calories. To be sure of the whole grain, check the ingredients food label, the first ingredient should read whole grain or whole wheat.

All calorie sources are not equal. For example carbohydrates and proteins provide 4 calories per gram whereas the fats, including oils like olive and canola oil provide more than twice that amount (nine calories per gram).

High-fat dairy products like cheese, whole milk, cream, butter, and regular ice cream), fatty fresh and processed meats, the skin and fat of poultry, lard, palm oil, and coconut oil are rich in saturated fats. Processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils such as vegetable shortenings, some margarines (for example, stick margarines that are hard), crackers, cookies, candies, snack foods, fried foods and baked goods are loaded with trans fat. Keep the intake of saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol as low as possible as there is high risk of coronary heart disease.

If you drink alcoholic beverages then reduce the intake of the drinks (no more than one drink a day for women, and no more than two drinks a day for men). Alcoholic beverages supply calories but few nutrients. A 12-ounce regular beer contains about 150 calories, a 5-ounce glass of wine about 100 calories, and 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits about 100 calories.

Limit the use of beverages and foods which are high in sugar level. The sugar obtained from artificially processed and prepared foods and not the naturally occurring sugar in fruits or milk. Foods high in added sugar level will provide more of calories than the required nutrients like fiber, vitamins, and minerals that your body needs. Some examples of added sugars are corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, maltose, dextrose, honey, fruit juice concentrates, and maple syrup. In the United States, foods high in added sugars include non-diet soft drinks, sweetened beverages, including teas, fruit drinks, and fruitades, sweets and candies, and cakes and cookies. The food which is high in added sugar will have the sugar listed in the second place of the ingredients list.

Using the Food Label

Under regulations from the FDA and the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the food label, found on almost all processed foods, offers more complete, useful and accurate nutrition information than ever before. Even when restricting the calories and portions you should use the Nutrition Facts panel on the food label to make sure you get all the essential nutrients required for good health.

When you are concerned about losing weight then one of the first thing to look at the Nutrition Facts panel is to look at the serving size and the number of servings the package contains. The serving size affects the calories, the amounts of each nutrient, and the percent Daily Values (%DV) for the nutrients listed on the panel. In addition to the calories and serving size there are other things also like the list of nutrients, that can help you make healthy food choices while you lose weight.

The %DV value is the quickest way to find out how a serving food fits in with the recommended nutritional diet. %DV--5 percent of the Daily Value or less is low, and 20 percent or more is high.

Usually people use the food label only when they want to restrict the calories and fat but not as a tool on the whole which can help them chose a right food which is rich in nutrients and fibers. Restricting calories is important to lose weight but getting adequate amounts of fiber, calcium, and other key nutrients is also critical to good health.

Increasing Physical Activity

Apart from reduced calorie diet increased physical activity is also important to reduce weight. Besides helping in weight control, physical activity also decreases the risk of dying from coronary heart disease and reduces the risk of developing diabetes, hypertension, and certain cancers.

Exercise does not have to be strenuous to be beneficial. If you exercise for shorter periods in regular intervals it gives the same results as that of burning calories in long sessions.

To lose weight and to maintain a healthy weight after weight loss it is very important for an adult to be physically fit and exercise daily for at least 30 minutes or more.

Prescription Weight-Loss Drugs

There are prescribed drugs for people who are obese and cannot lose weight just by regular diet and exercises. They need something more than that. When used weight loss drugs along with the restricted diet and exercise they can lose 5 to 10 percent of their original weight.

These drugs are prescribed only for those whose BMI is 30 and above, or 27 and above if they have other risk factors, such as high blood pressure or diabetes.

Do consult a doctor before using any of the weight loss drugs. Do use any of the over the counter drug as they are not recognized by the FDA.

Avoid ‘Fad’ diets

The low-carbohydrate and high protein diet like the cabbage soup diet generally termed as the ‘fad’ diet are fundamentally different from federal nutritional dietary guidelines and are not recommended for losing weight.
Fad diets usually overemphasize one particular food rich in one particular nutrient in contrary to the guidelines for good nutrition which emphasize on eating a variety of food from the Food Guide Pyramid. These diets may work at first because they cut calories, but they seldom have a permanent effect.

It’s important for the people to understand that there is no scientific evidence to prove that the fad diet helps in reducing the weight quicker. However, quick weight loss diet doesn’t work on most of the people.

Hope the above written facts will be helpful in planning a nutritional and calorie free diet. So, eat healthy and stay fit is the key to good health.