Changing your Diet:
How to Get Started

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Your weight affects the way you look, how you feel, and your energy level throughout the day.  It also affects your long-term health.  Overweight or obese people tend to have many more chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, sleep disorders and accidents, than healthy weight individuals.

Let’s look at your weight and determine whether there is a need to change it.  What is your current weight?  Have you been on a scale lately?  The American Dietetic Association uses a rule of thumb for weight recommendations:

• For women: for each 5 feet you are allowed to weigh 100 lbs.  For each inch thereafter you are allowed 5 lbs.
• For men:  for each 5 feet you are allowed to weigh 100 lbs.  For each inch thereafter you are allowed 6 lbs. 

Although this rule of thumb gives some guideline for optimal weight, other health organizations use Body Mass Index (BMI) guidelines to tell us whether we’re overweight or obese. 

CALCULATING YOUR BODY MASS INDEX
To calculate your body mass index (BMI):

Your BMI = ______________

For example:  Person X weighs 185 lbs. and is 5’8” tall:

• Multiply 185 x 700 = 129,500
• Divide 129,500 by 68 inches = 1,904
• Divide 1,904 by 68 inches = 28

Person X’s BMI = 28.

What this all means:
A BMI of 18.5-24.9 for adults over 21 years of age is considered desirable.  It means, from a health standpoint, that you have the least risk for the chronic diseases affecting large portions of our population. 

A BMI of 25-29.9 is considered mildly to moderately overweight and increases the risk of weight–related health problems – especially diabetes.  If you fall into this category, you may also have other signs of health risk, such as high cholesterol, high triglycerides or high blood pressure.  In most cases you would want to try to reduce your BMI.

A BMI over 30 is considered obese and puts you in a high risk category for health problems.  You would probably find reducing your BMI to somewhere below 30 is (or will be) extremely helpful for preventing chronic diseases. 

What’s realistic?
Reducing BMI or reducing weight is absolutely possible for anyone.  But, of course, something’s gotta give!  Changing weight requires some effort a desire — but most importantly it takes TIME and commitment.  Good things come in small doses over long periods of time.  No one expects a BMI of 30 to become a BMI of 18.  What’s realistic is to reduce a BMI of 30 to a BMI of 28.  Not gaining additional weight is always key and learning how to reduce weight the right way — a way that works for you — is optimal.

Before beginning any diet or exercise program, it is recommended that you consult your physician or other qualified health care provider.

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