How to Achieve a Healthy Weight

What does it mean to have a “healthy weight”? We often focus on reaching an ideal number on the scale. However, true weight management involves much more – it is about implementing sustainable lifestyle changes to maintain a long-term healthy body weight.

Why Weight Management Matters

We all know that carrying some extra weight can make jeans feel a little tighter. But did you know that it also significantly increases your risk of countless diseases that impact quality of life and longevity?

Excess body fat, particularly visceral fat, which is associated with many chronic diseases and accumulates deep in the abdominal cavity, triggers a cascade of systemic inflammation. This gradually damages organs and changes hormonal function.

Whether you are obese or overweight, you are at high risk for harmful health problems, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, breathing problems, and certain types of cancers.

Keeping your weight in check prevents the onset of these diseases, and maintaining a healthy weight range brings many benefits to overall health and can help ward off and curb many diseases and ailments. 

Recognizing the health risks associated with being overweight should motivate you to consider losing some weight. Yes, shedding pounds is clearly not easy. However, focusing on the potential health benefits can help make weight loss more achievable.

In essence, maintaining a healthy body prolongs a healthy lifespan, retains independence, optimizes productivity, and vastly improves how we feel in our skin daily. 

How to maintain your weight without losing or gaining

Achieving a healthy weight is a good first step, but maintaining it over a long period can be just as challenging. 

However, there is no specific formula for weight loss that works for everyone. What matters most is to find a plan that works for you that entails the appropriate balance of calories and diet with a moderate amount of physical activity.   

Achieving a healthy weight is a matter of understanding how your body uses energy (calories). That is the energy or calories you get from food and drinks is balanced with the energy your body uses for breathing, digestion, growth, and physical activity.

This balance is different depending on whether you’re aiming to lose, gain, or maintain weight.

So the key to maintaining a healthy weight is about achieving energy balance over time, not necessarily on a day-to-day basis.

As James Clear, author of “Atomic Habits,” reminds us, even small, daily decisions can significantly impact our long-term habits. It’s the cumulative effect of these choices, not individual days of perfect balance, that ultimately contribute to a healthy weight.

What Factors Contribute To a Healthy Weight?

While weight is often portrayed as simply a matter of diet and exercise, there are actually many factors that affect a person’s weight and their ability to stay within a healthy weight range. From genetics to socioeconomic status to sleeping and eating habits, weight can be influenced in complex ways.

Several factors impact body weight. Some of these factors are modifiable, meaning they can be changed, while others are non-modifiable. Non-modifiable factors include age, sex, genes, and medical conditions.

There are several key modifiable factors that we have some control over which include:

Diet

• Incorporating a healthy, balanced diet and limiting processed foods, sugary drinks, and unhealthy fats.

• Be well-informed about the nutrient content of the foods you eat and the value they will add to your overall weight goals.

Activity Level

• Engage in moderate exercise that will help boost metabolism and increase calorie burning.

Stress Management

• Practice stress-relieving activities like meditation, massage, walks, and other relaxation techniques to manage stress levels effectively.

Sleep Quality

• Get enough sleep and practice good sleep positions like sleeping on your back to help promote quality rest.

Maintaining a healthy weight requires consistent, mindful choices. Focus on a balanced diet, listen to your body’s hunger cues, embrace physical activity, prioritize rest, and manage stress. Engage in activities you enjoy that develop sustainable habits for lasting success.