HOW CAN LOSING
WEIGHT HELP ME?
Why should I lose weight?
• Keeping your body at a healthy weight can help you feel good.
• If you are overweight, losing even a small amount of weight can improve your health and help you feel better.
- Make it easier to control your blood sugar.
- Prevent heart disease.
- Prevent some kinds of cancer.
- Save your knees and other joints.
- Allow you to have more energy.
- Make it easier to work and get around.
6 - How Can Losing Weight Help Me?
• Controlling your weight can:
1
HOW CAN LOSING
WEIGHT HELP ME?
How much weight should I lose?
• Your health will be improved by losing just a few pounds.
6 - How Can Losing Weight Help Me?
• If you weigh 200 pounds, that usually means losing 10-20 pounds. If you weigh
300 pounds, that means losing 15-30 pounds in the next year.
2
HOW CAN LOSING
WEIGHT HELP ME?
How can I lose weight?
• Try to eat less!
• Eating less is hard to do. Here are some simple ideas you can use to eat less food:
- Cut your portion sizes of meat, cheese, butter, gravy, salad dressing,
and other high calorie foods
- Eating more low calorie foods like fruits and vegetables
- Cutting back on deserts and snacks
- Eating more meals at home and fewer fast food meals
- Drinking water, diet soda, crystal light or other low calorie drinks.
Eat more of these foods.
Fruits
Vegetables
Vegetable Salad
6 - How Can Losing Weight Help Me?
3
HOW CAN LOSING
WEIGHT HELP ME?
• Be more active by:
- Walking more during the day.
- Having more fun in ways that are active like playing with your
children or grandchildren.
- Taking your dog for a walk every day.
- Setting aside time to exercise.
- Taking up a hobby like gardening.
- Learning to dance.
6 - How Can Losing Weight Help Me?
4
HOW CAN LOSING
WEIGHT HELP ME?
• Begin to change bad habits to good habits
- Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full.
- Eat more slowly.
- Stop using food as a way to soothe bad feelings. Find other ways to
feel better like relaxing, meditating, listening to music or being with
friends or family.
- Find other things to do like reading, taking a walk, or calling a friend
when you feel bored.
- Avoid places that always lead to overeating like buffets.
6 - How Can Losing Weight Help Me?
5
HOW CAN LOSING
WEIGHT HELP ME?
• How fast can I expect to lose weight?
- How fast you lose weight depends on a number of factors.
- Men tend to lose weight faster than women.
- The more overweight you are, the faster you lose weight.
- Cutting back on your food helps you lose weight more quickly.
- Being more active can help speed up the weight loss.
- People lose weight more quickly at the beginning and the weight loss
slows down over time.
- Losing 1-2 pounds each week is a healthy rate of weight loss
- Keep track of your progress using a scale.
- Weigh yourself each day at the same time
- Keep a record of your weight to track your progress
- Write down what you eat in a food diary to see where you can make
changes
- Keep a chart of your exercise
6 - How Can Losing Weight Help Me?
• Keep up with your weight loss.
6
HOW CAN LOSING
WEIGHT HELP ME?
- Set a date to begin.
- Tell friends and family you plan to lose weight and ask for their help.
- Pay attention to what you are eating to find changes you need to make.
- Ask to talk to a dietitian.
• How can I stay motivated?
- Focus on improving your health.
- Feel good about making small changes.
- When you slip up, figure out why and make changes to your plan.
- Get friends or family to lose weight with you and support each other.
- Tell friends and family what they can do to help you be successful.
- Have realistic goals and be patient.
6 - How Can Losing Weight Help Me?
• How do I get started?
7
HOW CAN LOSING
WEIGHT HELP ME?
I CAN DO IT!
I will be more active every day!
I will pick a goal from the list below to start this week and continue
until I talk about it with my doctor, nurse, or dietician.
I will start losing weight on __________________.
a. My current weight is ______________ pounds.
b. My goal is to lose _________________ pounds.
I will be more active by:
a.____________________________________________________
b.____________________________________________________
c.____________________________________________________
d.____________________________________________________
I will change these bad habits:
a.____________________________________________________
b.____________________________________________________
c.____________________________________________________
d.____________________________________________________
I will involve the following people:
a.____________________________________________________
b.____________________________________________________
c.____________________________________________________
d.____________________________________________________
I will stay motivated by:
a.____________________________________________________
b.____________________________________________________
c.____________________________________________________
d.____________________________________________________
Copyright 2011 by Vanderbilt University. All rights reserved. Please contact authors for permission to use.
6 - How Can Losing Weight Help Me?
I will eat less by:
a._______________________________________________________
b._______________________________________________________
c._______________________________________________________
d._______________________________________________________
8