Wellbeing: Weight Management

Carrying extra body weight, particularly around the tummy area, is associated with increased risk of many health conditions and illnesses, including heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers – this is because excess body fat means our body has to work harder to keep us going. This can also impact our mental health too.

This does not mean you are guaranteed to become unwell if you are overweight, nor that you cannot become unwell if you are not. However, it is important that we do what we can to reduce the risk as much as possible to live long, happy and fulfilling lives. 

The most effective way to manage our weight long term is often through positive lifestyle changes. This means developing new habits that help us feel better – and keeping the ones that already do! 

This looks different for everybody!

The key is sustainability and finding out what works for you. Fad diets may make you lose weight, but often can contribute to other illnesses, or to our weight yo-yoing. Your body doesn’t like this! If you are aiming to lose weight, aim for 1-2lb every 7-10 days at most.

If you use a calorie target, this is a recommended reduction of up to 15% for healthy weight loss. This NHS calculator can help you work this out

It’s about finding what works for you. However, there are key aspects of our lives, and lifestyles, which contribute to our successes.

Nutrition

• Being mindful of portions and overall intake is key to weight management goals and losing excess body fat. 
• Proteins, fats and carbohydrates are all essential to a healthy diet
• the key is balance and knowing that portion sizes differ for each food. 

Check out this handy guide from the British Heart Foundation

Physical Activity

• Becoming more physically active will not only help your body burn more excess body fat, but also increase our fitness and strength! 
• This doesn’t mean you have to get into the gym! Just increasing your steps daily or adding in small bouts of activity during the day will have an impact!
• Try taking 10mins out of your morning to go for a walk... do some squats whilst washing up…. Pace whilst taking that important work call. If being up on your feet is too tough at the moment, you can still do active things seated… lift some water bottles… straighten and bend your legs…. Bust out some seated dance moves! It all adds up

Check out this NHS website for ideas

Sleep

• Getting adequate, quality sleep is an important part of a healthy weight management plan. Research has shown that losing sleep can reduce the amount of weight lost and encourage overeating. 
• Sleep is vital for our body to repair and restore – but also helps us balance our hormones too. If we don’t get enough sleep, we get a lot of the hungry hormone!

Mental Wellbeing

• Our mental wellbeing and satisfaction in life play a crucial role in our overall health and happiness – this is also true for our weight management goals. Our abilities to connect to others, be active, take notice, learn and give all impact our ability to achieve the things we want to and see the value in staying well. 

If you feel you would benefit from further support in achieving your weight management goals, have a chat with your GP, nurse, or come to see our Health & Wellbeing Coaches – We offer a non-judgemental, patient-led approach to helping you feel empowered in your own health.