How to Achieve Your Ideal Weight

A healthy person's weight is determined largely by basic body build, which is mostly due to heredity, food intake and the amount of physical activity. Weight control is the process of keeping the body's weight within its limits by eating a balance diet, exercise, or both. Controlling your weight needs the highest degree of self discipline and will power. For most persons, weight control is a matter of first losing excess weight to get to the desired level, and then maintaining the weight at that level.

Two individuals having the same weight and the same amount of food will have a difference in their loss or gain in weight. The reason for this is that one is more efficient than the other in his ability to digest and absorb food than the other person. Hence, there is no definite or fixed amount of food that can be taken which will be applicable to all, it must be individualized. Keep in mind the volume of food you eat per day in the previous days, then reduce the total volume if you are not losing weight.

In order to lose weight, a person must one of the following:

• Consume fewer calories than are needed to maintain the body's weight at the normal level of activity.
• Consume the number of calories needed to maintain the body's weight but increase daily activity (that is to get more exercise).
• Consume fewer calories and increase activity.

Things to remember on weight reduction: To lose weight, an overweight person should eat foods that provide fewer calories each day than are needed for daily activities, thus forcing the body to use reserve fat. To gain weight a person should consume more calories than are used by the body. Individuals who consume and use approximately the same amount of calories each day maintain the same weight.

In order to lose one pound (450 g), a person must consume 3,500 fewer calories than he or she normally does. (Since most persons consume 1,200 to 2,800 calories a day, this would take several days.) For instance, a 120-pound (54-kg) woman needs approximately 1,200 calories a day to maintain her normal body weight at her normal level of activity. By reducing calorie intake by 250 calories a day, she would lose one pound in about two weeks.

Tips on how you can control your weight:

• Eat a nutritionally balanced diet that includes fruits, vegetables, dairy product, bread, cereals, meat and fish.
• Eat foods that are high in nutrients but low in calories. Fats contains twice as many calories as the same amount of proteins and carbohydrates.
• Once you achieve your desired weight keep it by maintaining your daily calorie intake and daily exercise.
• People who have slower metabolism should combine dieting and daily exercise. If you cannot avoid eating a large amount of food make sure to increase also your amount of exercise to offset the slower metabolism.

Weight and Life Expectancy: Research show that persons who maintain an ideal weight for his/her height and built have the greatest life expectancy. Taking things equal, and under the same normal conditions, a slightly underweight individual has more years to live than one who is overweight. The longer the belt, the shorter the life.

Weight reduction usually leads to lowering of blood pressure and cholesterol thus delaying the development of atherosclerosis (hardening and thickening and narrowing of the lining of the arteries) and helps prevents thrombosis and other diseases.

How to know your ideal weight:

• Female: 100 pounds, five feet tall. Add 5 pounds per inch over five feet. Example: If you are five feet and two inches tall, your ideal weight is 110pounds.
• Male: 106 pounds, five feet tall. Add 6 pounds per inch over five feet. Example: If you are five feet and eight inches tall, your ideal weight is 154 pounds.
• You are overweight if your weight is more than your ideal weight and obese if your weight is 20% above your ideal weight. You are underweight if your weight is at least 20 pounds (9kg) less than your ideal weight.