10 Ways to Maintain Your Body Weight

Weight management is a long term approach to a healthy life style. It includes a balance between healthy eating and physical activity to equate energy expenditure and energy intake. It has assumed a lot of significance in the present scenario with increasing affluence, abundance of convenience food and lack of physical activity. Changes in human diet and activity patterns have had drastic effects on our health status and overweight/obesity which changed the body composition, body shape, nutritional and health outcomes.

Ways To Maintain a Healthy Body Weight :

• Selection of Foods: – Selection of food includes portion size, variety in diet, eating frequency, eating regularity, snacking, skipping meals, consumption of energy rich beverages and snacks, eating junk foods, eating more on festivals, holidays, social gathering, parties, etc that affect weight management.
• Selection of Plate: – A smaller size plate is helpful for weight management. The plate size influences energy intake that help to maintain body weight.
• Eating Habits:– It includes preferences of the individual, interest, mood/emotional factors, time of eating, skipping meals especially breakfast, dietary restraint and socio culture norms. It is very much effective in weight management.
• Eat More Soup: – Intake of more soup decreases the energy intake. It has significant satiety effects. Varieties of soup are best sources of vitamins and minerals with very less calorie that is helpful for weight management.
• Increase More Vegetables & Fruits: – High intake of vegetables & fruits provide lots of vitamins and minerals with sufficient quantity of fibre that gives fullness and decrease hunger. It has low energy density that helps in weight management.
• Increase Protein Intake: – Adequate amount of proteins should be included in the diet to ensure proper metabolism and prevent weakness. Protein rich foods provide a higher satiety and have a high specific dynamic action that helps in weight management.
• Green Tea: – It inhibits body fat accumulation, stimulating thermo genesis and maintain satiety level due to the catechins present in it. It has shown to increase energy expenditure and fat oxidation that helps in weight management.
• Physical Activity: – It is recommended that 30 minutes or more of moderate intensity physical activity at least 5 days a week helps in weight management. In general, it helps to take stairs instead of lift, walking to short distance instead of taking car/motorcycle, etc. The exercise selected by an individual should be pleasant, enjoyable, affordable and easy to do.
• Disease Conditions: – Illness can affect weight status in a number of ways. Fever and infections, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea leads to poor appetite and weight loss. Metabolic rate greatly increased/decreased in hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism resulting in underweight/overweight. Proper nutritional management in disease conditions is helpful for weight management.
• Psychological Factors: – Individuals who are tense, nervous and extremely active or dull tend to expend more/less energy than what they are consumed. Eating in good mood is very much helpful in weight management.

Conclusion: – It is required to take proper nutritional/dietary advice from a Dietician/Nutritionist for proper weight management either underweight or overweight/obese conditions.