Underweight (BMI under 18.5)
Being underweight can be just as bad for your health as being overweight. It's important to make sure that you are eating a healthy balanced diet, and that you are not skipping meals - especially breakfast, which is possibly the most important meal of the day.
Try looking at your daily routine to make sure you're eating healthy sized meals at sensible intervals; if you don't normally have breakfast, try making small changes to your routine to incorporate it. You might feel much better during the day too. Taking regular exercise, even small amounts, will improve your appetite and your general health very quickly. Making small incremental changes to your lifestyle reduces the chances of going back to your old routines. There are more general details about a healthy diet in the section below.
There are many multivitamin and mineral
preparations available that can help to support your diet;
many are available in convenient once-daily preparations that
ensure your diet contains all the essential nutrients for
a healthy body. To see the range of multivitamins available
from Pharmacy2U, click
here. Pharmaton
and Energize
will help reduce daily fatigue, tiredness and give you a real
boost of energy.
If your BMI is much lower than 18.5 or if you are concerned about your weight, or if you have other health problems too, talk to your doctor for more advice.
Ideal Weight (BMI between 18.5 and 25)
If your weight is Ideal , that's great. However it's still important to ensure your diet is healthy, and that you're taking regular exercise to reduce the risk of long term illness.
To keep your diet healthy, the following pointers are important.
- Cut down on saturated fats and sugars in your foods
- Cut down on the amount of salt you eat
- Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables
- Eat regular meals, starting with breakfast each morning
- Eat more fish
- Drink plenty of water - keep your fluid intake up
To support your diet, you might want to
add a vitamin or mineral supplement to make sure you're getting
at least the recommended daily amount of these essential nutrients.
To see the range of multivitamins available from Pharmacy2U,
click
here. Pharmaton
and Energize
will help reduce daily fatigue, tiredness and give you a real
boost of energy.
Overweight (BMI over 25)
To get your Body Mass Index back within the most healthy range, eating a healthy balanced diet is most important, as outlined in the 'Normal Weight' section above. There are many diet plans available, so it's important to pick an approach that will keep you motivated. It's also important to set yourself targets, but don't make them unrealistic - you'll just lose motivation before you make a difference.
It's tempting to try and lose weight by eating much less food than normal for a short period of time, but when you revert back to your normal routine you'll find yourself quickly undoing any benefits you've achieved. To be successful, you'll need to change your attitude for the long term.
Many people find that introducing changes to your routine small steps at a time make it easier to stick with those changes for longer.
There are many popular commercial weight loss diets, but some of them may be nutritionally unsound (for example, food combining diets, restricted carbohydrate diets, and "one food only"diets). The best approach is to concentrate on eating a healthy balanced diet and increase your physical activity, while maintaining a generally healthy lifestyle.
- Swap high calorie foods for healthier choices - for example, pick up a piece of fruit instead of a chocolate bar.
- Healthy cooking - make your portion sizes slightly smaller. Try using the grill instead of the frying pan. Snacks and takeaways tend to contain high levels of fat and sugars - keep them to a minimum.
- Eat regularly - skipping meals is a bad idea. Breakfast is especially important to set you up for the day.
- Fruit and vegetables - aim to eat at least five portions a day.
- Shopping - write a shopping list before you go, and stick to it. Try shopping on a full stomach - you'll be less tempted to stock up on unhealthy snacks!
For more advice about changing your routine to incorporate a healthy diet, and top tips to make a difference, see the "How To Lose Weight" page on Patient UK
Many people find that joining a local slimming organisation helps to keep them motivated, such as Weight Watchers, Slimming World, or Rosemary Conley. See if there are any groups near you - why not join one with a friend?
Exercise
One way to lose weight is to minimise the amount of calories going into your body - but the other equally important way is to increase the amount of calories you burn through exercise.
The Department of Health recommends that all adults undertake at least 30 minutes of moderate physical exercise each day, on at least five days each week; either as a single 30 minute session, or perhaps as three 10 minute exercise sessions. However, if you are overweight or obese, the recommendation increases to between 45 - 90 minutes daily. If you have health problems or are concerned about exercising, talk to your doctor first.
"Moderate" exercise means that you get warm and mildly out of breath; for example, this could be a brisk walk, cycling, swimming, or a sporting activity - or it could be something that's already part of your routine; perhaps gardening, or walking to the shops instead of driving. The more exercise you do, the better your health will become, and of course the more calories you burn, the more successful your weight loss programme will be.
Regular exercise is also good for your general long term health, not just for managing your weight. It can reduce stress and anxiety, keep your bones strong and prevent osteoporosis, and reduce your risk of developing heart disease and some types of cancer. Physically active people have a 20-30% reduced risk of premature death.
Health Supplements
In addition to eating a healthy diet and regular exercise, there are several health supplements available from Pharmacy2U that can help in your programme of weight loss. They are designed to support the changes you make in your diet and lifestyle, but not to replace them - they are unlikely to be of benefit if you are not motivated to keep healthy.
Zotrim Tablets contain a mixture of herbal ingredients that can help you manage the physical triggers involved in deciding how much you eat. A recently completed study would indicate that the herbal combination, as provided by Zotrim, may help reduce overall food intake from meals and snacks and hence assist weight loss.
Adios Tablets are a herbal supplement that is designed to help the body to lose weight naturally by stimulating the breakdown of fat and speeding up the metabolism.
Lean System 7contains a precise combination of 'metabolic support' compounds which, when taken in conjunction with a sensible nutrition and exercise programme is designed to help support fat loss.
Dietrim
is intended to help you maintain your ideal body composition
and a healthy ratio of fat to lean body mass. It is suitable
for men and women of all ages and is recommended in conjunction
with exercise. It can also provide dietary support to safeguard
the vitamin levels of those who may be following a diet plan.
Multivitamins and Minerals - click to see the range available from Pharmacy2U.
From Your Doctor
If you have health problems or have a lot of weight to lose, it may be best to talk to your doctor first.
There are three prescription-only medicines
that are currently licensed for the treatment of obesity;
these are Xenical (orlistat), Reductil
(sibutramine), and Acomplia
(rimonabant). However, it's important to understand that
these medicines are only prescribed for people who have attempted
seriously to lose weight by diet and exercise, and whose health
is at risk. They are not intended to be used on their own,
but are prescribed alongside a recommendation to continue
with dietary and lifestyle modifications. There are also support
programmes for all three of these products to assist in keeping
you motivated.
Xenical works by reducing the amount of fat absorbed by the body after each meal, whereas Reductil and Acomplia both work by affecting neurotransmitters in the brain, to make you feel satisfied after eating less food. These medicines are only prescribed by doctors for patients who are classed as obese using the guidance above (a Body Mass Index over 30). If you are concerned that you may be obese and you have tried changing your diet and increasing your physical activity without success, it would be worthwhile talking to your doctor.
Further help
Your pharmacist and your doctor can help if you have any questions about losing weight and staying healthy.
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