Do you want to lose that extra quarantine weight the right way? Are you tired of searching through the internet for the right diet or exercise that works for you? If you answered YES to these questions - this is the article for you. As a tribute to September’s Obesity Prevention Awareness Week, we will give you a step-by-step guide on how to shift into a healthy eating and active lifestyle that will not only address your weight problem but also help improve your feelings about food and your body image, digestive problems such as bloating, hyperacidity and indigestion, cravings and even improve your sleep, mood and productivity for the rest of the day!
So why is it important to shift into a healthy diet and active lifestyle?
● Obesity and excess weight have been recently associated with increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19
● Overweight and obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing Non-Communicable Diseases such as Hypertension, Diabetes and some cancers.
● Early morbidity leads to increased healthcare costs from early maintenance medication or hospitalization and poor quality of life
● Some want to manage current medical conditions such as Hypertension, Diabetes, PCOS, Gout and Arthritis through dietary modification and weight loss.
● Some want to prevent diseases early after having a family history of the disease condition.
● Some have personal body goals to feel stronger or look more attractive or confident.
● Some want to improve productivity in school or work.
● Some simply want to have a healthy lifestyle.
With these reasons in mind, what can we do and where should we start? Here’s a step-by-step guide that will help you in your weight goals and healthy eating journey:
1. Know your WHY. Knowing your WHY is the most important step that will keep you motivated to stay consistent and to explore healthier options for you. Your WHY could be a health goal such as reducing your risk of developing Diabetes or Hypertension, getting in shape to improve your physical appearance, simply losing excess fat to fit into your favorite clothes or to feel more confident or attractive or simply to improve general health and wellbeing.
2. Self-Assessment. This is the second most important step that will make you aware of the things you want to address. It has 5 components:
● Anthropometric Assessment. Assess if you are underweight, healthy weight or overweight based on a standard for Asians using the Asia Pacific BMI standards. This will guide you if you need to lose weight, maintain weight or add some healthy muscle and bone mass.
● Biochemical Assessment. If available, review your most recent laboratory tests to see which parameters are abnormal. Some individuals with low hemoglobin levels may feel sluggish and easily tired - thus, may need to add iron-rich foods into their diet. Some individuals may find out that their blood sugar levels are slightly elevated - thus may need to do some dietary and lifestyle change.
● Clinical / Medical History. Explore your family for history of Hypertension, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Gout and Cancer. If you have parents or siblings with these conditions, you have an increased risk of developing them in the future but this can be prevented early on through a healthy diet that fits you.
● Dietary. For a week, observe how much you usually eat to feel happy or satiated by using standard measuring cups. Also observe when you usually feel hungry or thirsty, feel cravings or feel digestive discomfort. Knowing all of these factors will help guide you in making your own nutritional plan.
● Ecological. Assess yourself in terms of how much sleep you get and other lifestyle factors like smoking and alcohol intake which may influence your plan. Also assess your current physical activity if you get to have at least 30 minutes of active movement per day.
3. Record your baseline to track your progress. Taking your baseline weight, waist circumference, full body photo and diet observations will help you track your progress and guide you on what adjustments to make along the way. Seeing your body transformation through the months will also motivate you to stay consistent.
4. Compute your DBW body weight range. Knowing your healthy body weight range will help you measure your progress. This will be discussed in detail in the next articles.
5. Make a SMART goal. SMART stands for:
● Specific - Do you want to lose, maintain or gain weight?
● Measurable - How much do you want to lose specifically?
● Attainable - Can we attain this goal through our plan?
● Realistic - Can we attain it at a healthy rate of 0.5 kg/week?
● Time-bound - How many weeks or months will it take?
6. Create a personal plan or consult a Nutritionist-Dietitian. Creating a personal plan is easier when you are guided by a Nutritionist-Dietitian because their expertise will not only address your dietary concern but also your underlying medical conditions and help you choose the right regimen for you.
7. Always start with a balanced diet. If you want to start right away, the core principle is to start with a balanced diet where you have at least 1 serving of: Meat or Poultry, Rice, Vegetable and Fruit at every meal.
8. Gradually increase your physical activity from 10 minutes up to 30 minutes per day. As a beginner, your body needs to get used to increasing physical activity so it can adjust and sustain you for longer.
9. Monitor your progress. Choose a certain day of the week where you will take weight measurements to track your progress. Also take a full body photo monthly to track your physical progress.
10. Be consistent. Regardless of your goal, staying consistent is the key to making your plan work. Some plans may work slowly at first while some lose weight fast. Since every person is different, sticking to your personal plan will be easier if you have an accountability partner, fitness coach or a nutritionist-dietitian by your side to keep you motivated.
These 10 steps are the key steps in helping you get started in your weight loss and healthy eating journey. These topics will be discussed in detail in the upcoming articles so stay tuned!
/AET
References:
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2021). Obesity, Race/Ethnicity and COVID-19. CDC.gov. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/obesity-and-covid-19.html
• World Health Organization (2021). Noncommunicable Diseases. World Health Organization. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases
