Healthy Weight, Part V

 I am Dr. Mollie Cecil with UHC Medical Weight Management, and I am here today to provide you with ideas and tips concerning your healthy weight.

1). What are some nutritional tips that you provide to your patients?

The MyPlate Method is an excellent way to visualize your meals. You want half of your plate to be fruits and vegetables, a quarter of grains, and a quarter of proteins. If you are diabetic, make sure that half of your plate is non-starchy vegetables.

• If you do not have diabetes, fruits and vegetables are essentially “free” foods. Even though they have sugar in them, your body processes the sugar in fruits very efficiently in a way that does not lead to abnormal fat tissue build-up.
• Flavor is an important part of cooking and enjoying your food. Experiment with different spices and seasonings. Popular seasonings include Italian seasoning, lemon-pepper seasoning, and Creole seasoning.
• Keep washed and cut fresh fruits and vegetables on hand for quick snacks.
• Make your own fruit or vegetable chips for snacks.
• Make sure to get healthy protein every day. If you do not eat enough protein, it will cause you to have trouble losing weight and lose muscle.
  • The amount of protein you need will vary based on your physical activity levels and other health issues. In general, you need about ½ to 1 gram of protein for every 2 lbs. (or 1kg) of body weight.
  • Healthy proteins include chicken, turkey, lean beef, and fish products.

2). How about exercise tips, any suggestions?

Exercise is another very important component of health. In general, exercise alone is not going to cause weight loss unless you are doing significant amounts, such as training for a marathon. However, exercise is important for heart health and bone health.

Exercise is also very important for weight maintenance or keeping weight off once you’ve lost it. People who can lose weight and keep it off long-term have regular physical activity. Just like with diets, there is no single best option for exercise. Which physical activity you do is going to depend on your body and your preferences. Some people love running, others cannot due to joint pain.

3). What is the best approach when setting exercise goals?

It is recommended that you have at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of heavy physical activity a week. How can you tell if activity is moderate or heavy? An easy way is the speech test:

If you are doing moderate-intensity activity, you can talk but not sing during the activity.

If you are doing heavy intensity, you will not be able to say more than a few words without pausing for a breath.

When setting goals for physical activity, it is okay and recommended to start with manageable goals. You cannot go from no activity to running a marathon overnight, nor should you. Escalating activity too much too soon can be bad for your body and can be very frustrating and discouraging. We recommend choosing SMART exercise goals:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-limited

A sample SMART activity goal would be: I will walk 20 minutes daily, every day, this week. This will help me reach my ultimate goal of 150 minutes of activity weekly. This goal is specific (walking 20 minutes a day every day), measurable (the time spent walking), achievable for this person, relevant (to reach the goal of 150 minutes weekly) and time-limited (this goal is for one week.)

It is very important that you discuss physical activity with a doctor prior to starting. You may need heart disease screening before you start. Additionally, paying attention to how your body is feeling is important. Sore muscles are expected when starting an exercise program. Painful joints, chest pain, or severe difficulty breathing are not. If you ever experience these during exercise, you need to stop immediately. If you experience chest pain or difficulty breathing, call 911.