During diabetes clinic, patients often tell me they need to drop extra pounds. I find it is useful to first discuss their current weight. The essential tool we use for assessing and managing weight is body mass index (BMI), which is calculated using a patient’s height and weight.

Although BMI may over- or under-estimate excess body weight in some circumstances, it’s essentially the most widely studied and simply available measure to categorise weight. A standard BMI is eighteen.5 to 24.9 kg/m², chubby is 25 to 29.9 kg/m² and obese is 30 kg/m² or higher. Chubby and obese BMIs are related to higher risks of certain health conditions, akin to hypertension, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

What’s an affordable weight reduction goal?

For patients with diabetes who even have chubby or obesity, weight reduction improves risk aspects for heart disease and should increase lifespan. I find it helpful to check with patients their weight reduction goals. Studies have shown that as little as 5% weight reduction has substantial health advantages, which is usually much lower than someone’s own weight reduction goal. This implies, for instance, that somebody who weighs 90 kg (almost 200 kilos) would have substantial health advantages by losing 4.5 kg (10 kilos).

Once now we have determined that a patient is chubby or obese and established their weight reduction goals, the following step is to debate a method for weight reduction. The backbone of any weight reduction strategy is lifestyle modification, which incorporates a dietary plan, physical activity and behavior changes. Let’s discuss each of those components in additional detail.

Is there a selected eating regimen to think about?

Several diets are effective for weight reduction, including the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating regimen, the Mediterranean eating regimen, low-carbohydrate diets or low-fat diets. It is vital to focus on that no single eating regimen has been shown to work best. Maintaining a eating regimen over the long-term is more essential for sustained weight reduction than selecting a selected eating regimen, so I like to recommend selecting dietary changes that fit well with someone’s lifestyle and are sustainable. Often, this implies making modest changes over time fairly than following extreme and restrictive diets.

Is physical activity essential?

Physical activity should include at the very least 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity, akin to brisk walking. Maintaining physical activity over the long-term is significant for achieving and sustaining weight reduction, so I encourage patients to decide on physical activities that they enjoy.

Weight reduction strategies that incorporate behaviour changes are more practical. Behaviour changes can include monitoring food intake and weight, and understanding and overcoming reasons for eating that could be unrelated to hunger. Behavioural goals ought to be set using the SMART framework, that are goals which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable and Time-specific.