This week you will finalize your health promotion campaign by developing a Power Point presentation for the class. Include all of the steps but just summarize on your slides, do not cut and paste all

Weight Management

Weight Management Program

Weight management has become a matter of concern among many individuals due to the increase of cases of diseases associated with weigh for example obesity and cardiovascular diseases. Weight management is the process that is undertaken in order to adopt a long-term lifestyle adjustment so as to achieve a healthy body weight depending on someone’s’ age, height and sex. An individual is considered to be overweight if their body mass index or the BMI ranges between 25 and 30. Any person whose BMI is beyond 30 is considered to be overweight. A normal BMI should range between 18 and 25. BMI is the body size that takes into account the weight of an individual against the height. If the BMI is below 18.5, the individual is considered to be underweight (Peterson et.al 2017).

What causes excessive weight gain?

Diet is one of the factors that have a huge impact on body weight. Excessive intake of energy mostly comes from intake of food in large quantities or food with many calories. Our bodies are design to burn excessive calories if we are active enough. Decreased expenditure of these calories by our bodies happens when the nature of our bodies is sedentary and when we over use the automated equipment inclusive of T.V and video games. Some individuals are genetically inclined to gain weight with ease or store fat around the middle section of their bodies more than others. This should not be a life sentence because a healthy diet, maintaining an active lifestyle and avoiding unhealthy food like drinking carbonated drinks can reduce the risk of genetic predisposition for becoming obese.

Physical inactivity is another cause of overweight and obesity (van der Valk et.al. 2018). Exercising a lot and physical activities is one of the key solutions of weight control and staying healthy. Exercising is has been associated with much health benefits including the reduction of chances of developing heart diseases. It difficult to imagine that sleep can influence your weight. Research has shown that individuals who sleep less are at a risk of weight gain than those who get enough sleep.

Why is weight important to us?

Weight is important to all individuals because it shows how healthy a person is and it also indicates a persons’ well-being. Maintaining a healthy body weight is a sure way of preventing the cardiovascular diseases like heart attack and stroke. People who have a health body weight are less likely to develop diabetes, cancer, arthritis, snoring, infertility and sleep apnea. A normal body weight is also associated with competitiveness in sports and athletics activities. It is almost impossible to win in a marathon race if you your body weight is high A good body weight is a sure way of maintaining good looks and boosting self-esteem. Low self-esteem has been associated with people who are overweight and especially whose body weight is influenced by genes.

Strategies of weight management

If your BMI is still normal is important to maintain a healthy lifestyle so that you do not get into the high BMI category. If you are in that category already, do not give up since there is hope for you. One of the ways of weight management is reducing the intake of unhealthy food for example junk foods like French fries. Foods that are rich in fiber and natural fats are known for burning calories and maintain good body weight. Exercising remains a prime way of weight management. It is a sure way of burning calories, increasing metabolism, promoting fat loss and it suppresses excessive appetite. Aerobic exercises and muscle endurance exercises are more recommended. In this digital era, television time, screen time and other “sit” time has become a norm in our lives. These activities are the prime suspects of increased rates of obesity especially to the young generation. Any individual for is focused of maintain good body weight must reduce the time spent on the screens. Having enough night sleep is another way of maintaining good body weight. Lack of enough sleep causes changes to hormones that regulate hunger. A hormone called leptin suppresses appetite and causes the body to use more energy and lack of enough sleep reduces this hormone in the body (Melendez‐Torres et.al 2018) Stress also can have an impact on the body weigh through the hormonal imbalances. Stress is known to increases cortisol hormone which stimulates someone’s appetite thus increasing the food intake.

Barriers to weight management

More often things that get on our way of maintaining good body weigh are the things that we do on a normal day. Some people do not just have the time to exercise because of the kind of jobs they do. When you fall sick or get injured, it becomes difficult or impossible to exercise. Eating outside our homes for example in hotels and in parties, food portions are always huge and this always has a negative impact on the body weight (Muegge et.al 2020). Following a strict died for an extended period of time proves difficult for many people and once you put a pause to exercising and maintaining a diet the weight comes back. Fatty diets are always very appetizing and they always keep us away from eating good foods like carbohydrates and fiber which burn calories properly.

How can we overcome these barriers?

Setting reachable goals especially of exercising schedules and eating habits is very crucial in maintain good body weight. Start small by taking a walk before getting to running or getting to the gym. Secondly eating good food and in large quantities is always very enticing, it is therefore important to think about the relationship you have with your food and what is likely to cause you to overeat, if it is stress, think about stress management strategies. It is also crucial not to skip meals because doing so will for you to over-eat the next meal. Thirdly, it is advisable to take time to eat healthy food. If it is possible for you to cook at home, please do so. You can also get cooking books and cooking T.V programs in order to assist you on how to prepare healthy meals. If your daily schedule is tight, you can learn to cook as a hobby. Changing the eating habits can also assist in keeping good body weight. Taking a slow change in the food you take can go a long way in keeping you healthy. For example you can slowly try to fill half of you plate with vegetables or increase the serving of fruits you intake per day. Lastly, waking as much as possible is always healthy. If your job doesn’t allow do so, take the walks in the evening or even walk to work instead of taking a metro or using your car.

References

Melendez‐Torres, G. J., Sutcliffe, K., Burchett, H. E., Rees, R., Richardson, M., & Thomas, J. (2018). Weight management programmes: re‐analysis of a systematic review to identify pathways to effectiveness. Health Expectations, 21(3), 574-584.

Muegge, C. M., Zollinger, T. W., Song, Y., Wessel, J., Monahan, P. O., & Moffatt, S. M. (2020). Barriers to Weight Management Among Overweight and Obese Firefighters. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 62(1), 37-45.

Peterson, C. M., Su, H., Thomas, D. M., Heo, M., Golnabi, A. H., Pietrobelli, A., & Heymsfield, S. B. (2017). Tri-ponderal mass index vs body mass index in estimating body fat during adolescence. JAMA pediatrics, 171(7), 629-636.

van der Valk, E. S., van den Akker, E. L., Savas, M., Kleinendorst, L., Visser, J. A., Van Haelst, M. M., ... & van Rossum, E. F. (2019). A comprehensive diagnostic approach to detect underlying causes of obesity in adults. Obesity Reviews, 20(6), 795-804.