Diet and Weight Loss Tips

Many people think that the ideal weight is to be as thin as a Hollywood starlet or model, but these people are often underweight. “Normal” people look heavy in comparison but really they are at a healthy weight.

You might think that the ideal weight is what you weighed in high school or college but as people get older it’s perfectly normal to gain weight. Conditions like pregnancy and other medical conditions can also change your body and make you heavier. It might not be possible for you to get back down to that high school or college weight and still be healthy now.

So how can you tell what is a healthy weight for you? Talk to your doctor if you’re not sure; your doctor should be able to give you some advice on what you should weigh to be healthy and fit. You should also take these factors into consideration to decide what a healthy weight for you is.

Your age – As you get older you will gain some weight. This is perfectly normal. Once you hit 30 your muscle mass starts to deteriorate, which can mean you burn fewer calories. When that happens you will start to gain weight and you will lose muscle tone.

Exercising is the key to getting older without gaining weight because exercise will raise your metabolism and rebuild muscle tone. Once you get to age 30 you should plan on adding at least 15 more minutes to your normal workout.

Your gender – The current trend is for men to be quite slim and small like women but men usually carry more muscle than women so men are generally heavier than women. The healthy weight for a man is usually 10-20 pounds heavier than the healthy weight for a woman of the same height.

Your starting weight – If you weigh 200 pounds now don’t focus too much on getting down to a size 0. It’s quite possible that your ideal weight based on your height and body type will be heavier than you think. Focus on losing 10-20% of your body weight and getting healthy rather than on a particular number on the scale that you want to reach.

Your BMI – Is your heaviness due to body fat or muscle? If you have a lot of muscle you will weigh more than other people but you might not be unhealthy, just heavy because of the muscle that you have. Take into account how much muscle you have when you are setting a weight less goal. It’s ok to weigh more than you’d like if you are muscular but not ok if the extra weight is all fat.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Weight Loss Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.