Weight problems are often a cause of concern for people of different ages. Whether male or female, a person becomes more at risk for diseases once he or she is diagnosed as over-weight or clinically obese. Doctors would sometimes prescribe medicines or advise surgery, but usually they would recommend weight management to persons who have issues with their health and weight. But really, what is weight management and how do you do it?

Here are some answers to the question, “What is Weight Management,” plus tips on doing it effectively.

Weight management refers to the techniques you do to keep your weight at a healthy level. The term “weight management” is different from “dieting” because it involves more than regulating your food intake. Managing your weight also takes regular exercise, prevention and treatment of the diseases associated with being overweight, and maintaining an overall healthy lifestyle aside from following a strict diet.

Some people may go as far as going through surgery and/or medications to solve their weight problems; however, proper nutrition and taking time to lose weight are the healthiest methods to manage weight.  

What is Weight Management and how important is it?

Weight management involves not just losing weight, but maintaining the healthy weight you have achieved. It is a fact that maintaining a healthy weight for a long time is just as hard as losing excess weight; however weight management, or rather weight maintenance is very important.

The number one reason why you should lose weight and keep it at a healthy level is because it would save you from the various diseases related to being obese or overweight.

Obesity is not just a Malaysian problem. In the United States alone, there are roughly around 130 million Americans suffering from obesity (65 million women and 70 million men, 66% adults ages 20-plus and 20% children and adolescents). At an average, the total (health) cost of obesity is more than one billion every single year. This is a major cause of alarm hence more emphasis should be put on successful weight management.

What is Weight Management and how do you succeed in managing your weight?

Proper weight management is a combination of keeping yourself physically active, regulating your calorie intake, avoiding junk foods, eating nutritious foods, getting rid of your bad habits, and being patient and consistent with your “healthy weight plan.” It doesn’t really matter whether you lose your fats or weight at a slow pace. What matters is that once you have achieved your desired weight, you are also able to keep it for a long time. This may mean changing your lifestyle for good but rest assured – the benefits would also be long-term.

For me, managing your weight is about four key elements:

1. Desire: It all starts with the "need" or "desire" to take control of your weight, life and health. Without proper motivation, it is hard to get going.
2. Know-how: You MUST know how to manage your weight in the first place. Desire alone does not give you the know-how.
3. Execution: Now that you have the desire and know-how, you need to execute these based on a proper plab that you derive based on your unique lifestyle.
4. Experience: You can’t buy experience + managing your health and weight is a lifetime committment and trust me when I tell you that if you have the proper know-how coupled with experience, managing your weight gets easier over the years.