The Importance of Maintaining a Healthy Body Weight

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Maintaining a proper body weight is an important factor in living a healthy lifestyle. If we are not at an optimum weight we can suffer from the effects of being underweight, overweight, and obese. Being underweight (having deficient body fatness caused by a poor diet) can threaten a human's survival during times of disease or famine (Sizer & Whitney, 2012). People with certain life-threatening conditions like HIV/AIDS or cancer are encouraged to try to gain weight in order to have "body fat as an energy reserve" and to "acquire protective amounts of nutrients that can be stored" (Sizer & Whitney, 2012). Therefore its important to have a healthy body weight to achieve health but also to maintain it.

Being overweight has its own set of health risks that only get exaccerbated if a person goes on to become obese. These health risks include the development of:

• type 2 diabetes
• heart disease
• hypertension
• gallbladder stones
• gallbladder disease
• abdominal hernias
• arthritis
• complications during pregnancy and surgery
• flat feet
• gout
• high blood lipids
• kidney stones
• nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
• respiratory problems
• sleep disorders
• skin problems
• varicose veins
• high accident rate
• some types of cancer (Sizer & Whitney, 2012)

Dieting, whether to gain or lose weight for a healthy body weight plays a huge role in a human's health. To achieve and maintain a healthy body weight:

•  set realistic goals
•  keep records 
•  expect progress slowly w
• watch energy density
•  make the diet adequate and balanced,
• limit calories
•  reduce alcohol
• eat regularly (especially at breakfast time) (Sizer & Whitney, 2012)

It is important to avoid "unhealthy weight control behaviors like fasting, skipping meals, eating very little food, vomiting or using laxatives or diuretics" (APA, 2014).

American Psychological Association. (2014). "Promoting Healthy Behaviors to Prevent/ Obesity and 

        Unhealthy Weight Control in Our Health". Retrieved from www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/prevent-

        obesity.aspx

Sizer, F. & Whitney, E. (2012).  Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies, MyPlate

Update (12th ed.).  Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.