Losing weight if you’re overweight or obese doesn’t just make you look and feel good. It also reduces your risk of other health problems, some of which are serious, including the following:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
- Type 2 diabetes
- Certain types of cancer such as breast and bowel cancer
- Back pain
- Depression
- Osteoarthritis
- Infertility
As well as eating a balanced, low-fat, calorie-controlled diet – and, if suitable, taking weight loss pills such as Xenical – you should be physically active on a regular basis if you want to lose weight.
Aim to be active every day and do at least 150 minutes of moderate activity every week (that is, exercise that leaves you slightly out of breath and raises your heart rate).
Try brisk walking, cycling, jogging, dancing or gentle swimming, or other activities that are less likely to trigger asthma symptoms such as football, netball, cricket, table tennis or yoga.
If you’re fit enough to do higher intensity activities – such as running, doing aerobics or martial arts – you can cut down the amount of aerobic exercise you do to 75 minutes a week.
Also try to do at least a couple of strengthening exercise sessions a week. If you’re not keen on the idea of lifting weights, you could try resistance bands instead. You could also use your own body weight for resistance while doing exercises such as push-ups, squats, lunges and sit-ups.
Other muscle-strengthening exercises include yoga and Pilates, or even gardening (if you do it vigorously enough). Yoga and Pilates are also useful because as well as increasing your strength, they work your flexibility too.