Healthful Weight: Management and Composition

Maintaining a Healthful Weight

• Weight management involves having a diet and exercise plan to maintain desirable weight and body composition.
• Maintaining a desirable weight reduces the risk of preventable diseases like diabetes and heart disease

Determining Desirable Weight and Body Composition

• Desirable weight refers to a weight that is healthful for a person.
• Body composition is the percentage of fat and lean tissue in the body.
• Factors determining desirable weight include age, height, gender, body frame, BMR, and activity level.
• Body frame refers to the approximate weight and density of bone structure, which can be small, medium, or large.
• Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories the body uses at rest.
• Physical activity increases BMR.
• A physician or dietitian can emphasize the importance of having a healthful body composition.
• Essential body fat is the amount of body fat needed for optimal health.

Weight Management Plan

• A weight management plan is based on caloric intake and caloric expenditure.
• Caloric intake is the number of calories taken in from foods and beverages.
• Caloric expenditure is the number of calories used for BMR, digestion, and physical activity.
• To maintain weight, caloric intake must equal caloric expenditure.
• To gain weight, caloric intake must exceed caloric expenditure.
• To lose weight, caloric intake must be less than caloric expenditure.
• One pound of body fat is equivalent to 3,500 calories.
• To gain one pound, increase caloric intake by 3,500 calories while maintaining the same amount of activity.
• To lose one pound, decrease caloric intake by 3,500 calories or increase caloric expenditure by 3,500 calories while maintaining the same amount of activity.
• Regular exercise will increase the proportion of weight loss from body fat.

Calculating Caloric Needs

• Factors such as age, activity, and metabolic rate affect how many calories one can consume each day.
• To calculate basal metabolic rate (BMR):
  • Females: multiply body weight (in pounds) by 10.
  • Males: multiply body weight (in pounds) by 11.
• To determine calories used when physically active:
  • Inactive people: multiply BMR calories by 0.3.
  • Moderately active people: multiply BMR calories by 0.5.
  • Very active people: multiply BMR calories by 0.75.
• Add calories for BMR to the calories for physical activity, then multiply that number by 0.1 to get the calories needed to digest food.
• Add calories for BMR, physical activity, and digestion to get the total calories needed each day.

Goal Setting & Decision Making

• When planning any type of goal setting, it is best to create a health contract or some type of plan.
• Start by writing your name and date, then the the health behavior you want to practice as a health goal.
• Write specific statements describing how this healthful behavior reduces health risks.
• You will then need to make a specific plan for recording your progress.
• Making responsible decisions regarding your caloric needs can help you reach your goal.

Gaining Weight

• Underweight is a body weight 10% or more below desirable weight, potentially indicating malnutrition.
• Malnutrition occurs when the body doesn't receive necessary nutrients due to inadequate vitamin and mineral intake.

Gaining Weight Healthfully

• Begin with a physical examination to determine cause, then work with a physician or dietitian to develop a weight gain plan.
• One pound of body fat equals 3,500 calories.
• Increase food intake by adding servings from each food group in the Food Guide Pyramid, including bread, cereal, rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables, milk, yogurt, cheese, meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts.
• Choose low-fat and lean options, and select broiled, baked, steamed, or poached foods over fried.
• Eat snacks between meals, exercise to increase muscle mass, and drink plenty of fluids, especially water.

Losing Weight

• Overweight: body weight 10% or more above desirable.
• Obesity: body weight 20% or more above desirable.
• It is extremely harmful to health and unfortunately on the rise among U.S. children and teenagers.

Losing Weight Healthfully

• Before starting, undergo a physical examination by a physician to rule out other causes of overweight.
• Physician or dietitian should determine pounds to lose and design a plan.
• One pound of body fat equals 3500 calories.
• Decrease food intake, reducing caloric intake and engage in physical activity to burn calories.
• Select low-calorie foods and beverages from each food group.
• Participate in regular physical activity to increase BMR and tone muscle, aiming for early morning and later in the day.
• Keep a journal of food and beverage intake and weight loss.

Weight-Loss Strategies

• Gradual weight loss is the most healthful way, should be attempted after consulting a physician and/or dietitian.
• It allows development of healthful eating habits.

Liquid Diets

• Liquid diets substitute beverages for some or all meals.
• Some liquid diets are only obtained at a diet center, hospital, or physician's office and must be followed under medical supervision.
• Before beginning a medically supervised liquid diet, get a physical exam and extensive blood tests.
• It is required to perform an electrocardiogram to check the condition of the heart.
• Medical supervision and blood tests will be completed at set intervals while on the liquid diet.
• Increased fluids will cause more frequent urination.
• Over-the-counter products may be taken to help with bowel movements.
• A maintenance plan must be followed when the weight-loss goal is reached.
• Some liquid diets are sold in supermarkets and drugstores and do not require medical supervision, which can be dangerous.
• These diets usually contain few calories so people often do not learn healthful eating habits and may regain the weight that was lost.

Fad Diets

• Fad diets: quick weight-loss strategy that is popular for a short time.
• Some people try too many different diets that they never develop healthful eating habits.
• Some fad diets are dangerous.
• The only way to obtain a balanced diet is to get the correct number of servings from each food group in the Food Guide Pyramid.

Prescription Medications

• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved prescription drugs for the treatment of obesity.
• An anorectic drug is a drug that decreases appetite and helps increase serotonin levels in the brain
• Serotonin is a chemical in the body that helps regulate primitive drives and emotions.
• People who take anorectic drugs for obesity require medical supervision, a physical examination, electrocardiogram, and regular blood tests.
• They usually follow a special diet and meet regularly with a dietitian.

Starvation Diets

• Starvation diet: severely restricting calories for weight loss.
• It is dangerous and can affect several aspects of your health.
• When caloric consumption is very low, blood glucose does not provide enough energy.
• The body relies on stored fat for energy, so a high amount of fat is released into the blood.
• Fat ketosis is a condition in which excessive ketones are released into the blood. Symptoms include a "fruity-smelling” breath, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
• Confusion, unconsciousness, and death can occur.

Over-the-Counter Diet Pills

• Some diet pills can be purchased in drugstores, grocery stores, health food stores, and by mail order without a prescription
• Diet pills can be dangerous, addictive, and ineffective.
• Side effects may include headaches, heart palpitations, dizziness, nervousness, drowsiness, rapid pulse rate, and sleeplessness.
• teens who use diet pills often do not get a balanced diet leading to malnutrition.

Laxatives and Diuretics

• A laxative helps with bowel movement
• A diuretic excreted increases the amount of urine excreted.
• People may take laxatives or use diuretics to rid the body of fluids, ridding the body of fluids can be dangerous.
• The weight loss from their use is temporary because it is only fluid loss.
• This may decrease the amount of potassium in the blood and can interfere with normal heart function and cause abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, bloating, and dehydration.

Eating Disorders

• Eating disorder: condition in which a person has a compelling need to starve, to binge, or to binge and purge.
• Binge: eat large amounts of food over a short period.
• Purge: rid the body of food by vomiting or by using laxatives and diuretics.
• Caused by misinformed attitudes and harmful ways of coping.

Risks for Developing Eating Disorders

• Emphasis on appearance: negative body image or distorted body image.
• Uncomfortable with secondary sex characteristics: body changes during puberty cause difficulty.
• Perfectionism: compelling need to be flawless causing teens to be overly critical of themselves.
• Need to control: stems from traumatic childhoods and the need to control every situation.
• Expression of emotions: difficulty expressing feelings leads to substituted behaviors.

Anorexia Nervosa

• Characterized by: self-starvation and weighing 15% or more below desirable weight.
• May exercise to extremes to lose weight otherwise known as anorexia, is life-threatening.
• Treatment for anorexia nervosaTreatment for anorexia nervosa Treatment for anorexia involves a team of professionals, including physicians, nurses, dietitians, and mental-health professionals.
• Obsessed with being thin but do not recognize when dangerously thin.
• Teens with anorexia may have dehydration, constipation, abdominal pain and nausea, hormonal changes, damage to body organs, decrease in heart rate and blood pressure, impaired immune system function, absence of menstruation in females, hair loss, malnutrition, negative self-confidence, a lack of self-respect, depression, or an urge to withdraw.

Bulimia

• Bingeing and purging involves eating large amounts of food in a short period, then ridding the body of the foods.
• Treatment includes a team of professionals who deal with physical and emotional health problems.
• Negative body image: teens who have a negative body image are at risk for Bulimia.
• Teens with bulimia usually know they have a problem.
• Unlike teens with anorexia, teens with bulimia usually know they have a problem.
• Teens with Bulimia may binge in private, but eat regular amounts when with others, have one secret place in which to binge, such as a closet, steal food or hide it in a secret place, think about food constantly and plan each binge carefully, buy or steal special treats or elaborate dishes for a binge, gulp food quickly while bingeing so as not to be discovered, or exercise and diet excessively between binges.

Binge Eating Disorder and Obesity

• Binge eating disorder: an eating disorder in which a person cannot control eating and consumes excessive amounts.
• The diagnosis is made when a person binges two or more times per week for six months.
• Treatment is done by a team of health-care professionals who deal with physical and emotional problems.
• Teens with binge eating disorder may lack self-respect, have negative self-esteem and negative body image.
• How binge eating disorder/obesity harm health includes potential skeletal difficulties, increased heart rate and blood pressure and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.