WHY?
Maintenance of a healthy weight throughout life may be one of the most important ways to protect against cancer. This will also protect against a number of other common chronic diseases. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of some cancers. Overweight and obesity also increase the risk of conditions including dyslipidemia, hypertension and stroke, type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease. Overweight in childhood and early life is liable to be followed by overweight and obesity in adulthood.
FOCUS
If you are overweight, it is important not to feel overwhelmed by what you think is your ideal target weight. If you need to lose excess weight, any loss is better than none. If you can at least manage around five to 10 per cent total body weight loss this will result in some real benefits to your health.
There are two great ways of checking that you're keeping your body fat on track:
Your BMI
The range of normal weight has been usually identified as a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9; overweight and obesity has been identified as a BMI of 25 or over 30, respectively. The Panel recommends that the population median lie between 21 and 23, which allows for this variation.
To work out your BMI:
- Measure your height, in meters
- Weigh yourself, in kilograms
- Divide your weight by your height squared (that’s your height multiplied by your height) to work out your BMI.
If your BMI is already within this range, that’s a great start.
Your waist measurement
Excess body fat around your waist can increase your risk of cancer and heart disease. So, if you are an apple shape, it's especially important to keep a healthy waistline. As a guide, a healthy waist measurement is less than 80cm in women and less than 94cm in men.
HOW?
Tips to maintain a healthy weight:
- Eat healthily by lowering the energy density of your diet – find out how on the following pages
- Move more – increase your physical activity levels. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate activity every day
- Keep an eye on your portion sizes – try not to finish up leftovers when you're clearing away
- When out in a restaurant, order a smaller portion or share with a friend and don't feel pressurized to finish everything on your plate
- Avoid sugary drinks – they have little nutritional value but contain a lot of calories