• Avoid excess alcohol consumption
• Reduce Stress
• Guard against depression.
• Reduce boredom and frustration
• Avoid poor eating habits
• Avoid a sedentary lifestyle.
• Perform aerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week and try to increase physical activity in general by walking rather than driving, and climbing stairs rather than using an elevator or escalator.
• Reduce consumption of food that is high in fat and sugar.

For additional help in losing weight:

• Join a support group or ask help from a friend to keep you motivated and to report your progress to. Many people find it easier to follow a reduction diet and exercise program if they work with a friend or join a group of people with similar problems.
• Avoid over-the-counter drugs that claim to aid in weight loss – most are ineffective, and some can be dangerous. So, don’t waste your money or your health on them.

Also, be sure to set realistic goals for weight reduction. A loss of ½ to 1 pound a week may seem slow, but losing weight too fast often does not work. Weight lost quickly is usually regained quickly. If you are not able to lose weight on your own you should consult your physician. Often, it is difficult to break the ‘sweet-tooth’ habit, but it may not be overeating of simple sugars that is the problem for a few.

Generally, during your physical examination, the doctor will have you answer a few questions that will help him or her pinpoint the main problem of your obesity. Examples of these follow so that you can perform your own self assessment.

Medical history questions documenting obesity in detail may include:

Time pattern
1. Has there always (or since childhood) been a tendency to be heavy?
2. Has the person been slender until recently, and then begun to gain weight?*

Eating habits
1. Has diet changed recently?*
2. Have eating habits changed?*
3. What percent of the daily calories are from fat?*
4. How many meals are eaten in a day?* What type?
5. How many snacks? What type?*

Exercise habits

1. Has activity level changed?
2. Has there been a decrease in daily activity?*

Other factors
1. Is there an increase in emotional stress?*
2. Have you increased your alcohol consumption?*
3. What other symptoms are occurring at the same time?

If you answered yes to those questions marked with (*) then, there is a good chance that weight gain is primarily associated with both increased food intake and decreased activity. This is good because it’s something you can control. Also, during your visit to the doctor, skin fold measurements may be taken to assess body composition. Blood studies to test endocrine function may also be performed.

Treatment for Being Overweight or Obese:
Medications are usually not recommended as an aid for intentional weight loss. They often cause harmful side effects or adverse reactions. At best, the drugs control appetite only for short time periods and don’t help change eating habits. For the most dire cases, gastric outlet stapling may be indicated for the morbidly obese. Unless there is absolutely no other alternative, these are not recommended.

What About Those Who Are Not Obese?
Generally, we only consider those among us who are obese, but there are also those who do not eat enough carbohydrates or other macro-nutrients to maintain good health. For these, they typically develop nutritional deficiency. A condition caused by inadequate intake or inadequate digestion of nutrients. It may result from eating an inadequate or unbalanced diet, digestive problems, absorption problems, or other medical conditions. Such problems can arrange due to too much focus on body image, eating disorders, lack of control, which typically leads to eating disorders, emotional stress, and a host of other factors.

Your goal should be to eat a balanced, nutritious diet, using moderation in consumption of all foods, and have a daily exercise regimen.

Nonsmokers who were overweight, but not obese, lost an average of three years off their lives. Those who were obese died even sooner. Obese female nonsmokers lost an average 7.1 years, while men lost 5.8 years. Although similar studies have shown the same trends and it has been widely know among scientists, few large-scale studies have been able to pinpoint how many years are lost due to obesity.

The tragedy is that even if you are overweight in your mid 30s to 40s and then, lose the weight, you still have a higher risk of death. Consequently, if you want to reduce this risk, you must work early on your weight to maintain a healthier lifestyle because if you wait a long time, the damage may have already been done.

The results of the study showed that for smokers, the results were even worse. Obese female smokers died 7.2 years sooner than normal-weight smokers, and 13.3 years sooner than normal-weight nonsmoking women. Obese male smokers lived 6.7 years less than slim smokers, and 13.7 years less than normal-weight nonsmokers.

The results were gathered and analyzed by researchers at Erasmus Medical Center and the University of Gronigen in the Netherlands from vital statistics of 3,457 volunteers in Framingham, MA.

Obesity is defined as having a body-mass index of 30 or above. The index is a measure of weight relative to height. Healthy weight in relation to BMI is considered less than 25.

About 66% of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Studies have also shown that people are becoming obese at a younger age. This corresponds to a rise in sugar intake per capita since 1930. Although this has not been proven, the trend in obesity follows the trend in the U.S. in sugar consumption during the last 70 years. In 1930, the average per capita sugar consumption was 20 pounds; it is now 150 pounds and climbing.

Thus, while smoking is on the decline, sugar consumption and increasing obesity of the population, especially in young adults, creates a new fear, which heralds another potentially preventable public health disaster.