Taking steps to control your weight can reduce risk factors for disease and improve your health. Learn how to keep your BMI in the healthy range and get tips for eating well.
Having regular meals helps you avoid hunger, which is a major trigger for cravings. Plan ahead by preparing meals for the day or week.
Reduce Screen Time
Getting away from screens can help with eye strain, back pain, and mental health issues such as lowered attention spans. It can also help with regulating sleep patterns, which is important for a healthy lifestyle.
Studies that focused on reducing screen time alone or in combination with other obesity risk behaviors produced significantly reduced BMI gain and obesity rates compared to controls. Screen-time reductions included decreasing television, video game, and computer use; increasing outdoor and other recreational activities; and limiting the number of meals eaten in front of TV or at home.
Behavioral interventions designed to reduce recreational sedentary screen time include using electronic monitoring devices to set time limits for TV, DVD, or video-game play; TV turnoff challenges; family-based and peer social support; and making screen time contingent on physical activity. Some studies have examined whether reducing screen time causes people to replace this activity with more physical exercise, but results have been inconsistent.
Watch Portion Sizes
The amount of food you eat can have a big impact on your overall calorie intake and weight. Eating healthy portion sizes can help you feel full and satisfied while also helping you maintain a healthy weight.
Portion size recommendations are often given in cups or ounces but can be difficult to accurately measure foods in your home kitchen. One way to help determine an appropriate portion is to compare the size of the food to an object that you can easily hold in your hand. For example, a serving of meat is approximately the size of your fist or ping-pong ball.
There are many tools available to help you keep your meal portions in check, including measuring cups and spoons, digital food scales, and reusable portion-control plates. While these tools can be helpful, using them effectively requires knowledge of nutritional information and an understanding of how they relate to different types of foods. Increasing your awareness of how much you’re eating can also help you tune into your body’s internal hunger and fullness cues.