Maintaining a healthy weight isn’t just about appearances—it’s crucial for extending your healthspan, the number of years you live in good health. Excess weight, especially around the waistline, increases the risk of chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers. By adopting a balanced diet and incorporating regular physical activity, you can achieve and maintain a healthy weight, reducing your risk of these diseases and enhancing your overall quality of life.
Specific Tips:
- Balanced Diet: Focus on whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. Limit processed foods and sugary drinks. Remember our first goal is protein, second goal is fiber, then we fill in with the rest.
- Portion Control: Be mindful of portion sizes to avoid overeating. Use smaller plates, and listen to your body’s hunger cues to prevent overindulging. This is one of the big advantages of GLP1 agonist medications like semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro): they turn up the volume on your body’s satiety cues, which helps turn down the food noise.
- Regular Exercise: Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, such as brisk walking, swimming, or cycling. This is training your cardiovascular system.
- Strength Training: Incorporate resistance exercises to build muscle mass, which can boost metabolism and support weight management. This is an absolute cornerstone of our weight management program, because we want to focus on preservation of muscle mass and loss of fat mass, not the other way around.
- Stay Hydrated: Drink plenty of water throughout the day to support metabolism and reduce feelings of hunger. This is also very important on GLP1 medications because it can be difficult to have the desire to drink as much.