Excess weight can lead to an assortment of health problems such as damaged knee joints or heart disease. If you don’t want to gain weight, then you should participate in a weight management program. This type of program is also important when you have managed to lose a significant amount of weight after using a special dietary program. With a weight management program, you can learn new ways to modify your dietary habits. In some cases, this includes overcoming long-term habits that an individual has used for many years while shopping for food, eating in restaurants and preparing meals. It isn’t always easy to change the habits that you learned as a child and have used while shopping and cooking for 20 years or longer, but this is why contacting us for assistance with the process is vital. We have the tools to help an individual develop healthier habits that can prevent a relapse back to the old habits of eating junk food.
Understanding How Many Calories You Can Consume
First, you should learn how many calories you can consume each day to maintain your weight. This is based on your age, gender and height along with other issues such as a particular medical condition. Our experts consider issues such as having food allergies, high blood pressure or diabetes mellitus when we are helping a client to manage weight. An additional factor is your activity level. If you are able to remain active, then you can consume more calories while avoiding gaining weight. However, if you cannot exercise for some reason, then you will need to follow a stricter dietary regimen.
An important part of weight management is learning what foods are the most important to eat. Today, we know that consuming fruits and vegetables first is more important than eating other foods. At the same time, your body still needs the nutrients that are in lean meat, low-fat dairy products and whole-grain foods.
Learn How to Shop for Food and How to Prepare Meals
The biggest challenge in weight management often begins when our clients are buying food at the supermarket. We recommend having daily menu plans so that you can shop for the foods that are on a written list. It is a good idea to shop for groceries when you are not hungry and when you have plenty of time to think about what you are buying. Food journals are also an effective tool.
To learn more about our medical weight loss management services, contact us today at Shenandoah Women’s Healthcare and book an appointment at our office in Harrisonburg!