Start losing weight

27 June 2011

Start losing weight

If you're overweight, losing weight will bring you a range of important health benefits. The key to success? Think small, realistic changes to your diet and level of physical activity that can become a part of your daily routine.

This guide can help you to start your journey towards a healthy weight. Once you're on the way, there is lots of information and advice that can help you keep going in Lose weight.

Along the way, you can monitor changes in your body mass index (BMI) using our Healthy weight calculator.

Commit to change

Modern life can make it easy to eat too much and do little physical activity. The result is often weight gain.

To lose weight, we need to change our current habits. This means eating a healthy, balanced diet and getting active. Drastic exercise regimes and fad diets that result in rapid weight loss are unlikely to work for long, because these kinds of lifestyle changes can't be maintained. Once you stop the regime, you're likely to return to old habits and regain weight.

Instead, choose diet and physical activity changes that you can make a part of your daily routine, and stick to for life.

Ready to get started?

Do today

You can take four actions today that will start your journey towards a healthy weight:

If you haven't already, check your BMI with our Healthy weight calculator. If your BMI is in the overweight range, aim to achieve a weight that puts your BMI in the healthy range. If it is in the obese range, aim to lose between 5% and 10% of your starting weight. Having lots of muscle may put your BMI in the unhealthy range, even if you have little body fat. However, this will not apply to most people.
Now take the next snack you plan to have and swap it for something healthier. Many common snacks, such as sweets, chocolate, biscuits and crisps, are high in fat and sugar and supply calories that we don't need. Today, swap your elevenses or mid-afternoon snack for a piece of fruit. Aim to do the same every day: you've adopted your first weight loss habit.
Next, find a way to fit just one extra walk into your day. Brisk walking is a way to burn calories, and you can often fit it into your daily routine. You might walk to the shops during your lunch break, or get off the bus one stop early on the way home and walk the rest of the way. Commit to this and you've adopted your second long-term habit. Ideally, you should aim to walk 10,000 steps a day: it's not as many as it sounds. Learn more in the 10,000 steps a day challenge.
Last, think about your breakfast tomorrow morning. Can you make it healthier, using the foods you already have at home? Get ideas in Five healthy breakfasts.