Do you struggle to find your ideal weight?

I bet most of you know how much you weigh, and some of you know your Body Mass Index (BMI). If you don’t, you can find it on your profile page of Anytime Health! It is important to know your weight and BMI today, as well as past and future values. It turns out that they are predictive of your future health.

The results showed that weight matters. Those who are too skinny or too fat died sooner than those of normal weight. The ideal BMI was found to be between 22.5 and 24.9. Within this range, people lived the longest. Of all of the data I have seen on why one should lose weight, these are by far the most impressive.

I have counseled thousands of people trying to lose weight. Many of them argued with me about the merit of knowing their weight or BMI. First they’d argue with me whether they were really overweight. They tell me that they were “big-boned.” Or, they’d tell me that they had the same BMI of their favorite football player and ask me how could either possibly be overweight or unhealthy? Second, my overweight patients would argue with me that they didn’t believe the data that heavier people died earlier. However, it is clear with this large-scale study that heavier people die earlier. End of story.

So what should someone do if they are overweight?

1. Don’t stress out. You aren’t dying tomorrow.

2. Adopt a sensible weight loss plan. You can join a group like Weight Watcher’s or make one or two simple changes. A lot of people are able to lose weight by simply omitting something that they tend to over-eat. For example, if you drink a lot of sugary, carbonated beverages, avoid them, or switch to sugar-free ones. If you can’t control yourself when it comes to bread, then eliminate it, or limit yourself to once a day.

3. Lose weight when you are ready to do so. Once you step up to the plate, then figure out how you are going to do it. Having others pester you about doing something about your weight doesn’t work.

4. Establish reasonable weight loss goals. You should lose only one to two pounds a week, and no more than 10% of your weight each year. Violating either of these will give you a 100% chance of regaining the weight you just lost. Bummer. Most of you gained weight slowly over decades. It should a similar amount of time to lose it.

5. When in doubt, avoid gaining weight the rest of your life. If you don’t think that you can lose weight, just try maintaining where you are. This should be pretty easy as you just eat what you usually do. There is no physiological reason to gain weight with aging. Staying put with your weight allows you to avoiding creeping into a higher, and more dangerous BMI range.

Dr. Stacey J. Bell is a nutrition doctor and expert on food and dietary supplements. staceyjbell.com