Sample Pages

The Healthy Weight Management Guide promotes several key messages:

1. Everyone needs to manage their weight, regardless of their weight now. The first goal of weight management is to not gain any more weight. The second goal is to lose 5-10% of your current weight over the next 6 months if you are overweight.
   
   
   
2. Permanent changes in behavior are the key to weight management, not short-term adjustments.
   
   
   
3. Exercise for up to one hour a day is paramount to healthy weight management.
   
   
   
4. The key dietary recommendations include increasing fruits and vegetables, eating a healthy breakfast, choosing whole grains and low fat proteins, and choosing water instead of other beverages. All of these have been associated with weight loss. There is a section on how to reduce the unhealthy foods in your diet, but there are no guidelines for counting calories, carbs, or fat grams.
   
   
5. The role of stress and emotions in eating choices is pointed out, and patients are encouraged to recognize when they are eating for emotional reasons, and to find other ways of meeting their needs for comfort.
   
   
6. Overall, tools are emphasized over education. An “exercise idea list” and an “exercise calendar” to log exercise efforts are given out instead of education on why exercise is important. A refrigerator magnet serves as a “point-of-decision” prompt, asking the patient if they are really hungry or just looking for food for other reasons. There are stickers for kids, emphasizing active play and drinking water. All tools also have a sample version to refer to for ideas of how to use it.