Healthy weight
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A person's weight is determined by many things, including their genes, dieting history, medication, and many other things that happen during their life.
Healthy weight
A healthy weight is the stable weight you achieve when you adopt healthy behaviours. These might be:
- improving the quality, variety and amount of food you eat
- eating in response to internal cues of hunger and fullness
- recognising emotional eating and doing something different
- having a social life
- drinking alcohol within recognised limits
- doing physical activity which you enjoy
- building good self worth, self care and body respect
Many people spend a lot of time, effort and money on trying to lose weight. Rather than 'dieting' think about the changes that you can make, and sustain, and notice how it makes you feel.
Improving what you eat
- plenty of fruit and vegetables
- include oily fish, nuts and seeds
- try more fibre foods - wholemeal bread, oats, peas, beans and lentils, high fibre breakfast cereals
Improving how you eat
- eating when you’re physically hungry
- stopping when you’re full
- recognising when you’re eating because of how you feel
- having options to improve how you feel emotionally
Doing regular physical activity
Becoming more active can seem a daunting task if you’ve not enjoyed it in the past. Taking small steps to find enjoyable ways of moving, stretching and relaxing your body will help build a sense of vitality.
Too often the missing ingredient in active living is fun! What activity do you feel better in yourself for doing? Do you want time alone or as part of a group? What makes activity fun for you? Could pain management techniques help? Look for something that will work for you.
Other things
Larger people are often stereotyped as not bothering about their health and given other negative characteristics. Everybody deserves respect, whatever their size, shape, fitness level, health status or eating patterns.
Learning to look after yourself and protect yourself against these stereotypes may be difficult, but is important.
Resources
You can find support to manage your weight in the following guides:
- First line advice to support weight management (pdf)
- Everyday Eating for Health and Wellbeing (pdf, May 2022)
Argyll and Bute
If you are the Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership area, you can refer yourself to the Nutrition and Dietetic service.
Child health and weight
Find out more about child health and weight.
Hunger-O-Meter (video)
Helping you feel in control of your eating.
Healthy weight
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Child health and weight
A healthy body for a child is one that, whatever shape, size or weight, feels good, has enough energy and grows in a ...
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Medicines for weight management
Currently medicines for weight management are not recommended to be prescribed in NHS Highland.