Healthy Lifestyle Resources

Investing in your health has physical and mental health benefits like boosting your energy, improving your mood, managing your weight, improving your sleep, and reducing your risk of illness. Being healthy means something different for everyone and since expectations and goals are different between people there is no one plan to improve health that will work for everyone. When making a change to a healthy living lifestyle it is important to choose a plan that will work for you and that you can follow to reach your health goals. 

What is a healthy weight?

When discussing weight, there is no right number. Weight changes depending on several factors such as:

  • Gender
  • Hormones
  • Diet
  • Physical Activity

Being overweight also raises your risk of developing a serious disease or a chronic health condition including hypertension, diabetes, and depression.

Weight is a number that depends on several factors and is a poor judge of health on its own. The most used screening tool to review your health related to weight status is called Body Mass Index or BMI. This tool is used for adults aged 19 years and older. Use the CDC screening tool at https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html to find out your BMI. The CDC also groups BMIs in the following categories:

  • If your BMI is less than 18.5, it falls within the underweight range
  • If your BMI is 18.5 to 24.9, it falls within the normal or health weight range
  • If your BMI is 25.0 to 29.9, it falls within the overweight range
  • If your BMI is 30.0 or higher, it falls within the obese range

If you have concerns about your weight or BMI, the best person to talk with is your medical provider. Your provider will be able to review your health status and work with you to make a safe plan for your weight goals.

More information on healthy weight and resources can be found at: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/

Encouraging physical activity:

Being physically active is an important step to improve health and quality of life. There are many common barriers to being physically active including cost consideration, busy schedules, and lack of enjoyment for exercising. The amount of physical activity you require depends on many factors including exercising to maintain your weight or exercising to lose weight. 

Tips and resources to increase and maintain physical activity:
Healthy Eating:

It is no surprise that eating healthy also has no one right answer. Just like weight and physical activity there is no one diet plan that will work for everyone. It is important to note that nutritional needs change throughout our lifetime. Further information on nutritional needs based on life-stage or age can be found at: https://www.myplate.gov/life-stages

Putting it all together: