The importance of being a healthy weight
Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is important for overall health and can help you prevent and control many diseases and conditions. You can achieve a healthy weight, and stay at that weight, by following a healthy diet and spending more time being physically active. If you are overweight or obese then as a guide, you’ll need to reduce your daily energy intake by 500 calories to lose weight.
There’s a great deal of support available online to help you reach and maintain a healthy weight and we’ve included some of the services available below.
Support to help you lose weight
The NHS Weight Loss Plan offers a diet and exercise programme that will help you lose weight in a safe and sustainable way. The 12-week weight loss guide will support you to adopt a healthier lifestyle and learn how to keep the weight off in the long term.
Change4Life is the first step to helping you and your family eat more healthily, get moving more and live longer. The site includes recipes, information about local activities and advice about drinking less alcohol.
Visit the Kirklees Wellness Service website to find out more about the local support that’s available.
There is also lots of great advice online on the NHS website.
Improving outcomes after surgery
If you need routine surgery and your weight is significantly higher than it should be, losing weight before your operation can reduce the risk of a range of complications such as blood clots, wound infections and breathing problems.
You may feel fit and healthy at your current weight but studies have shown that patients with a higher body mass index, or BMI, are more likely to experience potentially serious complications both during and after routine surgery.
If you have a BMI of 30 or above, we strongly recommend that you lose weight before a routine operation. You can check your BMI on the NHS website.