Many individuals take for granted the kilograms or the pounds that they see reflected in their bathroom scales. For some it is just numbers showing how heavy they are. Unfortunately, many still fail to recognize the different diseases that have been shown to be directly related to weight abnormalities. Being underweight, overweight, or obese is not a disease in themselves but are important risk factors in the development of other health conditions. This is why experts always recommend achieving and maintaining an ideal weight as an important objective for healthier bodies.

Underweight is often implicated in malnutrition and other metabolic abnormalities. Overweight, especially, obesity, has been implicated in the development of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol levels, cancer, infertility, back pain, skin infections, gastric ulcers, and gallstones. Whether you believe these to be true or not, there is nothing harmful in achieving and maintaining an ideal body weight.

Here’s how.

Understand and Compute for Your Ideal Body Weight

While Body Mass Index, or BMI, is not the only measurement tool used in the identification of weight problems, experts agree that it provides a reasonable estimate of the fatness of your body. However, it does not give you the whole picture especially when talking about the distribution of fat in your body as well as the relative risk that you may have in relation to the different diseases associated with weight abnormalities. Nevertheless, it gives a reasonable estimate of how much fat is present in your body. Other tools used to provide and estimation of weight problems include body fat percentage and the waits-to-hip ratio.

To compute for your BMI, take your weight in kilograms and divide this with the squared value of your height in meters. For example if you weigh 100 kilograms and stand 1.7 meters tall, this gives you a BMI of 34.6 (100 ÷ 2.89). A BMI of 34.6 will indicate that you have Class I obesity. A BMI of less than 18.5 is classified as underweight while a BMI of 25.0 to 29.9 is already considered overweight. BMIs higher than 40.0 is Class III obesity. What you would like to see is a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9. This is the BMI that will show that you have the ideal body weight.

Your BMI is just a rough estimate of your current weight status. For more accurate ideal body weight computations, you can use online ideal body weight calculators. For example, given the above situation and you are a 35-year old female, your ideal body weight should be 60.8 kilograms if you use the Robinson formula. The same situation will produce an ideal body weight of 62.6 kilograms on Miller formula. The problem is that because the result is very precise you will have to be very strict in your weight normalization activities.

Perform Fun and Enjoyable Exercises

Knowing your ideal body weight and BMR is one thing. Doing something to make the necessary adjustments is another. And while conventional wisdom will tell you to hit the gym immediately, this is not necessarily ideal. What is more important is to choose activities or exercises that you enjoy doing. The key point to understand is that the exercise regimen should be fun and enjoyable in order for it to be successful. However, if you have absolute self-control, then hitting the gym will definitely bring the results you want a lot faster. Otherwise, running or jogging or even biking at least 30 minutes every day should help you get on track. Why not join a dance class or even go swimming? Do something that you truly enjoy, increase the intensity and the frequency, and you should be able to shed off those excess weight.

Watch What and How Much you are Eating

Exercise alone will not get you the body weight that you are aiming for. Physical exercises should also be complemented with sensible dieting. You don’t have to starve yourself or skimp on your favorite foods. What is important is portion control with due diligence in finding out the number of calories in each portion. The trick is to put in less calories in your body than what it is using. What you want to achieve is to eat fewer calories than what your body actually needs, beyond its essential functions, of course. For example if your basal metabolic rate is 2,500 kcal, then don’t eat more than that. Take in more fruits and vegetables and none of the fried junk foods that you may be fond of. Additionally, avoid as much as possible sugary beverages.

Achieving an ideal body weight is often difficult. However, maintaining it is doubly hard because you will have to make diet and exercise as an integral part of your weight management efforts.