There’s no doubt that maintaining a healthy weight — or losing weight if you’re overweight — is an important health factor. For those who have obesity, losing as little as 5% to 10% of body weight offers important health benefits.

However, many people have difficulty maintaining a healthy weight. It may be difficult to lose much weight at all, or weight may be lost but return over time.

If you’ve reached a point where you are no longer motivated to try losing weight, it doesn’t mean you are a failure or are doomed to poor health. In fact, you can appreciate and accept the body you have and recognize all the things it can do. And you can still do a lot to maintain good health.

A study in the journal BMJ found that healthy habits can help offset some of the health impact of being overweight. The study looked at groups of people categorized by both weight and healthy habits. It found that:

• Thinner and healthy has the best life span outcomes — People who are in the lower range of a healthy weight — with a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 22.4 — and who engage in the most healthy lifestyle factors have the lowest risk of early death.
• Overweight but healthy is beneficial, too — People with a BMI of 22.5 or higher who practice one or more healthy lifestyle habits — including not smoking, exercising regularly, and consuming a healthy diet with moderate alcohol consumption — have a significantly reduced risk of early death compared with people with similar BMIs who practice no healthy lifestyle habits that are followed, the greater the benefit.
• Being thinner doesn’t help you live longer if you’re not practicing healthy habits — People in a healthy BMI range have no early-death protection if they do not also practice healthy lifestyle behaviors, with smoking being particularly detrimental.
  

If you choose to accept your body as it is, put your energy toward healthy habits:

• Get regular checkups with your healthcare team to monitor and, if needed, control blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
• Don’t smoke — or stop smoking if you do.
• Keep alcohol consumption to one drink a day or less if you’re older than 65.
• Eat a diet with a foundation of minimally processed plant foods — including fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, whole grains and healthy oils. Also keep food portion sizes under control. If you eat animal-based foods, emphasize lean protein sources such as nonfat dairy and lean, unprocessed meats such as chicken and fish.
• Exercise a minimum of 30 minutes a day at a moderate effort level.
• Surround yourself with friends who don’t focus on body size or appearance, but rather encourage one another to focus on healthy habits.

From the Mayo Clinic Health Letter. Submitted by Nancy Rasmussen, Parish Nurse