Calories and Weight Control

Weight control is often a concern for women. There is a lot of pressure in our society to be a certain body size; we see tall, underweight models splashed across the front page of glamour magazines suggesting that they should be the norm. Weight alone is not the only determinant of health, body shape, amount of fat to lean body mass, familial history, and other factors all contribute to your overall health. See section on Tools to see how you rate. On the other hand, a woman's metabolism slows down from 2 to 8 percent every decade, which means women need 100 fewer calories a day than she did 10 years ago. It is no surprise then to find ourselves putting on weight even if we are eating the same or maybe less than before. Cutting back on calories is not always the answer to losing weight. It is important that you are meeting all your daily requirements for a healthy diet by having the minimum number of servings per day from the Food Guide Pyramid. If you find you are gaining weight, do not only focus on cutting calories, but also about increasing activity and exercise. Calories are only half of the equation for weight control. Physical activity burns calories, increases the proportion of lean to fat body mass, and raises your metabolism. Include strength-training and weight-bearing exercise in your routine to preserve bone density and combat the loss of muscle. So, a combination of both calorie control and increased physical activity is important for attaining healthy weight. If, however, you are been pigging out--well, you know what you have to do.