You Want to MOVE It!
It feels as though it happened suddenly. As you put away those winter clothes and pull out the spring and summer wardrobe, you think "Hmm, it didn’t fit like this last year." Your jeans won’t zip and your shirt won’t button. We’ve all been there. If you are gaining weight, it’s likely you took in more calories over the winter months than your body used.
The body stores that extra food as fat. If you are losing weight, chances are you are eating fewer calories than your body is using. Sounds pretty simple, right? For some of us, managing a healthy weight is easy. For the rest of us, knowing what a healthy weight is for us and balancing our lifestyles and eating habits can be difficult, and we could use a little help.
So, how can you know if you are at a healthy weight? According to the MOVE (Managing Overweight/Obesity for Veterans Everywhere) program, the simplest way is to find out your body mass index (BMI), which is a measure of your weight by your height. If your BMI is less than 18.5, you are underweight. If it is 25 to 29.9, you are overweight. A BMI over 29.9 indicates obesity.
Why are these numbers important? As a general rule, your risk for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol problems, gallbladder disease, arthritis, some types of cancer, sleep apnea, and other issues increases if you’re overweight. For a man, that means a waist measurement over 40 inches; for a woman, a waist over 35 inches.
If you want to improve your BMI or your waistline, the VA wants to help you MOVE it! MOVE is a weight management program developed by the VA National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention to help deal with the growing concerns about obesity as a significant health care problem and a growing health care cost — over 100 billion dollars annually. All VA facilities have a MOVE program or an alternative weight management program, and there is no co-pay required to join.
Over 70 percent of Veterans receiving care at VA facilities are overweight or obese. If you are interested in finding out your healthy weight, or if you need help to reach your healthy weight goals, visit the MOVE website at http://www.move.va.gov for more information.
