Irish Heart Weight Loss

Weight Loss

Losing weight reduces your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Why losing weight matters

Being overweight means that your heart has to work harder to pump blood around your body. This extra pressure can cause wear and tear on your heart and blood-vessel system.

Many people who are overweight for a long time develop high blood pressure or diabetes, which are both risk factors for heart disease and stroke.

What’s the first step?

The first step is to recognise it, its risks, causes and to choose to make a change. Even losing a small amount of weight will improve your overall mental and physical health, as well as help reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Being overweight or very overweight (obese) damages our hearts, blood vessels and our joints. It is mainly the result of too many calories in our diet and too little activity. To lose weight, it involves changing your eating habits and getting more physically active.

Knowledge is power. Making small changes now will stop you from gaining extra weight over the next few years. Our tips below will help get you started.

If you are overweight, you should check with your doctor if you have other risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol or smoking.

Get the facts to get motivated

By losing extra weight we all instantly begin to feel better, look better, lower our chances of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and high blood pressure, and help to reduce or even stop your medication for angina, high blood pressure or raised cholesterol.

If you’ve had a heart attack, bypass surgery or an angioplasty, it’s important that you follow the tips below to lose weight. You should especially try to: choose fish twice a week including oily fish such as sardines, salmon, mackerel or trout; and choose at least five or more portions of vegetables and fruit every day.

When people are overweight, it is where our bodies store the extra fat that causes the problems.

Where is the fat stored?

If the extra fat is stored around our waist, this results in an apple shape. This shape is linked with a higher risk of causing heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and some cancers.

If the extra fat is stored around our hips this results in a pear shape and this shape is less harmful to your health.

Check your waist measurements

You can use your measurements as motivation to get going. From this moment on you’ll be back in control and heading in the right direction.

But remember: no one weight is ideal. There’s a range of healthy weights for a particular height.

Also, there is no quick way to lose weight. A steady loss of one kilogram (one to two pounds) a week is the safest and the most effective way to lose weight – and keep it off.

To measure your waist, use a measuring tape and then check the measurements below to assess your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Healthy waist measurement

Men = Less than 94 centimetres (37 inches)
Women = Less than 80 centimetres (32 inches)

Moderate risk

Men = Between 94 and 102 centimetres (37 and 40 inches)
Women = Between 80 and 88 centimetres (32 and 35 inches)

High risk

Men = More than 102 centimetres (40 inches)
Women = More than 88 centimetres (35 inches)

Body mass index (BMI)

To check your Body Mass Index, a good gauge for your overall weight, please view our leaflet in our resources or call into your local pharmacist.

If you are in the ‘overweight band’ range of BMI, you should start to follow the following our weight loss tips below and in our leaflet.

If you are in the ‘obese’ or ‘very obese band’ range, please ask for help and advice from your family doctor or a dietitian. Make a note to do it today.

Ok, so what can I do?

Forget about dieting. Instead, follow a weight loss plan for life. Make small gradual changes to the food you eat and get more active. Even losing a small amount of weight has health benefits.

Start with changes that are easy to make and that you can keep up for life – this will help you to reach a healthier weight and then to stay at this weight.

Being a healthy weight isn’t about being as thin as a model, in fact it is quite the opposite. Find the right weight for you by making sure it is within a healthy BMI range, eating healthily, regularly taking brisk walks and being generally active.

Motivate and plan ahead

Get motivated to lose those extra pounds. Keeping a food diary of the food you eat and the activities you do will help keep you focused. See our Weight Loss leaflet for a full list of motivation tips that include: simply writing down your reasons for losing weight, telling a friend, setting achievable goals, and putting a motivating photo on your fridge as a reminder.
Plan and be prepared. Planning ahead helps you feel more in control of your weight loss. Have plenty of healthy foods in your fridge, lots of veg and fresh fruit, low-fat snack foods like low-fat yoghurt and a light oil spray for cooking. Have your tracksuit and trainers always ready to go. Little things like this will make your new eating and activity plan that little bit easier.

6 food tips for losing weight

Look carefully at the size of your food portions, especially when you are eating out. For lunch and dinner, use a smaller dinner plate and fill it mostly with vegetables.
Follow the Food Pyramid for types of foods to eat. Focus on what you can eat rather than on what you can’t. Be strict and limit your sugary or fatty foods and drinks including alcohol.
Have three regular meals each day. Research shows that people who eat breakfast regularly are more likely to keep their weight down.
Some people find that having two smaller courses rather than one large main meal makes them feel more satisfied. Try choosing vegetables, fruit or salad as a starter, or fruit to finish off your meal.
Learn to recognise hunger. If you are not really hungry at meal times, just eat small portions.
Each week, write out a shopping list of the healthy foods you need to lose weight. Bring it with you every time you’re doing your family shopping. And try not to shop when you’re hungry.

Choose healthy low-fat ways of cooking

Oven-bake, grill, boil, poach, stir-fry, steam or microwave food instead of frying it
Boil, steam, dry-roast or bake potatoes instead of having chips
Try a light cooking spray instead of cooking oil
Cut all visible fat off meat and take the skin off chicken
Drain fat off meat and sauces when they are cooked
Choose tomato-based sauces instead of creamy sauces for pasta and rice dishes.

Emergency (healthy) supplies

Keep a good supply of raw vegetables and plenty of fruit.
Home-made soup is a great comfort food, especially on cold days. Freeze portions so they are easy to thaw out and reheat as needed.
Have low-fat ready meals in the freezer – home-made or bought.
Get into the habit of carrying a bottle of water. It is important to drink at least eight cups of fluid each day. Water can also help you feel full up between meals.

Alcohol = Calories

If you are serious about losing weight, you will be more successful if you cut out alcohol altogether until you reach your target weight. Alcohol is high in calories, can make you more hungry and can weaken your good intentions. For example, one pint of beer has around the same amount of calories as a packet of crisps.

Choose water or diet drinks every second drink. If you really need to have an alcoholic drink, try white wine spritzers or light beer instead of other drinks, and drink more slowly.

If you do drink, spread your drinking over the week, keep some days alcohol-free. Do not drink more than the recommended upper limits: 17 standard drinks (SD) a week for men and 11 standard drinks a week for women.

1 pint = 2 standard drinks
1 bottle of wine (750 ml) = 7 standard drinks
1 small glass of win (100 ml) = 1 standard drink
1 spirit – pub single measure = 1 standard drink

Support and rewards

Get support from your family and friends. They can help keep you motivated, become more active with you and help you cut out the sugary or fatty snacks.
Reward yourself when you make progress. To check your progress, consider how your clothes fit or use a measuring tape or weighing scales (remember that scales vary and if you’re retaining fluid for any reason they may not give you a true picture of your progress). Weigh yourself once a week at the same time in similar clothes. Choose a non-food treat for your reward like a magazine, a movie, tickets to something, a haircut or some new clothes.

Get active to lose weight

To lose weight, you need to use up more energy (calories) than your body takes in from food and drink. That’s why regular physical activity is as important as what you eat for losing weight and keeping your heart healthy.

Being active helps burn calories, tone your muscles, releases “happiness” endorphins and it even helps to control your appetite.

How much and what type of activity?

You should gradually build up to 60 to 75 minutes of physical activity, 5 days a week.
Your activity should be aerobic, which means getting your whole body moving – walking, cycling and swimming are excellent examples.
Your activity should be at a moderate intensity: This means it needs to make your heart beat faster, that you are slightly out of breath but still able to talk, and brings a little sweat to your forehead.

The amount of activity can be spread over 2 to 3 shorter sessions on any day. For example: 45 minutes walking and 15 minutes swimming, or the total of 300 or more minutes can be spread over the whole week.

Walking is an excellent way to lose weight, especially if you have not been active for a while. You should aim to walk 3 to 5 kilometres at a moderate pace on most days of the week. A three- kilometre walk should take 30 to 40 minutes to complete.

Gradually increase the pace and duration and add in other activities such as swimming, cycling, dancing or find a new activity you’ll enjoy.

Add vigorous intensity?

Vigorous intensity like jogging, running, swimming laps or cycling at more than 10 mph can also be effective in losing weight. But make sure you are fit and healthy enough to do these first.

The advantage of vigorous intensity is that you may need to take only half the time to achieve the same results as moderate intensity.

You can of course combine minutes of vigorous activity with minutes of moderate activity e.g. 30 minutes run or jog (vigorous) and 15 to 20 minutes gardening or brisk walking (moderate).

The amount of time and type of activity will work differently for each person in losing weight. As you get more active and fitter by increasing time or intensity (or both), you should achieve steady weight-loss.

Plus you’ll enjoy the other infinite health benefits such as increased energy and better sleep.

General activity guidelines

Choose an activity, sport or exercise that you enjoy and find someone to join you.
If you have not been active, build more activity into your daily life e.g. take the stairs, walk to the shop, walk the dog or do some gardening. This way, being more active will become a lifetime habit.
If you are not sure about your fitness level or general health, or have a specific health problem, it is important to contact your family doctor before you start exercising.

Make a menu plan

Regular meals stop you feeling hungry and make sure that you have a daily supply of essential nutrients. Try out the suggestions below and develop your own weekly menu plan.

Breakfast

One bowl of wholegrain cereal with chopped fruit and low-fat milk
Or two slices of wholemeal bread or toast

Mid morning

Fruit or raw vegetables or handful of unsalted nuts

Lunch

Plenty of cooked or raw vegetables
25 to 50 grams (one to two ounces) of lean meat, poultry, fish (preferably oily fish, such as sardines or salmon), eggs or low-fat cheese
Two slices of wholemeal bread or a roll
Low-fat yogurt or a glass of low-fat milk
Fresh fruit

Mid afternoon

Fresh fruit or raw vegetables

Main meal

75 to 100 grams (three to four ounces) of lean meat, poultry, fish (preferably oily), eggs, low-fat cheese or nine dessertspoons of peas or beans
Plenty of vegetables
One medium baked or boiled potato, or three dessertspoons of cooked pasta or rice
Low-fat yogurt or a glass of low-fat milk
Fresh, cooked or tinned fruit (in its own juice)

Supper

Fresh fruit

Have about 8 to 10 glasses (1.5 litres) of fluids a day, preferably water.

When you feel hungry between meals, try drinking a glass of water first. If you’re still hungry, choose fresh fruit or raw vegetables to snack on. There’s plenty of tasty healthy snacks these days, you just need to do a little exploring.

Best of luck and enjoy your journey to weight loss, keep researching and keep at it. Every marathon starts with a step and you’re already up and moving – so keep going!