Routes to a healthy heart:
Take control of your weight
|
Nine simple ways to reduce your risk of another heart attack: |
Being overweight is bad for your heart. It raises blood pressure and blood cholesterol and makes it more likely that you may develop diabetes. Loosing just a few kilograms can lower your risk of having another heart attack and will probably help you to feel generally fitter and healthier. Loosing some weight needn't be an ordeal and if it sometimes feels like it is, remember why you're doing it – you had a heart attack and you'd prefer not to have another!
Starting points for how to get to a healthy weight:
- Examine your diet and identify ways to:
- cut down on fatty foods
- replace foods that contain saturated fats (e.g. red meat and butter) with others containing polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats (e.g. chicken and olive oil)
- reduce your intake of salt to less than 6 grams per day (about one teaspoonful)
- eat more fruit and vegetables (aim for five portions a day)
- cut down on high-sugar snacks
- include more starchy carbohydrates in your diet (aim for up to six servings a day; one serving = one slice of bread or a small potato).
- Take regular exercise (NOTE: be sure to discuss your exercise plans with your physician or rehabilitation clinic first).
- Join a local support group for people who want to loose some weight. The opportunity to share experiences with people in the same situation can provide encouragement at times when you're finding it difficult to motivate yourself or your self-discipline is faltering.
- Explore the internet. There are hundreds of websites devoted to weight loss and dieting. It doesn't take long to work out which ones are offering sound and constructive advice and which are best avoided. The good ones provide a mass of useful information on all aspects of weight control.
Remember: make sure you take your prescribed medication as directed by your physician.
Take control of your weight
- Use the chart below to determine the range for your ideal body weight. Aim to get your weight into the ideal range. Don't overdo it and drop too far below that range.
- In order to loose weight, you need to use up more calories than you eat. To do this, multiply your ideal body weight (in kilograms) by 15 (if you are active) or 13 (if you are not so active). The result is the maximum number of calories you should eat per day to gradually achieve your ideal body weight.
- Remember that loosing weight gradually and keeping it off is better for you than loosing weight quickly and then putting it back on again.
- A rapid increase in body weight (i.e. overnight) may be a sign of fluid retention and you should consult your physician promptly.
- Calculate and monitor your body mass index (BMI). This is one way to determine when extra pounds translate into health risks. The BMI is a measure that takes into account a person’s weight and height to estimate total body fat in adults. The higher your BMI, the greater your risk of developing additional health problems. You can calculate your BMI by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in metres, squared (or visit http://www.nutri-facts.com/bmi.asp where you can find a calculator that will do this for you).
| My ideal body weight range is: |
My current weight is:
|
||||||||||
|
My current BMI is: Ideal body weight chart
|
|||||||||||
