Being overweight raises your risk for type 2 diabetes. Losing just a little weight by eating healthy and being
active is one of the best things you can do to defend against type 2 diabetes.
First, find out if you are overweight. Enter your height and weight into the Body Mass Indicator calculator.
If you are overweight or obese, you don't need to worry about fitting in to your jeans from high school. Just aim to lose 7% of whatever you weigh right now. That’s all it took for people in the Diabetes Prevention Program to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. To calculate, just take your body weight in pounds and multiply by 0.07. For example, if you weigh 300 pounds, aim to lose 21 pounds to lower your risk of type 2 diabetes (300 lbs x 0.07 = 21 lbs). That's it!
If you are not overweight, you still may have risk factors for type 2 diabetes, like a sedentary lifestyle (mostly sitting down all day). In that case, you may not need to lose weight, but it still helps to be active. Did you know that about 10% of people with type 2 diabetes are not overweight?
No matter how much you weigh or what your BMI is, EVERYONE can benefit from a healthy lifestyle, like being active 30 minutes a day, filling half of your plate with fruits and vegetables, and getting adequate sleep. We ALL need to take steps to have a healthy lifestyle and reduce our chances of getting type 2 diabetes. Explore this site to learn more.
For more information on healthy ways to lose weight:
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