can be treated as a medical problem. Diet. The first step to weight reduction is to develop a healthy diet that stops weight gain. Any reducing diet must provide fewer calories. If a man needs 3,000 calories a day to maintain his weight with his habits of life, he should eat only 2,000 calories a day to lose 2 pounds (0.9 kilogram) a week. It is generally dangerous to lose weight any faster. The foods in a reducing diet must be well-balanced. That is, they must provide enough of all the nutrients needed for good health. There is no evidence that extreme diets--for example, "low carbohydrate" or "low protein" diets, or diets based on single foods--have any advantage over a well-balanced diet. For information on well-balanced diets, see NUTRITION. A reducing diet should also be good tasting and easy to buy and to cook. A weight reducer should study charts that give the number of calories in various foods. Many people believe that such foods as baked potatoes and bread have many more calories than they do. They also underestimate the calories in such foods as steak. The distribution of calories among meals and snacks is up to the individual. Some people do not get too hungry if they divide their calories among four or five light meals or snacks a day. Other people are able to follow a diet better if they eat three meals a day and have no snacks. Exercise. A person going on a reducing diet must get more exercise. But an obese person--even one who is otherwise healthy--should not suddenly start a program of prolonged, heavy exercise. The strain on the heart would be dangerous. An exercise program should be developed gradually. One good way to start is to take daily walks, increasing their duration. More demanding exercises can be added as the person becomes thinner and fitter. A person should build up to five to six hours of exercise per week. A physician should be consulted before starting any vigorous exercise prog...
