Weight Reduction

1. A reduction of calorie intake by 500 to 1000 calories a day will lead to 0.5 kg weight loss per week.
2. Ideally, one will lose between 2kg to 4kg of excess weight per month.
3. You are recommended to lose 10% of your current body weight within 6 months.
4. If you reduce more than 10% of your body weight within 6 months, you will have:
   1. High risk of gallstone
   2. Possible electrolyte abnormality
   3. Nutritional inadequacy
   4. Increased serum uric acid
   5. Muscle break down and protein loss
5. After 6 months your weight loss will plateau and you will not able to lose any more weight
6. The reason is as you lose weight, your metabolic rate also drops because you are losing muscles.
7. Therefore it is important to combine
   1. Dieting
   2. Exercises

Dietary Management for Overweight

Goals of dietary management

1. Achieve targeted weight loss
2. Maintain ideal body weight
3. Prevent further weight gain
4. To reduce risk of Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus and Cardiovascular disease
5. To improve quality of life, feel healthy and energetic.

To lose weight you need to decrease your food intake accordingly.

1. Ensure that you adhere to the Malaysian Dietary Guidelines
2. Try to consume a minimum serving of cereals, grains, tubers, fish, chicken, meat and legumes.
3. You can cut down on your calories intake by:
   1. Cooking with less fat or oil.
   2. Cutting down on refined sugar such as table sugar, brown sugar, honey and hidden sugar in foods and drinks.
   3. Increasing your fibre intake e.g. vegetables, fruits, oats and whole grains products as this would make you feel full for a longer duration.
   4. Don’t forget to drink more plain water if you take high fibre foods.

Body Mass Index (BMI)

Health expert use a scientific measure called Body Mass Index ( BMI ) to find out whether your weight is healthy.

Healthy range for BMI is between 18.5 to 24.9

Sample Menu For Weight Reduction

1. Recommended Dietary Intake for normal adult is 2000 kcal for man and1800 kcal for woman. However, for overweight/obese adult, the requirement will be depending on activity level, current weight for height and target weight loss.
2. If you want to lose weight, your recommendation for dietary intake is less 500 kcal from your daily requirement for ideal weight.
3. 1200 kcal/day is the minimum amount of calories that will provide all the essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals that is required for the body.
4. Consult your dietitian to determine your requirement.

Menu For 1200 kcal

* drink additional plain water in between meals

Menu For 1500 kcal

* drink additional plain water in between meals