Weight Management

Weight management is the phrase used to describe both the techniques and underlying physiological processes that contribute to a person's ability to attain and maintain a certain weight. Most weight management techniques encompass long-term lifestyle strategies that promote healthy eating and daily physical activity. Moreover, weight management involves developing meaningful ways to track weight over time and to identify ideal body weights for different individuals.

Diet
As previously stated in the Energy Balance section above, quantity of food and drink consumed by an individual plays a very important role in weight management. Additionally, the types of food and drink a person consumes are also very important to weight management. Not only is it important to eat a well balanced diet in order to get the proper amount of vitamins and nutrients each day to prevent illness, but it is also important to be aware that certain qualities of foods and drinks can have profound effects on weight by affecting hunger and satiety in different ways.

Energy Balance
The science behind weight management is complex, but one of the key concepts that governs weight management is Energy Balance. Energy Balance is the phrase used to describe the difference between the number of calories a person consumes and the number of calories that same person expends in a given time period. The calories a person consumes come from both the foods and drinks they eat and drink. The calories a person expends comes from their basal metabolic rate and their daily physical activity. When eating a healthy diet mainly composed of vegetables, lean meats, and fruits, the human body is very good at maintaining a neutral energy balance so that calories consumed do not substantially exceed calories expended in a given time period and vice versa.

Physical Activity
Physical activity is one of the main components of a person's daily energy expenditure. Physical activity can be related to a person's professional activities, it can be part of non-work related daily activities, or it can be in the form of physical exercise. Such physical activity may help a person to maintain a healthy weight and avoid developing noncommunicable diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and dyslipidemia. Increasing physical activity is particularly important following a diet to prevent catch-up fat according to the physiological concept of the Summermatter cycle.

Body Mass Index
Body mass index (BMI) is a value used to get a general sense of a person's overall mass and is calculated using a person's height and weight. It is more often used than weight alone to determine if an individual is underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese. Though BMI is often used to help assess for excess weight, it is by no means a perfect representation of a person's body fat percentage.

Basal Metabolic Rate
Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is one of the main components of a person's daily energy expenditure. BMR is defined as the amount of energy that is expended during a given amount of time by a person at rest. In other words, it is the amount of energy a person's body uses to do things like pump blood, maintain proper brain function, breakdown toxins, and ensure other bodily functions. Technically speaking, BMR is the amount of energy the body expends during the following very specific conditions: right after waking up, while in a resting state, and after fasting for 12–14 hours. Sometimes the term Resting Metabolic (RMR) is used in place of BMR but RMR is slightly different in that it is not measured under the previously listed stringent conditions and is about 10% more than BMR.