Jan. 27, 2006

Lose weight with My Health
Online tools offer help with weight management, nutrition, fitness

Trying to lose weight? My Health has resources to help you shed excess pounds. A weight loss of just 10 percent improves health and reduces the risk of chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
One of the first and most important steps to losing weight is setting sensible and realistic goals.

What is sensible and realistic? For most people, it means making small changes that add up over time, such as walking one extra flight of steps each day. For the average adult, one extra flight of steps each day equals a 3- to 4-pound weight loss in one year.

Lifestyle changes that result in the loss of no more than 1 to 2 pounds a week are healthy habits that can be maintained. When you lose more than 1 to 2 pounds of weight a week, you are losing muscle, not just fat. Muscle tissue uses a lot of energy and burns a lot of calories, while fat tissue uses very little energy. If you reduce muscle, your body will burn fewer calories.

Weight control is achieved by balancing the calories we eat and calories we burn through activity. Make sure when you are setting weight loss goals that you think about increasing your activity in addition to watching what you eat.
UPMC’s My Health program offers tools to assist you in making healthy lifestyle changes, including:

• A discount for Weight Watchers Online — UPMC Health Plan has joined with Weight Watchers to offer a savings of $10 on a three-month subscription to Weight Watchers Online.
   
• Clinical Weight Management Programs — These weight management programs are available to UPMC staff who are UPMC Health Plan members and who have existing health conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. Look for announcements in the spring about opportunities to participate in weight management groups.

The My Health website contains information for weight management as well as many other resources. Information includes the Lifetime Exercise Adherence Program (LEAP) for fitness, a nutrition center, and other tools and information about weight loss, weight management, and healthy eating.

For more information, visit My Health at www.upmchealthplan.com/myhealth.htm.

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