Why Weight ... Get Healthy, Now Dr. David J. Demko, gerontologist AgeVenture Syndicated News Service 11-14-04 "Such a nice, healthy child", my grandmother boasted as she grabbed a fistful of my chubby faced cheeks and twisted them rosy-red. A fat child was a healthy child. This was an undisputable "truth" during the first ten years of my "clean your plate because people elsewhere are starving" life. To make a fat story short, by the 7th grade I waddled my portly 157 pound body to middle school, a five-sandwich lunch tucked under a plump arm. Later, it was on to high school. I tried out for football, and the varsity squad trampled my weight down to 125 pounds. I was now known as "bean-pole" ... but not for long. By sophmore year in college, I weighed in at 223 pounds. This fat-thin-fat-thin-fat, see-saw life did not cease until I learned a thing or two about dieting. A healthy lifestyle is a goal you can live with. In fact, you can live long, and more importantly, like it. So, here's a few tips for wanna-be dieters experiencing cognitive overload from today's avalanche of weight-loss publications. Shelves full of diet strategies, many of which don't work. Or worse, can harm you. Getting started is easier than you think. Read on. Get motivated. Have the doctor "check under your hood". Then drive yourself into a healthy, weight-loss program you can live with for a long, long, long time. First, set a reasonable weight-loss goal. In order to lose one pound, reduce caloric intake by 3,500 calories over a reasonable length of time (one or two weeks). Sounds like a slow way to lose weight. However, the goal is to lose weight, and keep it off. Crash dieters gain every pound back. How do I get started? Determine how many daily calories you need to maintain current weight. Here's how. Multiply your weight in pounds X 15 = the number of calories you need per day. Example: If you weigh 160 pounds, you need 2,400 calories per day. How can I reduce my weight without drastically reducing calories? Keep to no more than a 10 percent daily reduction in calories. A 10% daily calorie reduction for a 160 pound person (240 calories) results in a one pound (3,500 calories) loss in 14 days. Water. Drink more. How much per day? Divide your weight in pounds by 2. The answer equals the daily number of ounces of water you need. A 150 pound person requires 75 ounces of water per day (150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces). If you exercise, then you need even more water per day. Reducing your daily calories (dieting) causes your body's metabolism to slow down. As a result, diet AND exercise are the keys to successful weight loss. Aerobic exercise, (speed walking, swimming, bicycling) helps raise your metabolism. Raising your metabolism helps burn off calories. Aerobic exercise? How much is enough? 30 minutes per day. 5 minutes warm-up, 20 minutes exercise, 5 minutes of cool-down. You must exercise at your Target Heart Rate. Your Target Heart Rate. Your Target Heart Rate (THR) is 75 percent of your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR). MHR is the maximum number of times your heart beats per minute for a person your age. THR is the maximum number to times your heart should beat per minute during aerobic exercise. The formula for calculating your MHR is: 220 minus your age in years. A 24 year old (220 - 24 = 196) has a MHR of 196 and a THR of 147 (75% of 196). A Final Word. Be patient. Take your time. If you diet right, then you'll live longer. People who live longer have all the time in the world. Take some of that time to learn more about nutrition, dieting, exercise, and how to modify your eating habits.