Attaining a healthy weight for the individual who has diabetes is always a challenge. The person with Type 2 diabetes may need a plan for weight reduction. The young child with Type 1 might need to put on several pounds to be better able to insert their insulin delivery device giving enough fat for better insulin delivery. The weight loss strategy must meet the needs of the individual for either weight reduction, weight maintenance or weight gain.

For the individual who wants to lose weight, first off a realistic goal for loss needs to be set for a certain time frame.

Knowing what to eat and how much to eat to provide for all nutrient needs while restricting caloric intake is not an easy task.

Physical impairments can impede an individual’s ability to be active or exercise on a regular basis thus affecting the amount of caloric use. Exercise and physical activity is performed so that a person can burn calories that are consumed. Prior to the initiation of any exercise program consultation with the physician is a must to determine health status and readiness for physical activity.

Simple weight loss tips have the individual assessing current weight, deciding on a healthy loss per week and devising a plan of caloric restriction, caloric utilization or a combination of the two methods.

For individuals who count carbohydrate it is important to recognize the number of calories in one carbohydrate serving (15 grams of carbohydrate = 60 calories). Then, the individual will need to how many calories are in a pound (3500 calories) and how many carbohydrate servings will be allowed in their daily meal plan.

When an individual has diabetes it is essential for one to make exercise a part of their diabetes self management plan. The AADE self Care behaviors stress Being Active as a key element/ goal of managing diabetes and staying in target or goal range.

Physical activity or exercise can be defined in several ways.

People can perform endurance, resistance, flexibility and functional forms of exercise. Exercise can take the form of sports, dancing, yoga, weight lifting or even grocery shopping.

Before the introduction of any exercise program it is important that the individual check with their physician to determine if they are exercise or physical activity ready or safe.

To determine the intensity of exercise or physical activity the use of the Borg Scale can be used if an individual takes any medications that can affect the heart.

Intensity of exercise used to be determined by a formula of 220- current age, then multiply by .6 .7 or .8 to be in a target zone for fat burning.

The usual recommendation for exercise is to get 30 minutes of a cardio exercise at least 5 days per week reaching approximately 150 minutes of exercise per week.