How to help your customers
What are the health risks?
Being overweight may increase the risk of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, liver disease, osteoarthritis, stroke, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.1 People living with overweight or obesity may also experience mental health problems, stigmatisation and discrimination because of their weight.1
The government views the growing number of people living with overweight and obesity as a major public health concern.
| Did you know? The 2019 Health Survey for England estimated that around two thirds of the adult population in England were overweight or obese.2 |
How to help your customers
There is no quick fix for weight loss, but you can provide encouragement and advice to customers about how they can lose weight and maintain a healthy weight.
Advise customers to:3
- Eat a healthy, balanced, calorie-controlled diet. For most men, this will mean consuming no more than 1,900 calories a day, and for most women, no more than 1,400 calories a day
- Join a local weight loss group for mutual support
- Aim to minimise the amount of time spent sedentary (e.g. sitting or lying down) during the day. Slowly build up the amount of activity so that it becomes part of your daily routine. Encourage activities such as fast walking, jogging, swimming or tennis for 150 to 300 minutes (2.5 to 5 hours) a week
- Making lifestyle changes isn’t easy, but customers may find it helpful to plan for situations where they know they could be tempted to overeat.
People who successfully lose weight and keep it off set personal goals and develop skills to make their new lifestyle and activity habits an enjoyable way of life.
You could encourage the following techniques:3
- Regular monitoring is helpful and could include their weight, waist measurement or keeping a food diary
- Set a realistic goal. When setting a weight loss goal aim for a rate of 0.5 to 1 kg a week. To achieve this most people are advised to reduce their energy intake by 600 calories a day4
- Involve their friends and family for support.
Remind customers that even losing a small amount of weight, and maintaining this loss, can significantly reduce their risk of developing weight-related health problems like diabetes and heart disease.3