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The good news is that losing even modest amounts of weight can lower your blood pressure, reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, improve glucose control in diabetes, improve signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis and sleep apnea, and lower your risk of cancer.

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The amount of weight you need to lose to improve your health may be much less than what you feel you need to lose. The first goal in dealing with obesity is to achieve and maintain a healthier weight.

That usually requires reducing your weight by approximately 5 percent to 10 percent. That means that if you weigh 200 pounds and are obese by BMI standards, you would need to lose at least 10 to 20 pounds. That doesn't mean you have to stop there. But it's a place to start. Slow and steady weight loss of 1 or 2 pounds a week is considered the safest way to lose weight and the best way to keep it off.

In many cases, losing weight can be accomplished by committing to eating a healthier diet, exercising and changing behaviors. Other treatments for obesity include prescription medications and surgery.

• osteoarthritis (OA)

• Sleep apnea

Dietary changes

One way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories.

The number of calories you need to maintain weight each day depends on several factors, including your age and activity level. Ask your doctor to help you determine your calorie goals to lose weight. He or she may recommend that you also work with a dietitian or a reputable weight-loss program.

Over-the-counter liquid meal replacements, such as Slim-Fast, also cut calories. These plans suggest that you replace one or two meals with their product — a low-calorie shake — then eat snacks of vegetables and fruits and a healthy, balanced third meal that is low in fat and calories. Studies have shown that this can be as effective as a traditional calorie-controlled diet.

Among the many popular diets in circulation are:

• The Atkins diet. Robert Atkins, M.D., was a pioneering proponent of a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet back in the 1970s when his Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution hit the bookstores. His ideas went out of vogue with the low-fat trend in the 1990s. However, the diet has since become popular again, and Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution is a best-selling book. The Atkins diet espouses the idea that carbohydrates promote insulin production, which leads to weight gain and other health risks. The Atkins diet, therefore, limits carbohydrates to 20 to 40 grams a day initially. Most grains, beans, fruits, breads, pastas and vegetables are excluded. You can eat as much meat, eggs, cheese, butter and cream as you want under the Atkins diet. Without enough dietary carbohydrates, your body begins to burn its stored carbohydrates for energy — which releases a lot of water weight. Your body also starts burning some fat, but not as efficiently as exercise would. Burning fat without carbohydrates creates byproducts called ketones that build up in your bloodstream. These will be processed through your kidneys before they're eliminated. Ketones do suppress appetite, but they also cause fatigue and nausea. Some studies have shown a greater initial weight loss on the Atkins diet. However, after one year, there was no major difference in weight loss, compared with that from a traditional calorie-controlled diet. The long-term health effects of this diet are unknown and potentially risky.

• The Zone. Compared with Dr. Atkins, Barry Sears, Ph.D., author of The Zone, is downright permissive when it comes to carbohydrates. Dr. Sears claims the key to successful weight loss is a diet in which every meal has a carbohydrate-to-protein ratio of 4-to-3. For overweight people he recommends caloric proportions of 40 percent carbohydrate, 30 percent protein and 30 percent fat. With these proportions, says Dr. Sears, dieters experience less hunger, increased energy, peak physical performance, improved mental focus and decreased illness. The Zone diet's thrust is to sustain a specific ratio of the hormones insulin and glucagon, important regulators of carbohydrate metabolism. Maintaining the right proportion of these hormones, according to Dr. Sears, contributes to the balancing of eicosanoids, which are hormone-like substances derived from polyunsaturated fatty acids. The best way to enter "the zone," says Dr. Sears, is by preserving your eicosanoid balance. However, there's little evidence that eicosanoids are primarily responsible for diseases or that disease risk can be manipulated through changing eicosanoids in the diet. People will lose weight if they follow the prescribed diet in the book because it's low in total calories and emphasizes fruits and vegetables. A typical Zone diet consists of fewer than 1,000 calories a day.

• South Beach Diet. This diet, developed by Arthur Agatston, M.D., is basically a modified Atkins program. It isn't as restrictive in carbohydrates as the Atkins diet, except during the first two weeks of the diet. After the first two weeks, the South Beach Diet very much restricts refined carbohydrates but allows whole grains. As with the Atkins diet, the initial weight loss may not make much of a difference in the long run.

• Sugar Busters. When you consider that Americans each consume nearly 3 pounds of sugar a week, the premise of Sugar Busters, "Cut sugar to trim fat," may seem like one whose time has come. But the concept — which lumps in whole foods such as potatoes, corn and carrots with refined sugars found in cakes, candies and sodas — goes too far. Moreover, although author H. Leighton Steward and associates don't advocate the heavy fats of Dr. Atkins, the diet still promotes its fair share of rich foods. Cutting back on sugar is only one aspect of healthy dietary changes. Without making any other nutritional alterations, and particularly when encouraging the intake of saturated fat and decreasing beneficial vegetables, this diet is unlikely to help you lose weight — or at least keep it off over the long term.

• Grapefruit diet. Although there are many versions of this plan — one even erroneously calls itself the Mayo Clinic Diet — all require you to eat half a grapefruit before every meal to reap the benefits of the fruit's so-called fat-burning enzymes. Calories typically are limited to fewer than 800 a day, although some versions require that you eat until you are full. Grapefruit has no fat, is low in calories and sodium, and is packed with vitamin C. But the very low calories — and deficits in protein, fiber and several important vitamins and minerals — can make this diet dangerous.

• Cabbage soup diet. What could be simpler? Eat as much cabbage soup as you want for seven days and you'll lose 10 to 15 pounds. Other foods, too, are prescribed during the weeklong program, including potatoes, fruit juices and some vegetables. The only problem is that cabbage soup proponents report feeling lightheaded and weak because the diet is too low in protein, vitamins and complex carbohydrates. You may lose weight, but you'll probably be too queasy to enjoy it.

Fad diets like these and others promote quick-and-easy weight loss. You may lose the weight quickly and relatively easily, but you'll gain it back. Fad diets don't offer a permanent, healthy solution to the problem of obesity.

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• Nausea

Another way to lose weight is to increase physical activity.

Adding physical activity to your life doesn't mean you have to wear a sweat suit every day. A few minutes of walking or stair climbing can be as good for you as structured exercise. Here are some other simple ways to add more activity to your day:

• Take the stairs — not the elevator.

• Park in the farthest spot in the parking lot.

• Walk or bike to work or to the store.

• Walk during your lunch hour.

• Play with your children instead of watching them play.

• Walk with your family after dinner.

• Do weekend chores the physical way — use a push mower to mow the lawn or wash your car manually.

• Buy an exercise bike and pedal during TV shows or while talking on the phone.

• Use a pedometer and try to increase the number of steps you walk each day.

Even fidgeting helps burns calories. A Mayo Clinic study found that people who fidget burn hundreds of extra calories.

In addition to becoming more active in your daily life, talk to your doctor about devising a structured exercise plan. Ideally, an exercise plan to help you lose weight should include regular aerobic exercise, such as walking, and strength training, such as lifting weights.

If you're obese, particularly if you're unfit and have health problems, check with your doctor before starting an exercise program.

To lose weight and keep it off, you must make changes in your lifestyle.

Changing your lifestyle is more than choosing different foods and putting more activity into your day. It also involves changing your approach to eating and activity, which means changing how you think, feel and act.

Research has demonstrated that a number of tools and tips are effective in helping you change. Follow these tips for change:

• Motivate yourself. No one can make you lose weight. In fact, increased external pressure — often from people close to you — may only make matters worse. Likewise, trying to lose weight to satisfy someone else rarely works either. Make diet and exercise changes to please yourself.

• Make lifestyle changes a priority. As you're planning to launch new weight-related lifestyle changes, make sure you've resolved other pressing problems in your life. It takes a lot of energy to change habits, and you want to be sure you're focused on the matter at hand.

• Have a plan. Work out a strategy that will gradually change the habits and attitudes that may have undermined your past efforts to lose weight. Choose a definite start date. Consider how often and how long you will exercise. Determine a realistic eating plan that includes plenty of water, fruits and vegetables. Write everything down: When and where will you do the steps in your plan? How will your plan fit into your schedule? What are the potential roadblocks, and how will you deal with them?

• Set small goals. Remember that you're in this for the long haul. You're making lifestyle changes, and the goals you've written down are your first baby steps in that direction. Anything you undertake too intensely or too vigorously will quickly become uncomfortable, and you're more likely to give it up.

• Surround yourself with good examples. As you set your goals, it helps to surround yourself with good examples. Magazines such as Health, Shape and Cooking Light include plenty of real-life stories, healthy and easy recipes, exercise tips and interesting facts about fitness. Even if you eat meat, a publication such as Vegetarian Times can provide a wealth of low-fat recipes.

• Avoid food triggers. Distract yourself from your desire to eat with something positive, such as calling a friend. Practice saying no to unhealthy foods and big portions. Eat when you're actually hungry — not when the clock says it's time to eat. When you eat, focus on eating. Serve your meals on smaller plates to make less food seem like more. In general, store food out of sight and don't keep junk foods around.

• Keep a record. Ask your doctor how often you should weigh yourself as you work to lose weight. Your doctor may also recommend that you keep a food and activity diary periodically, so you can reinforce good habits and discover any behaviors that you may need to improve. Remember that success isn't defined only by actual weight lost. In fact, be sure to track other important health parameters such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels and overall fitness.

• Focus on the positive. Rather than focusing on what you can't eat, focus on what you can eat. Look at what new tastes and activities you can discover that will enhance your health.

• Don't give up. So much in American culture conspires to make and keep you overweight. You will have setbacks. Don't expect perfection. But don't give up. Use relapses to get back on track. Motivate yourself with healthy rewards when you reach goals.

Dealing with obesity may mean taking a hard look at how you live and making some tough changes. It may be helpful to talk to a weight-loss specialist or others trying to lose weight who can help you think of food and exercise in a new light.

• Alkaline Diet

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• Blood Type Diet

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