Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is important for overall health and can help you prevent and control many diseases and conditions. If you are overweight or obese, you are at higher risk of developing serious health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, breathing problems, and certain cancers. That is why maintaining a healthy weight is so important: it helps you lower your risk for developing these problems, helps you feel good about yourself, and gives you more energy to enjoy life.

Many factors can contribute to a person’s weight. These factors include environment, family history and genetics, metabolism (the way your body changes food and oxygen into energy), and behaviour or habits.

One of the things that we can change from this list is behaviour. This means making changes to the choices we make around food and exercise. Breaking habits can be hard, however with support around you, you have a much greater chance of success.