Learn what it takes to get to a healthy weight (and stay there!).

You may not get down to the number you saw on the scale 20 years ago, but you can still get to a weight that enhances your health and your life.

First, what does “healthy weight” mean to you? Is it the weight you think you should be? The same as you weighed 20 years ago? Ten pounds less than your sister-in-law? We can’t provide an exact number for you personally, but we can give you some pointers on how to get to a weight that’s healthy for you and stay there.

Two ways to get a ballpark idea if your weight is healthy or not: body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference.

BMI measures your height compared to your weight. For example, a person who is 5’7” and weighs 170 pounds has a BMI of 26.6, which is in the overweight range:

But experts note that BMI doesn’t measure belly fat, and that’s important. Too much belly fat can increase your risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Waist circumference (waist size) takes belly fat into account and helps predict your risk of health problems from being overweight. Women whose waist measures more than 35 inches and men whose waist measures more than 40 inches are at higher risk. Losing weight can reduce belly fat and lower that risk!

To measure your waist correctly, stand and place a tape measure around your middle, just above your hipbones. Measure your waist just after you breathe out.

Read about these three people who were able to shed the pounds (and keep them off).

Getting Started

Losing weight doesn’t have to mean losing a lot of weight. Taking off just 5% to 10%—that’s 10 to 20 pounds for a 200-pound person—can improve your health and well-being. If you have diabetes, you may find your blood sugar levels are easier to manage and that you need less diabetes medicine after you lose weight. Many people who lose weight notice that they have more energy and sleep better too.

A healthy weight goal is one thing; dropping the pounds is quite another. If there were an easy way to lose weight and keep it off, everyone would be doing it. We’ve all known someone who follows a popular diet plan and loses weight fast but then gains it all back (and then some). After trying and failing over and over, it’s easy to see why people give up.

Food for Life

Instead, create an eating plan that you can follow for life. It just needs two key ingredients:

1. It’s based on healthy food.
2. You can keep doing it long term.

With that in mind, you may need to try different things to figure out what works best for you day to day. Some people cut back on sugar and eat more protein to stay fuller longer. Others focus on filling up with extra fruits and vegetables, which leaves less room for unhealthy food. Still others limit variety for most meals and stick with choices that they know are healthy and filling. The details will depend on what you like and what fits in best with your life. If you need ideas and support, talk to a registered dietitian or diabetes educator (your doctor can give you a referral).

Physical Activity

Physical activity can make you feel better, function better, and sleep better. You’re not likely to lose a lot of weight with physical activity alone, but combining it with your diet strategy can improve weight loss. Here are the basic guidelines:

• Every week: do at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity, such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, such as jogging, or an equivalent combination of the two.
• Two or more days a week: do strength-training activities, such as lifting weights or using a resistance band, that involve all major muscle groups.

If you have diabetes, physical activity can help you manage the condition along with your weight. Being active makes you more sensitive to insulin (the hormone that allows cells in your body to use blood sugar for energy). Your body won’t need to make as much insulin or you won’t need to take as much. Lower insulin levels can help prevent fat storage and weight gain. Learn more about being active when you have diabetes here.

While how you lose weight will be highly personalized, these pointers have helped others reach their goal and could help you, too.

Willpower Isn’t Enough

Don’t get us wrong: willpower is great. It just isn’t enough. You can’t count on it to reach and maintain the healthier weight you want.

But don’t worry; there are other ways. Control your environment so temptation is out of the picture and healthy habits are in. Some ideas:

• Don’t bring home food you don’t want to eat. Make home a safe zone!
• Avoid buffet-style restaurants.
• Don’t let yourself get too hungry.
• Cook your own food so you can control the calories.
• Lay out your workout clothes before you go to sleep.
• Keep the dog’s leash and your walking shoes by the door.

Sleep Helps

Too little sleep makes dieting much harder because it increases your hunger and appetite, especially for high-calorie, high-carb foods. Too little sleep also triggers stress hormones, which tell your body to hang onto fat. Outsmart this problem by being physically active, which has been shown to help you fall asleep faster and sleep better. A relaxing nighttime routine can also help you get your zzz’s. And these tips are tried and true: no screens an hour before bedtime, avoid heavy meals and alcohol before bedtime, and keep your bedroom dark and cool.

Balancing Food and Activity

Try this interactive Body Weight Planner to calculate calories and activity needed to get to your goal weight and maintain it.

Write It When You Bite It

Writing down what you eat is the single best predictor of weight loss success. But most people don’t do it because they think it will be too time-consuming. Guess how long it takes (yes, studies have been done)? Less than 15 minutes a day on average. You don’t need to add lots of detail, but aim for at least 3 entries each day and do it consistently day after day for the best results. Use this handy food diary [PDF – 105 KB] to get started.

Find Your Motivation

People who keep the weight off tend to be motivated by more than just being thinner. For some, it might be a health scare. Others want more energy to play with their grandkids. Focus on a goal that’s meaningful to you, and you’ll be more likely to keep the pounds off too.

More Tips

• Eat higher-protein, lower-carb meals to control hunger and appetite. For people with diabetes who take insulin, eating fewer carbs like bread, pasta, rice, desserts, sugary beverages, and juice can lower how much insulin they need. Using less insulin can help prevent hunger, fat storage, and weight gain.
• Choose carbs that are higher in fiber and lower in added sugar. For example, say yes to beans and sweet potatoes; say no to sugary drinks and chips.
• Drink more water and fewer sweetened beverages. This one change can cut lots of calories and mean fewer blood sugar swings!
• Keep moving. Physical activity helps you stay motivated and keep the weight off.
• Learn from a bad day. Everyone slips up from time to time; figure out what went wrong and plan for it next time. You’re only human, and humans are great learners.

Overview

Amnesia refers to the loss of memories, including facts, information and experiences. Movies and television tend to depict amnesia as forgetting your identity, but that’s not generally the case in real life.

Instead, people with amnesia — also called amnestic syndrome — usually know who they are. But they may have trouble learning new information and forming new memories.

Amnesia can be caused by damage to areas of the brain that are vital for memory processing. Unlike a temporary episode of memory loss, called transient global amnesia, amnesia can be permanent.

There’s no specific treatment for amnesia, but treatment can be directed at the underlying cause. Tips to help enhance memory and get support can help people with amnesia and their families cope.

Symptoms

The two main features of amnesia are:

• Trouble learning new information.
• Trouble remembering past events and previously familiar information.

Most people with amnesia have problems with short-term memory, so they can’t retain new information. Recent memories are most likely to be lost. More-remote or deeply ingrained memories may be spared.

For example, people may recall experiences from childhood or know the names of past presidents. But they may not be able to name the current president, know the month or remember what they ate for breakfast.

Isolated memory loss doesn’t affect a person’s intelligence, general knowledge, awareness or attention span. It also doesn’t affect judgment, personality or identity. People with amnesia usually can understand written and spoken words and can learn skills such as bike riding or piano playing. They may understand they have a memory disorder.

Amnesia isn’t the same as dementia. Dementia often includes memory loss but also involves other problems with thinking that lead to a decline in daily functioning. These problems include having trouble with language, judgment and visual-spatial skills.

Memory loss also is a common symptom of mild cognitive impairment. This disorder involves memory and other cognitive problems that aren’t as severe as those experienced in dementia.

Additional symptoms

Depending on the cause of the amnesia, other symptoms may include:

• False memories that are either completely invented or are real memories misplaced in time.
• Confusion or disorientation.

When to see a doctor

Anyone who experiences unexplained memory loss, head injury or confusion requires immediate medical attention.

People with amnesia may not know where they are or be able to seek medical care. If someone you know has symptoms of amnesia, help the person get medical attention.Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic

Causes

Typical memory function involves many parts of the brain. Any disease or injury that affects the brain can affect memory.

Amnesia can result from damage to brain structures that form the limbic system, which controls emotions and memories. They include the thalamus found deep within the center of the brain. They also include the hippocampal formations found within the temporal lobes of the brain.

Amnesia caused by brain injury or damage is known as neurological amnesia. Possible causes of neurological amnesia include:

• Stroke.
• Brain inflammation, which may be due to an infection with a virus such as herpes simplex virus. Or inflammation may be a result of an autoimmune reaction to cancer somewhere in the body. It also may be due to an autoimmune reaction in the absence of cancer.
• Not enough oxygen in the brain. This may happen as a result of a heart attack, respiratory distress or carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Long-term alcohol misuse that leads to too little vitamin B-1, known as thiamin, in the body. When this happens, it’s called Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome.
• Tumors in areas of the brain that control memory.
• Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases that involve the degeneration of nerve tissue.
• Seizures.
• Certain medicines such as benzodiazepines or others that act as sedatives.

Head injuries that cause a concussion, whether from a car accident or sports, can lead to confusion and problems remembering new information. This is especially common in the early stages of recovery. Mild head injuries typically don’t cause lasting amnesia, but more-severe head injuries may cause permanent amnesia.

Another rare type of amnesia, called dissociative amnesia, stems from emotional shock or trauma. It can result from being the victim of a violent crime or experiencing other trauma. In this disorder, people may lose personal memories and information about their lives. The memory loss is usually brief.

Risk factors

The chance of developing amnesia might increase if you’ve experienced:

• Brain surgery, head injury or trauma.
• Stroke.
• Alcohol abuse.
• Seizures.

Complications

Amnesia varies in severity and scope. But even mild amnesia takes a toll on daily activities and quality of life. The syndrome can cause problems at work, at school and in social settings.

It may not be possible to recover lost memories. Some people with severe memory problems need to be supervised or need to live in a care facility.

Prevention

Damage to the brain can be a root cause of amnesia. It’s important to take steps to minimize your chance of a brain injury. For example:

• Don’t drink large amounts of alcohol.
• Wear a helmet when bicycling and a seat belt when driving.
• Treat infections quickly so that they don’t have a chance to spread to the brain.
• Get immediate medical treatment if you have symptoms that suggest a stroke or brain aneurysm. Those symptoms include a severe headache, feeling numb on one side of the body or not being able to move one side of the body.

What is a standard drink?

In the United States, a standard drink contains 0.6 ounces (14.0 grams or 1.2 tablespoons) of pure alcohol. Generally, this amount of pure alcohol is found in

• 12-ounces of beer (5% alcohol content).
• 8-ounces of malt liquor (7% alcohol content).
• 5-ounces of wine (12% alcohol content).
• 1.5-ounces of 80-proof (40% alcohol content) distilled spirits or liquor (e.g., gin, rum, vodka, whiskey).

What is excessive drinking?

Excessive drinking includes binge drinking, heavy drinking, and any drinking by pregnant women or people younger than age 21.

• Binge drinking, the most common form of excessive drinking, is defined as consuming
  • For women, 4 or more drinks during a single occasion.
  • For men, 5 or more drinks during a single occasion.
• Heavy drinking is defined as consuming
  • For women, 8 or more drinks per week.
  • For men, 15 or more drinks per week.

Most people who drink excessively are not alcoholics or alcohol dependent.

What is moderate drinking?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that adults of legal drinking age can choose not to drink, or to drink in moderation by limiting intake to 2 drinks or less in a day for men or 1 drink or less in a day for women, on days when alcohol is consumed.⁴ The Guidelines also do not recommend that individuals who do not drink alcohol start drinking for any reason and that if adults of legal drinking age choose to drink alcoholic beverages, drinking less is better for health than drinking more.

There are some people who should not drink any alcohol, including those who are:

• Younger than age 21.
• Pregnant or may be pregnant.
• Driving, planning to drive, or participating in other activities requiring skill, coordination, and alertness.
• Taking certain prescription or over-the-counter medications that can interact with alcohol.
• Suffering from certain medical conditions.
• Recovering from alcoholism or are unable to control the amount they drink.

By adhering to the Dietary Guidelines, you can reduce the risk of harm to yourself or others.

Short-Term Health Risks

Excessive alcohol use has immediate effects that increase the risk of many harmful health conditions. These are most often the result of binge drinking and include the following:

• Injuries, such as motor vehicle crashes, falls, drownings, and burns.
• Violence, including homicide, suicide, sexual assault, and intimate partner violence.
• Alcohol poisoning, a medical emergency that results from high blood alcohol levels.
• Risky sexual behaviors, including unprotected sex or sex with multiple partners. These behaviors can result in unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
• Miscarriage and stillbirth or fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) among pregnant women.

Long-Term Health Risks

Over time, excessive alcohol use can lead to the development of chronic diseases and other serious problems including:

• High blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, and digestive problems.
• Cancer of the breast, mouth, throat, esophagus, voice box, liver, colon, and rectum.
• Weakening of the immune system, increasing the chances of getting sick.
• Learning and memory problems, including dementia and poor school performance.
• Mental health problems, including depression and anxiety.
• Social problems, including family problems, job-related problems, and unemployment.
• Alcohol use disorders, or alcohol dependence.

By not drinking too much, you can reduce the risk of these short- and long-term health risks.

Sore throat and runny nose are usually the first signs of a cold, followed by coughing and sneezing. Most people recover in about 7-10 days. You can help reduce your risk of getting a cold: wash your hands often, avoid close contact with sick people, and don’t touch your face with unwashed hands.

Common colds are the main reason that children miss school and adults miss work. Each year in the United States, there are millions of cases of the common cold. Adults have an average of 2-3 colds per year, and children have even more.

Most people get colds in the winter and spring, but it is possible to get a cold any time of the year. Symptoms usually include:

• sore throat
• runny nose
• coughing
• sneezing
• headaches
• body aches

Most people recover within about 7-10 days. However, people with weakened immune systems, asthma, or respiratory conditions may develop serious illness, such as bronchitis or pneumonia.

Help reduce your risk of getting a cold by washing hands often with soap and water.

How to Protect Yourself

Viruses that cause colds can spread from infected people to others through the air and close personal contact. You can also get infected through contact with stool (poop) or respiratory secretions from an infected person. This can happen when you shake hands with someone who has a cold, or touch a surface, like a doorknob, that has respiratory viruses on it, then touch your eyes, mouth, or nose.

You can help reduce your risk of getting a cold:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water. Wash them for 20 seconds, and help young children do the same. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Viruses that cause colds can live on your hands, and regular handwashing can help protect you from getting sick.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. Viruses that cause colds can enter your body this way and make you sick.
• Stay away from people who are sick. Sick people can spread viruses that cause the common cold through close contact with others.

Practice good cough and sneeze etiquette: always cough and sneeze into a tissue or your upper shirt sleeve, completely covering your mouth and nose.

How to Protect Others

If you have a cold, you should follow these tips to help prevent spreading it to other people:

• Stay at home while you are sick and keep children out of school or daycare while they are sick.
• Avoid close contact with others, such as hugging, kissing, or shaking hands.
• Move away from people before coughing or sneezing.
• Cough and sneeze into a tissue then throw it away, or cough and sneeze into your upper shirt sleeve, completely covering your mouth and nose.
• Wash your hands after coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose.
• Disinfect frequently touched surfaces and objects, such as toys, doorknobs, and mobile devices.

There is no vaccine to protect you against the common cold.

How to Feel Better

There is no cure for a cold. To feel better, you should get lots of rest and drink plenty of fluids. Over-the-counter medicines may help ease symptoms but will not make your cold go away any faster. Always read the label and use medications as directed. Talk to your doctor before giving your child nonprescription cold medicines, since some medicines contain ingredients that are not recommended for children. Learn more about symptom relief of upper respiratory infections, including colds.

Antibiotics will not help you recover from a cold caused by a respiratory virus. They do not work against viruses, and they may make it harder for your body to fight future bacterial infections if you take them unnecessarily. 

When to See a Doctor

You should call your doctor if you or your child has one or more of these conditions:

• symptoms that last more than 10 days
• symptoms that are severe or unusual
• if your child is younger than 3 months of age and has a fever or is lethargic

You should also call your doctor right away if you are at high risk for serious flu complications and get flu symptoms such as fever, chills, and muscle or body aches. People at high risk for flu complications include young children (younger than 5 years old), adults 65 years and older, pregnant women, and people with certain medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, and heart disease.
Your doctor can determine if you or your child has a cold or the flu and can recommend treatment to help with symptoms.

Causes of the Common Cold

Many different respiratory viruses can cause the common cold, but rhinoviruses are the most common. Rhinoviruses can also trigger asthma attacks and have been linked to sinus and ear infections. Other viruses that can cause colds include respiratory syncytial virus, human parainfluenza viruses, adenovirus, common human coronaviruses, and human metapneumovirus.

Know the Difference between Common Cold and Flu

The flu, which is caused by influenza viruses, also spreads and causes illness around the same time as the common cold. Because these two illnesses have similar symptoms, it can be difficult (or even impossible) to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone. In general, flu symptoms are worse than the common cold and can include fever or feeling feverish/chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches and fatigue (tiredness). Flu can also have very serious complications. CDC recommends a yearly flu vaccination as the first and best way to prevent the flu. If you get the flu, antiviral drugs may be a treatment option.

Cough keeping you up at night? Soreness in your chest and feeling tired? You could have a chest cold.

Antibiotics will not help you get better if you have a chest cold (acute bronchitis).

If you’re healthy without heart or lung problems or a weakened immune system, this information is for you.

What is a chest cold (acute bronchitis)?

A chest cold, often called acute bronchitis, occurs when the airways of the lungs swell and produce mucus in the lungs. That’s what makes you cough. Acute bronchitis can last less than 3 weeks.

Causes

A virus usually causes acute bronchitis. Bacteria can sometimes cause acute bronchitis. But, even in these cases, taking antibiotics is NOT advised and will not help you get better.

Symptoms

Symptoms of acute bronchitis last less than 3 weeks and can include:

• Coughing with or without mucus
• Soreness in the chest
• Feeling tired (fatigue)
• Mild headache
• Mild body aches
• Sore throat

When to Seek Medical Care

Talk to a healthcare professional right away if your child is under 3 months old with a fever of 100.4 °F (38 °C) or higher.

See a doctor if you have any of the following:

• Temperature of 100.4 °F or higher
• Cough with bloody mucus
• Shortness of breath or trouble breathing
• Symptoms that last more than 3 weeks
• Repeated episodes of bronchitis

This list is not all-inclusive. Please see a doctor for any symptom that is severe or concerning.

Treatment

Acute bronchitis usually gets better on its own—without antibiotics. Antibiotics won’t help you get better if you have acute bronchitis.

When antibiotics aren’t needed, they won’t help you, and their side effects could still cause harm. Side effects can range from mild reactions, like a rash, to more serious health problems. These problems can include severe allergic reactions, antibiotic-resistant infections and C. diff  infection. C. diff causes diarrhea that can lead to severe colon damage and death.

Other illnesses like whooping cough (pertussis) or pneumonia can have similar symptoms to acute bronchitis. If you have whooping cough or pneumonia, your doctor will most likely prescribe antibiotics.

How to Feel Better

Below are some ways you can feel better while your body fights off acute bronchitis:

• Get plenty of rest.
• Drink plenty of fluids.
• Use a clean humidifier or cool mist vaporizer.
• Use saline nasal spray or drops to relieve a stuffy nose.
  • For young children, use a rubber suction bulb to clear mucus.
• Breathe in steam from a bowl of hot water or shower.
• Suck on lozenges. Do not give lozenges to children younger than 4 years of age.
• Use honey to relieve cough for adults and children at least 1 year of age or older.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist about over-the-counter medicines that can help you feel better. Always use over-the-counter medicines as directed. Remember, over-the-counter medicines may provide temporary relief of symptoms, but they will not cure your illness.

Over-the-Counter Medicine and Children

Carefully read and follow instructions on over-the-counter medicine product labels before giving medicines to children. Some over-the-counter medicines are not recommended for children of certain ages.

• Pain relievers:
  • Children younger than 6 months: only give acetaminophen.
  • Children 6 months or older: it is OK to give acetaminophen or ibuprofen.
  • Never give aspirin to children because it can cause Reye’s syndrome. Reye’s syndrome is a very serious, but rare illness that can harm the liver and brain.
• Cough and cold medicines:
  • Children younger than 4 years old: do not use over-the-counter cough and cold medicines in young children unless a doctor specifically tells you to. Cough and cold medicines can result in serious and sometimes life-threatening side effects in young children.
  • Children 4 years or older: discuss with your child’s doctor if over-the-counter cough and cold medicines are safe to give to your child.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist about the right dosage of over-the-counter medicines for your child’s age and size. Also, tell your child’s doctor and pharmacist about all prescription and over-the-counter medicines they are taking.

Prevention

You can help prevent acute bronchitis by doing your best to stay healthy and keep others healthy, including:

• Clean your hands.
• Get recommended vaccines, such as the flu vaccine.
• Don’t smoke and avoid secondhand smoke.
• Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.