What You Should Do: Control your weight. Combining a reduced-calorie diet with regular physical activity will give you an excellent chance of losing weight and maintaining that weight loss over the long term. Weight loss is the most effective way to lower triglyceride levels and raise HDL cholesterol. In addition, weight loss is an important way to lower blood pressure and prevent and treat type 2 diabetes. To lose weight, you will need to expend more calories than you consume. A healthy weight loss is 0.5 to 2 pounds a week. To achieve this goal, you will need to eat 250 to 1,000 fewer calories a day. Experts recommend that people who need to lose weight or maintain weight loss should engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate exercise on most days of the week. If you can comfortably exercise for 30 minutes, try to gradually increase your daily exercise duration to one hour. |
