Before you start

The Healthy Weight Guide has been developed to provide you with the information you need to help you understand the importance of healthy eating and physical activity in achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.

Whether you already have a good understanding of what is required or if you are just starting out, the Healthy Weight Guide can help.

You might find achieving and maintaining a healthy weight easier if you break it down into the following seven steps:

Get started

An important first step towards achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is to understand what your journey will involve. You might like to start by finding out if you are a healthy weight. Setting goals and planning are also important steps. Once you are on your journey, it is important to monitor what you do to ensure you can maintain the healthy habits you set up. Registering with the Healthy Weight Guide can help you with all of these steps.

Set goals

It’s a good idea to set yourself some goals to help keep focused. Your goals might be related to your weight or about changing your behaviour, such as increasing your fitness or eating more healthily.  In the set goals section you will find some useful tips and ideas to help you decide on your goals and how you will achieve them. You will also find a downloadable goal setting form in this section. Alternatively, the My Goals section in the My Dashboard registered area will help you to set up and keep track of your goals.

Get active

Creating opportunities to be physically active every day can help you to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. In the get active section you will find helpful hints on finding out what physical activities you like and how to incorporate them into your day. For some people, planning to do physical activity at a regular time every day or week is more likely to make it a habit.  Get active also has a downloadable Physical Activity Planner to help you plan what physical activity you will do and when. The My Planner section of the My Dashboard registered area also has great tool to plan and monitor your physical activity.

Eat well

Developing healthy eating habits is important to being a healthy weight. You might like to start with a few small changes and gradually incorporate more. In the eat well section you will find some great suggestions on healthy shopping, cooking and eating out. You will also find a downloadable meal planner to help you plan and monitor your meals. The My Planner section of the My Dashboard registered area also has great tool to plan and monitor your meals and calculate your energy requirements.

Keep in check

Some people who keep track of their progress are more likely to make the changes that over time become new healthy habits. The keep in check section will give you some suggestions on how to continue to keep track of the healthy habits you have set. You might find the My Dashboard registered area useful to help you monitor your progress.

Managing the challenges

There may be times when you find managing your weight a challenge. The managing the challenges section has useful suggestions to help manage some of the common challenges you might face along the way.

Get informed and get support

In the get informed section you will find information related to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight from the Australian Dietary Guidelines and Australia's Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines. There is also information on different weight loss methods. You might find all this information helpful when setting your goals and making your healthy eating and physical activity plans. The getting support section has useful information on who you might be able to reach out to and how they might help. After all, everyone needs a helping hand.

For more information: