Weight loss and weight control - they're not exactly the same thing, are they? If we are not in control of something - in this case, your weight - we find it difficult to maintain. Even when you feel you're pretty much in control of your weight, you will tend to lose weight or gain weight here and there. Weight is always fluctuating.

But with all those idiosyncracies, it's still fair to say many reach a point where they keep their weight within a 5 pound differential. That would be considered in control of your weight.

Unfortunately, with the obesity numbers growing, a majority of the people confuse weight control with weight loss. The confusion is worse confounded because the considerations by which you achieve weight control are the same as those by which you achieve weight loss.

A healthy American woman of medium build and a height of 5' 4" would weigh about 125 pounds. If she is doing a little or no exercise, consuming about 1500 calories per day would maintain her weight. If she were to follow some dietary restriction and reduce her calorie intake by 500 calories per day, she would lose weight at the rate of about 1 pound per week.

If the woman in our example above began exercising 3 days per week, she would burn off about 200 calories per day more. As such, to maintain the weight i.e. to control the weight in spite of starting on the exercise program, she needs to eat 200 calories more per day.

So you see, breaking it down like that, it sounds simple to choose a lifestyle and maintain a healthy weight gain or healthy weight loss. But we all know it just isn't quite that easy.

What you can do; however, is choose the weight you want to weigh-in at; that tells you how long you need to adjust your lifestyle to reach the target at the safe rate of 1 to 2 pounds per week. Next determine your present calorie intake. Knowing that one pound of body weight is equivalent to about 3500 calories, you can decide how much change you need to make in your calorie intake. Remember: less fat, less calories, lose weight; more fat, more calories, gain weight!

If you are at a healthy comfortable weight you can easily maintain the same weight even in face of changes in your activity levels, etc. by keeping in mind underlying concept. If you are increasing your activities (including exercise you may be doing) increase your calorie intake correspondingly or vice versa.

If you need to lose weight and are having difficulty doing so, Proactol can offer you assistance - along with a range of other natural health benefits:

• Lower blood cholesterol
• Increased joint flexibility and energy levels
• A reduction in food cravings
• A 450 daily calorie reduction
• No known side effects

Medically backed from the Medical Device Directive 93/42 EEC, you can take Proactol confident in the knowledge that with its natural fat binder benefits on hand, you can lose a steady 1 to 2 pounds a week with minimal exercise.

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