Weight loss and health insurance

Your weight is an important factor in measuring health insurance premiums. If you are not physically active or have a poor diet resulting in you being overweight, you are increasing your likelihood of suffering from medical conditions.

For example, those who are physically inactive have been shown to be at almost double the risk of dying from coronary heart disease.

If you are more likely to suffer from health problems and need treatment, you are a higher risk to insure: higher risk equals higher premiums.

Most people will realise when they have a problem with their weight, but your Body Mass Index (BMI) can be a useful indicator as to whether you have a significant problem. You simply need to divide your weight in kilograms by your height in metres, then divide the answer by your height again to get your BMI.

Most healthy adults should expect to have a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9. The NHS online provide a free healthy weight calculator, which can help you learn more about a healthy weight and size.

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If you need to take action and lose weight there are two significant areas that affect your weight: diet and exercise.

Diet

There are all manner of diet and weight loss quick fixes out there, however, the reality is that many fad diets or lose weight fast fixes are incompatible with everyday life and will often lead to weight merely returning over time.

If you are over-eating, or have a high fat or calorie diet try to change your attitude towards food in a way that is healthy and you can continue for the rest of your life.

Very simply, a well balanced diet coupled with sensible intake should be enough to make positive changes to your weight.

Here are some tips on how to do this:

Eat plenty of fruit and veg

The government recommends that you eat at least five portions of fruit or vegetables every day. Try your local market for produce that is fresh, in season and often cheaper than supermarkets.

Not only are vegetables often low in fat, but they will keep you much healthier with sustained energy levels and provide you with vitamins and nutrients that can fight off a range of illnesses including cancer.

Make food from scratch

If you are eating food that is processed or 'ready-made' it can be sometimes be hard to tell how healthy it is. If you make your own food with raw ingredients you will know exactly what is going in, can add fruit and vegetables, lay off the fat and cater for your exact taste buds.

These days there is such an abundance or recipes and food inspiration available for free on the internet that there really is no excuse!

If you are short on time in the evenings, make a large batch of food at the weekend and freeze it for eating throughout the week.

Everything in moderation and monitor your portion size

Everyone needs an occasional treat whether this is ice-cream or a pint of beer, so don't beat yourself up, but just remember not to over-indulge.

If you have problems with how much you are eating, try to eat slower, user smaller plates and aim to stop eating before you become too full.

Exercise

Health insurers recognise the value of physical activity, so will often help customers with discounts or the cost of exercising for instance Pru Health has some schemes that help pay towards membership at Virgin Active gyms.

If you already have health insurance and are looking to lower your premiums through exercise, make sure you check what promotions are in place with your provider.

The government recommends that you should do at least 150 minutes of active exercise a week, so here are some other ideas on ways to incorporate exercise into your life:

Join the gym

Going to the gym is how many busy people opt to stay fit, as you can usually go before or after work at a place and time that is suitable for you. When joining a gym you usually have the option of a personal trainer that can help set you targets and show you how to work on problem areas.

Most gyms will also offer exercise classes for a range of fitness levels that can help vary the routine of going to the gym.   Some people are put off the gym by expensive membership prices, if that's the case make sure you look at council funded gyms as they can often be substantially cheaper.

Join a local sports team

You could also consider joining a local sports team or club. This can often keep people doing weekly exercise when they would otherwise consider giving the gym a miss.

If you're football or netball team were relying on you to make up numbers, you may be more likely to turn up even if you were feeling a bit tired or unmotivated.

Exercising as part of a team can also be a lot of fun and a good way of meeting new people and it can also be cheaper than a gym membership.  

Free exercise: walking or running

If you are starting an exercise programme it's important to start off gently or you could risk injurying yourself. Walking is a great way to raise your core fitness, and can often be easily incorporated into your day to day life. Get off the bus a stop early, stop making smaller trips by car, climb stairs rather than getting the lift – all these small actions can have a bigger effect. 

If you put aside some time each week you can work our a route for walking or running, it could be around your local park or along the river – just remember to stay safe, if you are exercising in the dark near roads wear high visibility clothing. 

Try setting yourself targets to keep motivated – if you like running, monitor how long, or far you are going and try to increase the amount week by week. After a while you could sign up for up for a local race that you will need to train for.

Exercise videos

Like the gym, an exercise video can fit in around your life – you can do it in your living room as soon as you get up or when you have some spare time. There is a huge range of exercise videos that cater to all types of exercise from yoga and pilates through to dance and aerobics.