Waist Management, Not Weight Management

Dr. Michael Roizen, cofounder of RealAge and chairman of the RealAge Scientific Advisory Board, is a best-selling author and frequent guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

It's hard to forget about body fat. You see it when you get dressed, get washed, and get jiggy. You feel it when you sit down, when you walk upstairs, when you bend over to blow out your birthday candles. And if you're a person who has struggled with weight for a lifetime, you probably stress more about fat than about money, relationships, or anesthesia-free colonoscopies.

But you know what? Often, we do forget about fat. We eat a lot of food at one meal and go right back to do it again, because we don't see health risks in the same way that we see a slightly larger chin in the mirror. We don't see what that excess stored fat can do -- to our hearts, to our arteries, to our entire body. And it does plenty: higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol, higher blood sugar levels, arterial inflammation, all of which make your heart and arteries work harder and your RealAge older.

So you need to stop thinking about pounds, and pounds only; we'd rather you start thinking about the numbers that really matter -- especially to your husband, wife, children, parents, and friends. The real story of your body isn't measured by scales or wolf whistles. It's measured by your waist size -- and what fat does in your blood and inside your arteries.

Take the first step toward improving those numbers today with RealAge's More-to-Lose Center. You'll find all the information, tools, tips, and support you need to get started.

• See our cheat sheet of successful dieting strategies from the best-selling YOU: On a Diet book.
• Sign in and use our online weight-loss tools, including a daily menu planner.
• Find a similarly minded weight-loss buddy in the RealAge Community.