Weight control - a term that causes much confusion amongst overweight people contemplating going on a diet. Many people believe it means losing weight. It doesn't . It means being in control of one's weight, whether it's rising, falling, or more likely remaining steady.

It's all about being aware of the results of eating either too much or not enough food; recognizing the importance of regular exercise on a person's weight level; and having an understanding of the number of calories required to be able to carry out daily activities. In other words, exercising calorie control.

For the dieter, it's about understanding and balancing these three factors to achieve a given outcome - in the case of the dieter, permanent weight loss.

To illustrate this, lets take as an example the case of a 40 year old male, 5' 6" (168 cms) weighing about 160lbs (73 kgs) His Body Mass Index (BMI) is 26, indicating he's overweight.

As he's a moderately active person he needs 2500 calories to be able to carry out his total activities without gaining or losing weight. If he consumes (eats) more calories than he needs, he'll put on weight. Conversely, if he eats less then he'll lose weight.

At the moment he's consuming about 3000 calories per day. His medical advisor tells him he's overweight and as he's entering the time of his life where it'll become increasingly difficult to lose weight in the future, he should do it now. The question is what does he need to do to get his weight down to 140 lbs giving him a very acceptable BMI of 23?

Firstly he must realize that as it may have taken him years to put on the extra weight, it's going to take a while to get rid of it. Not years, but possibly months. And certainly not weeks.

Secondly he will have to accept a new life-style which may cause some problems. On the other hand it may not and he'll see results sooner.

Thirdly his doctor has advised that he approaches the problem from two points of view - by changing the food he eats, and by starting a physical exercise program.

His initial objective is to get his weight down to 140 lbs, then ensure it stops at that level.His doctor has told him that by following a simple diet free of fatty, processed, high-salt content food, then the calories consumed each day will fall to about 2500. He does this by eating salad sandwiches for lunch instead of a sausage roll/hamburger/bag of French fries.

So whilst he was consuming 3000 calories a day and getting no extra physical exercise, he's now consuming 2500 calories a day, which has ensured he'll no longer experience weight gain caused by the build-up of fat in his body tissue.

Now in order to actually reduce his weight as opposed to stabilizing it, he has to get rid of some of the fat in his body and he does this in two ways. Firstly he gives up his afternoon snack of confectionary and eats a piece of fruit instead. This will ensure the loss of 250 calories a day.

He supplements this by taking a walk in the evening. As his wife is slightly overweight she decides she'll do the same. A brisk walk of about an hour will burn up a further 250 calories.

His 'loss' of 500 calories a day comes from reducing his existing body fat and will translate into a weight reduction of 1lb a week. Over a 20 week period his weight should drop to 140 lbs, his objective achieved. However, it must be said that this will depend very much on how strictly he adheres to his new diet, and his new exercise program.

Now there'll be times when its not possible to reduce daily calorie intake to the acceptable level. For example an evening out, with plenty of rich and fattening food, and perhaps no time for an evening walk, may mean that the net calorie intake for that day is sky high. In which case the figure can be corrected over the next week by eating less and exercising more than an hour.

Once he starts to see results, then he'll be more enthusiastic about continuing. And of course if he encourages his wife to take the same action to reduce her weight, then each supports the other.

Losing a lb per week is the acceptable figure within the medical profession. Losing more than that may cause other health problems and should only be done after consulting a medical practitioner.

Having achieved his desired weight level, his constant aim should be to maintain it at 140 lbs. After spending 20 weeks with a new lunch time diet and regularly taking an evening walk, weight maintenance should be relatively easy.

What our example is doing is practicing weight control or weight management. He's selecting the weight he wants to be and putting in place a plan that will achieve that. As time goes by and he gets older he may have to alter his plan to suit his changed health condition. But he will still be in control of this important aspect of his health.