Caring for the overweight client requires a multifaceted approach. The nurse practitioner can help clients lose weight by providing them with strategies for reducing calorie intake, maintaining a healthy, balanced diet, exercising more, and developing positive behavioral and attitudinal changes. Weight reduction programs need to be individualized and clients should be periodically reassessed for changes in behaviors, eating patterns, and goals. Success in weight loss and maintenance requires a lifelong commitment to behavioral and nutritional changes. The goal of this article is to improve the clinician's understanding of the overweight person and to assist health care providers in counseling clients in weight reduction and maintenance.
