Your BMI, or body mass index, can be a helpful health metric to assess weight status. BMI uses a formula involving your height and weight to estimate body fat and categorize it as underweight, healthy, overweight or obese. Reaching and maintaining a BMI in the healthy range (around 18.5-24.9) is associated with lower risks for conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers. However, crash dieting to hastily lower BMI can be dangerous. With sensible lifestyle changes, you can safely achieve healthy BMI goals over time. Here are 10 practical diet and exercise tips:

1. Aim to lose only 1-2 pounds per week – Losing more than that often means you are shedding muscle and water instead of fat. Gradually trimming 500-1000 calories from your daily needs each day helps create the slight deficit for 1-2 pound fat loss per week.
2. Increase your protein intake – Getting around 0.7-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight helps preserve metabolism-boosting muscle as you lose weight. Choose lean protein sources like poultry, fish, eggs, legumes, nuts and low-fat dairy.
3. Prioritize strength training – Lifting weights, using resistance bands, doing calisthenics or bodyweight workouts helps maintain and build calorie-burning lean muscle mass while losing fat, shaping your body nicely at a healthy weight.
4. Fill up on fiber and water – Getting 25-35 grams of daily fiber from veggies, fruits, beans and whole grains provides nutrients, fills you up and improves satiety. Adequate water prevents false hunger and supports metabolism.
5. Monitor portion sizes with your hands – Guiding food portions with hands prevents overeating. A closed fist or cupped hand = 1 cup grains/dairy, open palm = 3 oz protein serving, thumb tip = 1 tsp oils, thumb to fingertips = 1 oz cheese.
6. Gradually increase cardio activity – Steadily adding more walking, swimming, cycling and other aerobic exercise burns more calories and speeds healthy BMI achievement. Build up to 150-300 minutes per week.
7. Focus on nutrition density, not density – Choose wholesome, minimally processed foods that provide lots of vitamins, minerals and nutrients relative to their calories – fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds, fish. Limit heavy, nutrition-poor fast food.
8. Watch out for liquid calories – Beverages like sugary soda, juices, coffee drinks, and alcohol provide lots of readily absorbed calories that can set back weight loss. Hydrate with mostly water and moderate pure juices, milk and plant-based smoothies.
9. Pay attention to hunger cues – Eating slowly, listening to hunger signals, opting for nutritious snacks when truly hungry between meals prevents overdoing calories or nutrients. Constant grazing leads to excess intake.
10. Be consistent 95% of the time – Allow yourself a modest treat meal a week without guilt as a lifestyle sustainer. But stick to healthy eating, portion control and activity the majority of the time so occasional splurges don’t derail your BMI goals.