Weight Management Tools and Resources

Maintaining a healthy weight for life is important for everyone. These tools and resources help families and communities learn more about managing a healthy weight. You will find additional tools and resources to help you manage weight in the nutrition, physical activity, and screen time reduction sections.

Note: Documents in PDF format require the Adobe Acrobat Reader®. If you experience problems with PDF documents, please download the latest version of the Reader®.

Families Finding the Balance: A Parent Handbook (1.5 MB)

Offers practical tips from We Can! to help parents help their families find the right balance of eating well and being physically active to maintain a healthy weight. The Parent Handbook received the 2005 NIH Plain Language Award for an Outstanding Plain Language Product. You can also order the handbook online.

• Available in Spanish: ¡Nosotros Podemos! Familias Encontrando el Balance: Manual para Padres (1.9 MB) or you can order the Spanish-language version online.

We Can! Parent Tip Sheet: Healthy Families, Healthy Weight (88 KB)

This tip sheet provides an overview of the We Can! program and tips for living a healthier lifestyle with their kids.

Energy Balance Worksheet (41 KB)

Use this worksheet from We Can! to better understand the amount of energy you need to expend in order to lose or gain weight.

We Can! Estimated Calorie Requirements (83 KB)

This chart summarizes (in kilocalories) the estimated calorie requirements for gender and age group at three levels of physical activity.

We Can! Parent Tips: Snacks—100 Calories or Less (165 KB)

Try these tasty and easy snacks to satisfy your hunger between meals. They fit right into a healthy eating plan and each has 100 or fewer calories. The key thing is to pay attention to portion sizes. Larger portions mean more calories.

Tips to Eat Well and Move More: Tip Sheet (87 KB)  

Try these tips from We Can! to eat well and move more and see how easy taking small steps toward a healthier life can be.

Tips to Eat Well and Move More: Tracking Sheet (48 KB)

Try these We Can! tips to eat well and move more and see how easy taking small steps toward a healthier life can be.

We Can! Animation for Parents

This 60-second animation highlights the importance of preventing overweight and obesity for families.

Body Mass Index Calculator

Use this calculator from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to determine your Body Mass Index (BMI) according to height and weight.

Your Child’s BMI Could Signal Weight Problems (Matte Article) | PDF  (719 KB)

This short “matte article” from We Can! explains how BMI relates to weight problems. A "matte article" is a news stories that is prewritten, with a graphic or photos included. It can be distributed to print media. It is also great for newsletters and hand-outs.

The Physician’s Role in Preventing Childhood Overweight and Obesity Tip Sheet (93 KB)

We Can! collaborated with two of its national partners, The American Academy of Pediatrics and The American Academy of Family Physicians, to develop this tip sheet that provides physicians and other health professionals with information to prevent childhood overweight and obesity.

Tips for Teens with Diabetes: Stay at a Healthy Weight (560 KB)

This tip sheet developed by the National Diabetes Education Program, provides useful information for teens and their families about diabetes and encourage teens to stay at a healthy weight in order to manage their disease for a long and healthy life.

On the Move to Better Heart Health for African Americans (3.77 MB)

This NHLBI resource is a culturally-appropriate educational booklet for African Americans on heart healthy living. In an easy-to-read format, the booklet provides concise information on heart disease and its risk factors. It explains heart attack signs and how to respond to them, as well as how to reduce risk factors for heart disease, prevent and control high blood pressure, lower blood cholesterol, prevent and control diabetes, manage weight, and stop smoking. It includes an action plan and tip sheet.

Additional Resources

Aim for a Healthy Weight

This Web site from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Obesity Education Initiative has information to help reduce the prevalence of overweight along with the prevalence of physical inactivity in order to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and overall morbidity and mortality from CHD.

Weight-Control Information Network

An information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, this Web site provides the general public, health professionals, the media, and Congress with up-to-date, science-based information on weight control, obesity, physical activity, and related nutritional issues.

NHLBI Diseases and Conditions Index: What are Overweight and Obesity?

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Diseases and Conditions Index is a Web-based health index that gives you a quick and easy way to get complete and dependable information. It includes information on Overweight and Obesity, as well as information about heart, lung, and blood diseases and sleep disorders. New topics will be added regularly.

Aim for a Healthy Weight Patient Booklet (2.28 MB)

This NHLBI booklet for adults contains practical, easy-to-use information for losing and maintaining weight—including tips on healthy eating and physical activity, other options such as weight loss medications and weight loss surgery, setting weight loss goals, and rewarding success. The booklet also includes portion and serving size information, sample reduced calorie menus, tips on dining out, a sample walking program, weekly food and activity diary, and more.

Surgeon General’s Childhood Overweight and Obesity Prevention Initiative

This Web page out of the Office of the Surgeon General provides information about childhood obesity prevention and the program: Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future.

CDC Childhood Obesity Web Page

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) provides online information about healthy youth, including childhood obesity.