A recent study has found that losing just 5 percent of your body weight — if you weigh 200 pounds, that’s only 10 pounds — will significantly improve your body’s response to insulin and reduce your chance of suffering from heart disease or diabetes.

Doctors point out that conventional dieting rarely works, and advise people trying to lose weight to focus on making small changes that are easier to maintain. For example, high-protein and high-fiber “whole foods” — such as unprocessed meat, eggs, nuts, and whole vegetables and fruit — tend to be more satisfying than carbohydrates like bread and rice because your body digests them more slowly. Just replacing fast food or junk food with whole foods for one meal a day will make a big difference over time. So will adding two or three light workouts to your schedule every week. Work a small, manageable change into your lifestyle, and once it’s under control, add another.