Table 3.

Approaching Weight Management in Patients With Cancer and Survivors

Approach
Assess patients' weight by calculating BMI
Advise patients of their current weight status and whether there is need to lose weight or prevent weight gain, based on BMI category and considerations regarding disease state and treatment; encourage regular exercise and healthy eating at all points from diagnosis to long-term follow-up in all patients, regardless of weight status, and discuss possibility of weight gain, if appropriate, when patients initiate adjuvant therapy; highlight positive impact that improved diet and increased physical activity can have, including better quality of life, less fatigue, better body image, and lower incidence of comorbidity
Refer patients to appropriate services, such as oncology nutrition, rehabilitation medicine, and exercise physiology

Abbreviation: BMI, body mass index.