In the individual health insurance there are many underwriting guidelines but none are more controllable than your weight. Weight can determine what premiums you pay.
For example a male that is 5’9″ if he ways 128-188lbs then he could qualify for Preferred 1. This would be the best risk factor you can get which mean your premium are the lowest for that plan design. Now let’s take the same example 5’9″ and you weight 255 lbs now your are automatically in a standard 2 rate class which is the highest costing. The difference in cost from Preferred 1 and Standard 2 could be 100% more. Not only are you going to pay more in premium if you are over weight but now you could be declined. There is a good possibility if you are 60+ lbs over weight you could also suffer from High Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure, Hypertension, Sleep Apnea and so on. With the combination of being over weight and having health conditions you are an automatic decline for a Individual health policy from a private carrier. Now your options for coverage are a lot less and more expensive.
If you control your weight you could pay a great deal less in health insurance premium and pay a lot less for medical services.
The best way to get your individual health premiums low is t0 take care of yourself.
With todays technology there are all kinds of smart phone applications that can assist you with counting calories. Any Doctor in the country can point you in the right direction for a health diet.