Many people struggle with their weight. In the United States over 75% of adults have obesity or overweight. Maybe you fall into one of these categories and your weight is taking a toll on your self-esteem or you are frustrated because you no longer fit into your clothes. Other than these factors, there are many benefits associated with losing weight.
Obesity is the underlying cause of many health concerns and puts individuals at higher risk for several others. Losing weight can not only reverse many of these health issues, but can also provide benefits that you might not have thought about. Let’s look at a few of the benefits that shedding some pounds can provide.
Lose Weight And Gain Quality Of Life
1. Remission or Reversal of Type 2 Diabetes
The American Journal of Medicine published a study regarding the relationship between obesity and type II diabetes. The results of the study were eye-opening in that 82 percent of the individuals with type 2 diabetes who lost a significant amount of weight had an improvement or complete resolution of type 2 diabetes.
2. Improvements in Blood Pressure
High blood pressure (hypertension) affects over 75 million people in the United States each year. Hypertension is a common condition that is associated with more deaths per year than any other cardiovascular disease. An individual’s blood pressure is a reading of how much resistance the arteries provide as the heart pumps to keep the blood flowing. The smaller or more narrow the arteries, the higher the blood pressure reading will be.
Significant weight loss has been shown to eliminate or improve high blood pressure. In a study published by JAMA (The Journal for The American Medical Association), high blood pressure was eliminated in 61.7% of patients who had substantial weight loss, and 78.5 % of patients had marked improvements.
3. Mobility Issues and Joint Pain
Many individuals with obesity experience joint pain or degeneration due to the excess weight-related force exerted on these areas. Excessive wear and tear on your joints can cause inflammation and the breakdown of your knees, ankles, or hips. This can result in mobility issues eventually leading to knee or hip replacements. Each pound (lb) of excess weight an individual is carrying exerts an extra 4 lbs of pressure on their knees.
For example, an individual who has overweight by 10 pounds has 40 pounds of excess pressure on their knees and someone who has 100 pounds overweight has 400 extra pounds of excess pressure on their knees. The knees become overwhelmed with this amount of pressure.
Losing weight relieves this pressure, helps mitigate risks of osteoarthritis and the need for joint replacement. Importantly, many people who lose weight are able to participate in activities that they could not do prior to weight loss. This may be something as simple as playing with their children, running, or participating in some form of organized sports.
4. Improves Reproductive Health And Fertility
There is a direct association between infertility and obesity. People with obesity and overweight carry a higher risk related to conception rates, miscarriage, complications during pregnancy, etc.
An individual’s menstrual cycle is regulated by an intricate balance of hormones and those with obesity have higher levels of leptin, a hormone that fatty tissue creates. This imbalance of hormones is associated with reduced fertility rates.
In one study, women were observed for six months while they underwent changes in their lifestyle including diet and exercise. Participants lost an average of 23 lbs and most experienced a favorable result: 60 out of 67 (90%) of women resumed spontaneous ovulation and 52 of these women achieved conception. The rate of miscarriage was reduced from 75% to 18% for these women and 45 delivered full-term babies.
Although not all people with obesity have fertility issues, losing weight can improve one’s reproductive health and offer more favorable pregnancy, labor, and delivery outcomes.
5. Increases Longevity and Quality of Life
While no one can predict what a person’s lifespan will be, obesity is linked with several severe health problems that can result in death. People with obesity are at higher risk for several types of cancer, heart disease, stroke, severe sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes, and more.
A recent study indicated that if individuals diagnosed with obesity (based on body mass index or the BMI scale) could lose enough weight to move down to the BMI overweight category, they could lower their mortality risk by 54%.
Losing weight is one of the best things you can do for your physical and emotional health. It is difficult to adequately summarize all of the benefits of weight loss in one article. Weight impacts people emotionally, affects sleeps, and many more areas in one’s life.
If you have struggled with your weight, you should understand that many factors may be working against you and that your lack of success is not just a willpower problem. Genetics, hormones, metabolism, and medications are a few examples of things that can impede your weight loss efforts. We are here to help you lose weight and, more importantly, keep it off. Contact us today to learn about non-surgical weight loss options like the Orbera gastric baloon, endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty, and/or medications which may be right for you!
