Over 160 million Americans are overweight. It’s a health epidemic that’s crippling millions of people across the country.
When it comes to losing weight, many individuals don’t know where to start. They try crash diets and dive head-first into exercising, only to give up a few weeks later because those tactics are unsustainable.
However, those who find a sustainable and manageable weight loss course soon discover all the benefits of losing weight. They range from reversing heart disease to having more confidence in the workplace.
We’ve compiled a list of the top benefits of losing weight to encourage you on your weight loss journey.
Internal Benefits
Many individuals start getting serious about their diets and weight loss when they find out they have threatening medical conditions like heart disease or on the threshold of diabetes. While there are tons of benefits of losing weight, the most important benefits tend to be internal.
Lowers Blood Pressure
Being overweight puts additional strain on your heart which can put your heart health at risk. The additional strain on your heart can cause damage to your blood vessels, putting you at risk for vision loss and stroke.
When you lose weight, the additional strain on your heart disappears, thereby lowering your blood pressure and reducing your risk of vision loss and stroke.
Decreases Risk of Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is a serious disease which causes the body to improperly produce and use blood sugars. Diabetes can lead to irreversible nerve damage, vision loss, and kidney damage. It’s a disease most commonly associated with being overweight or obese.
If you are at-risk of diabetes, you can reduce your risk of developing it by 58% by losing 5-10% of your body weight. Even if you have diabetes, losing weight can help reduce the symptoms and make living with diabetes easier.
Decreases Risk of Heart Disease
Extra weight on the body causes your heart to work harder. Being overweight can also lead to clogged arteries, damaged blood vessels, and a weakened heart.
When overweight patients lose weight, they decrease their risk and even reverse the dangers of heart disease. Regular exercise can reduce the size of the heart chambers, a common cause of atrial fibrillation, and decrease the thickness of the heart walls, making it a more flexible muscle.
Improves Cholesterol Levels
Everyone has good and bad cholesterol. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is good and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is bad.
Less than 100mg/dL of HDL and less than 40mg/dL LDL are optimal for your health. In most cases, overweight individuals have high LDL levels.
Losing weight through a low-fat diet and, in some cases, dietary supplements can help overweight individuals shed pounds and reduce their LDL. Having healthy cholesterol levels helps keep the pounds off and reduces your risk for cardiovascular disease.
Physical Benefits
For many overweight individuals, the benefits of weight loss are more tangible in the physical sense. Feeling your pants get looser as you lose weight is more gratifying than knowing your cholesterol levels are improving.
Improved Mobility
Mobility can be a huge problem for seriously obese individuals. It’s more difficult to get up out of your seat, play with your kids, and perform daily tasks.
Oftentimes, obese individuals stop exercising because they can’t move around well. They sit around and continue to gain weight, thereby feeding the cycle.
One of the incredible benefits of losing weight is you suddenly have more energy and increased ability to move around. You’ll find it easier and rewarding to get up from your chair and play with your kids or dog.
Decreased Back and Joint Pain
When you’re overweight, your muscles and joints need to bear much more weight than they’re designed for. This leads to lower back pain and joint pain in your hips and knees.
Losing weight helps take stress off your back and joints, making it easier to move around and sit up and down. Less stress on your joints also makes you feel generally healthier and means you aren’t in constant pain.
Improved Symptoms of Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis. It’s caused by the cartilage between your joints wearing down over time, causing the bones to rub together.
While getting old and having a job in manual labor can speed up the onset of osteoarthritis, being overweight is a guaranteed ticket to developing osteoarthritis. The added weight and stress on the joints causes the cartilage of the joints to wear down faster which speeds up the development of osteoarthritis.
Losing weight helps take the additional stress off your joints’ cartilage, thereby slowing down the path to osteoarthritis.
Improved Sleep
Many individuals who are overweight tend to have sleep apnea, a disorder where an individual stops breathing or has very shallow breathing during sleep.
Sleep apnea mostly occurs in individuals who carry additional weight around their neck. Whether those individuals realize it or not, they’re not getting the best quality sleep because they’re constantly waking themselves up because they’ve stopped breathing.
When you lose weight, the additional weight around your neck will disappear, causing your sleep apnea to go away.
Improved Lifestyle
The benefits of weight loss extend beyond internal and physical. When you lose weight, you’ll notice a boost in confidence and that you have more energy to do things.
Confidence Boost
When you lose weight, you get an immediate confidence boost. You look and feel great, and you know that’s all thanks to your hard work.
You’ll feel more comfortable in social situations. You’ll even feel more confident when you go to stores to try on new clothes.
Your new-found confidence will spill over into your personal and professional life, making it easier to form connections and perform tasks.
Improved Sex Drive
When your BMI drops, you’ll notice a boost in your sex drive, especially if you’re a man. Having a lower BMI is correlated with having more testosterone, which can lead to wanting to hop in bed with your spouse.
Being at a healthy weight can also help you feel more satisfied with sex and causes you to feel less self-conscious about your appearance in bed.
Your Career Can Benefit
Unfortunately, being overweight or obese can hold you back in your career. Whether hiring managers admit it or not, perceived attractiveness can subconsciously play into whether an individual is hired or not.
When you lose weight, you can unlock new salary bumps and promotions thanks to your confidence and trimmed down physique.
The Benefits of Losing Weight Can Be Yours
There are many more benefits of losing weight than we mentioned here. Losing weight can also improve your mood and reduce stress, as well as decrease your risk of some cancers.
To reap these benefits, you need to find a weight loss program that works for you. ChiroThin has helped hundreds of overweight individuals lose dozens of pounds and inches off their waistline.
Download two free ebooks to learn more about ChiroThin’s weight loss program.