There are, indeed, some truly astounding health benefits of weight loss. You may be aware of many of these; some may come as a surprise. But make no mistake: Losing weight provides extraordinary health and wellness benefits. This is especially true for those patients who have been diagnosed as obese.
Do you have a high BMI (body mass index)? Has your or primary care provider recommended a weight loss regimen? If so, you stand to benefit the most from weight loss. But even people who are just a few pounds overweight will achieve health benefits from losing weight.
Excess Weight
Carrying excess weight can lead to a whole host of muscle, ligament, cardiovascular, and neurological problems. Our bodies evolved to store excess calories as fat. This excess fat — essentially an energy store — sustained our ancestors during times of famine.
“While the nutritional quality of our food and our activity levels have both decreased over time, our bodies may still behave like those of our ancestors,” writes Molly Edmonds for HowStuffWorks.com. “There were times throughout history when the ability to store fat was an important survival tool. Early humans had to endure famines and shortages of food, so their bodies were equipped to survive long periods without eating. Researchers believe these people possessed what’s known as a ‘thrifty gene,’ which helped their bodies store fat for endurance. Since the ability to outlast a famine would have been a useful skill, evolution would have favored those who possessed this gene, and it would have been passed down to humans living today.”
Thus, for modern humans, many of whom live in lands of plenty, this thrifty process leads not just to jeans that don’t fit anymore. It can also lead to obese people, diabetes, cancer, heart attacks, and more.
There is still a healthy debate over the “thrifty gene” hypothesis. What is not up for debate, however, is the benefits of weight loss. Let’s look at those now.
Biggest Benefits of Weight Loss
We’ve covered a lot of this before, but it’s worth repeating.
Some of the biggest benefits of weight loss include:
- Improved mood, vigor, and vitality
- Less joint stress
- Less tissue inflammation
- A lower risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease
- Lowered risk factor of certain cancers
- Improved LDL — or “bad” cholesterol — scores
- Higher HDL — or “good” cholesterol — scores
- Lower triglycerides
- Lower blood pressure
- And, of course, you’ll look super sharp in your new clothes!
It’s also important to think about a few of the not-so-obvious benefits of losing weight.
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- Better sex.
- It’s easier to keep the weight off.
- Increased willingness to engage in physical activities to stay healthy.
- A glowing complexion.
- You may be less likely to get really sick.
As we wrote in “15 Surprising and Unexpected Benefits of Weight Loss, “When the H1N1 virus was spreading across Spain in 2009, doctors there noticed that overweight and obese patients were disproportionately affected. According to an abstract at the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “obese patients were at high risk.”
Plus, you’ll look and feel great, and your energy levels will skyrocket once you have less body weight.
Even if you lose 10 pounds, you’ll notice a difference in mood and energy levels. Lose 50 pounds, and the benefits are multiplied. Ask anybody who has lost weight; they’ll tell you.
Oregon Weight Loss Surgery Center
Curious about weight loss surgery and how best to achieve your personal weight loss goals? Tired of carrying around extra weight and body fat? Hoping to settle on a healthy weight for yourself? Oregon Weight Loss Surgery Center can help. Contact us with any questions.
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