Your Health and Your Weight
When you decide to lose weight you should decide to do it for yourself and not because someone else insists you do, or to please someone else. Rather than base your weight-loss goals around simply being a smaller size to “look better” why not find something more positive and less judgmental to focus on? After all, size should not matter and should not be used to determine your worth to others, by others, or be a factor in your level of self-esteem.
Instead of thinking “if I was only skinny I would be happier” or “people would like me more” focus on what losing weight can really do for you and for your health. Here are just a few wonderful ways that losing weight can help improve the quality of your life that has nothing to do with what people see on the outside.
Finding Motivation
Here are some other reasons to consider when it comes to watching your calories:
- Losing even a modest amount of weight reduces your risk of certain types of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and some metabolic problems like pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes. And, if you do get cancer, being at a healthy weight may help you recover faster from certain cancers.
- If you are very overweight, shedding points can improve your energy level and reduce wear and tear on your joints.
- Losing weight on your own can help you avoid dangerous and expensive procedures like lap-band and stomach stapling.
- People who are obese, especially those who carry weight around their stomachs have a 250% higher risk of developing dementia. Another study by Kasier Permanente, a major health care provider, reported that both men and women with in studies who had the fattest arms during late mid-life (ages 40-54) also had a 59% increased risk of developing dementia.
- People who are at a healthy weight tend to be more energetic, enjoy life more, and are less likely to feel depressed.
- Overweight women who suffer from infertility increase their chances of conception (either via natural methods or with “assisted” methods) when they lose even a modest about of weight.
- Being at a normal weight during pregnancy is good for your baby — women who are overweight during pregnancy, or who gain too much weight during pregnancy, have a higher rate of risk for developing gestational diabetes and for having large babies.
- For every extra pound of weight you carry on your body, your body has to build and maintain extra skin, blood vessels, and blood volume. This makes your heart have to work much harder than if you were closer to your ideal weight.
