Obesity is the second leading cause of death after smoking. It is associated with an increased mortality rate of all ages including children. Losing weight though commercialized is still to your benefit if you carry more weight than you should.
Obesity and Overweight are terms often used interchangeably. However, technically they refer to two different things.
Being overweight technically means excess body mass. This includes all the body tissues. Obesity, on the other hand, refers explicitly to excess body fat e.g. a professional heavyweight bodybuilder is overweight because of excess muscles but is not obese.
Obesity is what should concern you. Losing weight is no longer an issue you can afford to procrastinate, and probably a good health scare is in order.
Reason #1 To Lose Weight
Diabetes: It is well known that 80 -90% of type-two-diabetes patients are overweight. Diabetes is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., as well as the leading cause of adult blindness in the world. One of the direct causes of obesity is eating the wrong foods. Some of these wrong foods include high glycemic foods. High glycemic foods are energy-dense foods that quickly increase the level of blood glucose in your body after being eaten. This results in the body reserving the unnecessarily high glucose/energy into fat. This makes losing weight very difficult.
Releasing a hormone called insulin does this. Type-Two-diabetes occurs because the body cannot produce enough insulin to remove the excess blood glucose and store it as body fat. This will occur after straining insulin production for some time. And that’s how you end up being fat and diabetic.
Reason #2 To Lose Weight
Stroke: Obesity is associated with arteriosclerosis, the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries throughout your body. This makes them narrow slowing blood flow and among other things increases the risk of blood clotting. Arteries at risk include those supplying blood to the brain. If clotting occurs due to a narrowed artery, it blocks the blood supply to an area of the brain resulting in stroke. Losing weight reduces this risk.
Reason #3 To Lose Weight
Cancer: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates between 25% - 33% of cancer worldwide are overweight and physical inactivity related. Body fat evidently promotes higher levels of insulin production and excess estrogen, a hormone. Both insulin and estrogen accelerate cell division.
As research has indicated, the faster cells duplicate the more they increase the chances of cancerous cell development. The situation is further complicated as the rapid cell division caused by the excess hormones lead also to rapid cell reproduction of the one cancerous cell, hence cancer starts to develop actively. In addition fat cells tend to keep carcinogenic i.e. cancer-causing agents, trapped in the body which increases the chances of developing cancer.
Types of cancers you will be at high risk to get include:
Breast Cancer- affecting the breast possibly in both men and women.
Colorectal Cancer- affecting the colon and rectum.
Prostate Cancer- affecting the prostate gland in men.
Endometrial Cancer- affecting the uterus.
Esophageal Cancer- affecting the esophagus.
Renal Cell Cancer- the cancer of the kidney, etc.
Reason #4 To Lose Weight
Respiratory Problems: Obesity causes the lungs to “become smaller” in size and the chest wall to become heavier to lift in the process of breathing in. The most common respiratory problem is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition where an individual stops breathing for some time while asleep. A soft tissue in the throat collapses around the airway. For the severely obese sleep apnea may get more complicated with hypoventilation. Hypoventilation is an accumulation of toxic levels of carbon dioxide (the gas we breathe out) in the blood, due to inadequate breathing. Losing weight would be the only permanent safe and healthy solution to sleep apnea.
Reason #5 To Lose Weight
Urinary Incontinence: This is the involuntary release of urine. Being overweight can contribute to urinary incontinence. A heavy abdomen due to body fat deposits may cause a valve in the bladder to be weakened. The weight also exerts pressure on the bladder to push urine out. This results in leakage of urine when coughing, sneezing or laughing. This is because of a slight relaxation of the bladder valve that normally would not result in leakage. It can even result in bed wetting at night. This particular problem can be a very effective motivator to lose weight.
Reason #6 To Lose Weight
Varicose Veins: Also known as Venous Stratis Disease. The leg and thigh muscles assist the heart in blood circulation just like most large muscles in the body. They are involved in pumping blood against gravity back to the heart with the help of valves that close to avoid a backward flow. Pressure as a result of a large abdomen may increase the workload on the valves eventually causing damage. Damaged valves then allow for blood to back up, due to gravity, causing high pressure in these veins leading to swelling, thickening of skin and skin ulcers.
Reason #7 To Lose Weight
High Blood Pressure: The BMI (Body Mass Index) and age together are the strongest indicator of risk of hypertension or high blood pressure. At least a third of hypertension is related to obesity.
Reason #8 To Lose Weight
Other Diseases: Other diseases which MAY occur as a result of being overweight include
- Gout
- Coronary Heart Disease
- Lower Back Pains
- Osteoarthritis
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Gall Stones
- Pregnancy disorders such as
- Neural Tube Defect
- Prenatal Mortality
- Maternal Hypertension
- Gestational Diabetes
- Impaired Immune Response
- Liver Disease
- Pancreatitis
- Bad Body Smell
- Depression
Research shows that modest weight loss of even 10 pounds, significantly reduces the risk of developing these diseases. Weight loss is, in fact, a challenge taken by many every year.
Unfortunately many fail in this healthy endeavor, all because of one thing; they lack proper information on effective weight loss. Effective weight loss is permanent.
Weight Loss Is Serious
Your Life Depends On It
I hope this helps some of you out.
Effort Brings Change
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