Keeping your body at a healthy weight helps reduce your risk of diseases like high blood pressure, cholesterol and heart disease. It also can help with diabetes and some cancers.
The best way to lose weight is through a balanced diet and regular exercise. To get started, ban the word “diet” from your vocabulary.
1. Improved Health
Do i need to lose weight: weight significantly reduces the risk for many health conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and some cancers. Studies show that even a modest loss of 5 to 10 percent of body weight can deliver immediate, positive health benefits.
Obesity and the health problems that often accompany it can lead to costly medical bills. Achieving a healthy weight can help cut those expenses and reduce the need for medication and other treatments.
When people lose weight, their bodies require fewer calories and can function more efficiently. They have more energy and don’t feel so tired all the time. Plus, their clothes fit better.
If you’re overweight, talk to your doctor about how you can get to a healthy weight. A doctor may recommend a diet plan, prescription medications or other treatments to help you reach your goal weight and manage any related health problems. Also, consider getting support from a weight loss group. These groups provide an environment to share ideas, offer encouragement and support. Write down your reasons why you want to lose weight. Post them where you can see them daily.
2. Better Self-Esteem
Often, being overweight contributes to low self-esteem. For many people, the benefits of losing weight may be enough to boost their self-esteem.
Low self-esteem is usually the result of negative thoughts, and it takes work to change those thought patterns. Fortunately, there are strategies that can help, including identifying and challenging distorted thinking patterns like personalizing (taking your own faults and problems more personally than necessary).
Another way to improve self-esteem is appreciating your body with all its strengths and features, Firestone says. For example, your heart weighs just eleven ounces, yet it pumps three thousand gallons of blood every day—and no technology can replicate that durability.
Although it’s not likely to happen overnight, a high self-esteem can make you more resilient and happier in life. It’s also a key ingredient in healthy relationships, and it can give you the vision, confidence, kindness, motivation and love that allow you to be the best version of yourself possible. For more information, check out our self-esteem tips or consider talking to a therapist.
3. Better Self-Confidence
People often lose weight to feel better about how they look. And that’s a big deal! Studies show that when you achieve your body goals, your self-esteem can skyrocket. You may feel more confident and proud of how you’ve taken care of yourself – and that can have a positive impact on your life in many ways, including helping you to stick with healthy lifestyle behaviors like getting regular exercise.
Excess weight can increase your risk for various potentially life-threatening conditions, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep apnoea, and gallstones. These risks can also lead to shame, low self-esteem and depression.
Plus, research shows that being overweight can even have a negative impact on your employment prospects, with one study published in the journal Occupational Medicine & Health Affairs finding that obese applicants were 2.7 times more likely to be passed over for job offers than their thinner co-workers. Slimming down can change this unfair bias and boost your confidence! You’ll also start to taste food better—people who struggle with obesity often report that they don’t taste their food as well.
4. Better Relationships
A healthy weight helps you stay active, which can improve the quality of your relationships with friends and loved ones. In addition, if you’re in a relationship with someone who also wants to lose weight, you may both be able to benefit from the extra energy and improved health that better eating habits bring to your life together. However, if your partner doesn’t share your same goals for losing weight, they may feel left out as you start to spend more time at the gym or cooking healthy meals instead of going out to dinner and movie nights or other activities you used to enjoy.
Conclusion
Research shows that getting enough restful sleep is a powerful weight loss tool. When you sleep well, you feel full of energy and it becomes easier to stick with a healthy diet and exercise plan. Sleep deprivation is linked to a number of health problems, including metabolic and hormonal changes that increase appetite and cravings, decrease insulin sensitivity and cause the body to store fat more easily. Sleep disturbances such as snoring and sleep apnea are also associated with excess weight. Losing weight and reducing excess body fat can help improve sleep and may reduce the risk of these problems.
