6 reasons to lose weight now

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 states.

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 heavy weight body builder 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 buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries throughout your body. This makes them narrow slowing blood flow and among other things increasing the risk of blood clotting. Arteries at risk include those supplying blood to the brain. If clotting occurs due to narrowed artery, it blocks the blood supply to an area of the brain resulting in a 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 estrogens, a hormone. Both insulin and estrogens accelerate cell division.

Probably to create adipose tissue; new fat cells to store fat, in addition to the regular cell division

As research has indicated, the faster cells duplicate the more they increase the chances of a cancerous cell developing. 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.

Prostrate 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 becomes 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. the soft tissue in the throat collapses around the air way probably due to weight, blocking it. 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 deposit may cause the valve of the urinary bladder to be weakened. The weight also exerts pressure on the urinary bladder, trying 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 will 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

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.

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