Lose Weight and Be Healthy!

Obesity is not an easy subject to get out in the open.

It’s so personal that most people don’t even want to discuss it, let alone do something about it. If you or your loved ones have overweight or obesity issues, I hope what you read below will convince you that living in denial has got to stop. Someone has to start the ball rolling by saying “I want to lose weight”. As the old saying goes, “The journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step”. If that step is not taken, a lot more than ego or vanity is at stake.

Obesity affects the brain.

A unusual amount of attention has been focused on obesity lately, as reports stack up that indicate the US population is gaining weight at an unprecedented level.  The most current research indicates that obesity has a crucial effect on the brain. Very overweight and obese people had a great deal less brain matter than those people whose weight were considered normal.  This is not just fiction being used as a scare tactic to get more folks to say “I want to lose weight.” It’s from a conclusive study, collaborated on by researchers at UCLA and The University of Pittsburgh. The title of the study was “Brain Structure and Obesity” and has been recently published on line in a journal called Human Brain Mapping. The lead scientist on the project was quoted in US News and World Report as saying “The brains of obese people looked 16 years older than their healthy counterparts while those of overweight people looked 8 years older.”

Brain loss in overweight people gets worse with age.

Now we need to make sure and qualify that article for you. The average age of the study subjects was 77 years old. At first glance, it may seem that these results would only apply to older populations.  However, other data indicates that brain cells deteriorate in not only the elderly, but in men and women of all ages. Childhood obesity statistics indicate that the trend toward obesity is life long. By the time people are in their 70′s, its’ much more pronounced, but this brain loss seems to be a finding that gets worse over time, as we age. At this point, the studies indicate that the genders were fairly represented in their tests. The authors didn’t seem to notice any big differences between male and female subjects. One of the things noted in the study was that further research between males and females is important to pay attention to in the future. Are you ready yet to at least consider the thought… “I want to lose weight”?

Twice as many deaths.

Obesity is certainly a hot button issue with both men and women.  However, a 2006 study indicates that it may be more of a painful quality of life issue in women more than men.  Many studies or surveys on health and quality of life conclude that health-related drop-offs in the quality of life scores were about 4 times higher for overweight women than overweight men, and more than two times higher for obese women than obese men.  Additionally shocking was the fact that the authors found that there were about two times as many deaths among overweight and obese women than as for men.  These mortality rates were in comparison to men and women considered to be of normal weights or slightly overweight. These studies are not considered to be conclusive evidence, but they do have the attention of the scientific community. If you’re not ready to shout “I want to lose weight”,  ask yourself if you are living in the real world.

It’s time to take action!

The conclusions should make it clear that very overweight and obese persons have a lot more heartache, troubles and sometimes death than people of normal weights. If obesity has affected you or your loved ones, it’s time to take action.  These problems won’t go away and you may be the only one that can make someone say “I want to lose weight”. I’ve used that phrase in quotes all through this article, because the mental step of admitting this is the most important part of a lifestyle change!