If you’re overweight or obese, losing weight can reduce your risk of some potentially serious health problems.
Also, for some of us, our body image dictates how we interact with others, how confident we feel, and impacts how healthy we feel going about our day-to-day lives. There are plenty of benefits of losing weight that come your way once you shed those unwanted pounds and reach your goal size!
So, while you’ve likely mentally prepared yourself for a few of the changes synonymous with slimming down (i.e. buying new pants), there are a number of benefits of losing weight—as well as some changes that are sort of strange—you may have never realized come along with a trimmer figure.
You may get a raise.
Infuriating but true: Your boss may treat you better after you’ve slimmed down. Obese people, especially women, make about 2.5 percent but their normal-weight co-workers, consistent with a study in Health Economics. While that may not sound too astronomical, that’s the difference of making $60,000 per year versus $61,500. That’s enough extra cash to go on a vacation or buy a fancy designer bag!
Dropping right down to a healthy weight can also up your odds of landing a promotion, consistent with a recent University of Surrey and University of Oxford report. The psychologists behind the study discovered that weight and perceived attractiveness both play an enormous factor when it involves whether or not someone will land their dream job or score a promotion. Basically, they have found that the heavier the person, the lower their odds. It gets worse: If you’re an overweight woman, your chances of career advancement are even lower than your male counterparts.
You may say so long to seasonal allergies.
If your eyes get itchy every Spring once the flowers begin to bloom, your weight may be responsible. That’s because being overweight can strain the adrenal glands and respiratory system, exacerbating asthma, and allergy symptoms. Now that you’re trimmer, you may be able to ditch your inhaler and cut back on the seasonal pill-popping—just don’t do so without speaking with your doctor first!
You might be able to toss your meds.
You already know that reaching a healthy weight can keep off things like heart condition and diabetes, but did you recognize that losing weight also can help improve the symptoms of your current conditions? That means you might be able to take lower doses of your current medications or stop taking certain meds altogether. Check-in with your doctor and see what types of changes he or she thinks the slimmer you would possibly enjoy.
You won’t be as hungry.
This is especially true if you are eating healthier foods packed with satiety-boosting nutrients like protein and fiber. If you’re following an identical slim-down strategy, you’ll expect to stay your hunger covert while eating less and maintaining your trimmer body.
You’ll sweat less.
When you’ve overweight, you’re essentially wearing a weighted vest in a hot room 24/7—which is no easy feat. Fat insulates the body and raises core temperature. This is why obese individuals tend to sweat quite their slimmer counterparts.
If you decide that there are significant reasons for you to lose weight, then there’s no time like the present to start your weight loss journey. Your first step should be to set a reasonable goal. Then make small changes to your daily routine and eating habits. To set yourself up for success, consider all of the different ways that losing weight may improve your social life, your physical health, and your psychological health. Make a list of the weight loss benefits that mean the most to you and keep it in your weight loss journal. Then visit the list on the days when you feel discouraged.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
