For the average person who wants to lose a few pounds, you don’t really need to know many benefits of losing weight. Losing weight will mean you weigh less and look better, and that’s all that you really want. But if you’re about to start a mission to lose a significant amount of weight, or if you want to keep that weight off for the long term, you might need a few more motivators.
1: Enjoying exercise.
If you’re like most people who could stand to lose a few pounds, you probably dread exercise. It conjures up memories of embarrassing high school P.E. classes and gym showers. There’s a reason reputable weight loss programs like the Jenny Craig program include sessions where you learn to exercise. Even the best diet can only accomplish so much if you don’t change your lifestyle, too. Moderate exercise actually decreases your appetite, packing a double punch in the calorie world. Also, exercise helps make you happier, scientific studies have confirmed.
2: Boosted self-confidence.
No longer do you have to compare your weight to that of everyone else in the group you’re in, and worry about whether they think negatively about you. You may have built up a self-image that includes being unable to accomplish what you set your mind to, particularly if you’ve already tried fad diets and yo-yo diets unsuccessfully. When you realize that you can actually achieve weight loss and keep the weight off for good, you realize that you can accomplish great things.
3: Reduced health risks.
There are a host of health benefits associated with losing weight. You have more energy and mobility, better breathing, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, less risk of angina and type 2 diabetes, better blood sugar levels, and even a lower risk of death from heart disease and stroke. With all these health benefits, you may find yourself not needing expensive prescriptions and doctor’s visits to fix problems that are really just a side effect of needing to lose weight.
4: Better sleep.
Sleep apnea, when your breathing is interrupted during sleep, can make you wake up during the night, sleep in, feel drowsy during the day, and increases your risk of death overnight. It also decreases your desire to exercise and helps lead to snacking and binging, which fuel the weight gain cycle. Simply losing five to ten percent of your body weight drastically reduces the likelihood you will have sleep apnea.
5: More enjoyment of food.
By learning how to properly cook food, seeking healthy alternatives, and educating yourself on delicious foods that won’t make you gain a lot of weight, you will find yourself enjoying food more than ever before. You may feel like food is a great thing now, but it’s often a quick enjoyment followed by guilt and anxiety. When you learn to relax and enjoy foods, you broaden your palette and increase your food enjoyment. When you’ve lost weight, you can dress in nicer clothes, learn to shop for clothes that are both comfortable on you and flattering to your new body, and undergo the transformation in self-image that accompanies weight loss. With this new image, a love of physical activity, better self-confidence, better health and sleep, and the ability to enjoy food like you never had before, weight loss could be the best thing that has ever happened to you!
Thank you so much for this information! I was hesitant on losing weight…but this pushed me over the edge! I’m going to start my journey tomorrow!