Reasons to lose 5% of your weight

To get healthier you need to lose all your extra weight! Majority believe in this myth but actually that’s not the case at all, losing 5% of your body weight has been shown to have many improvements to health and wealth.

Joints
•Pressure on your knees and other lower joints can be decreased by losing only 5% of your body weight.
•Fats trigger development and progression of inflammation, that’s why loosing these few kg of fat can lower the risk of joint Arthritis.

Diabetes
•If you are more prone to get diabetes, 5% weight loss can delay or even prevent the onset of the disease.
•If you already have diabetes, 5% weight loss can help you control blood glucose, take less medication and lower the risk of other health problems.

Heart Disease
Losing 5% of your weight lowers the risk of heart diseases through:
•Raising level of HDL, the good cholesterol to 60 mg/dl
•Lowering level of triglycerides closer to 150 mg/dl, which is responsible for transporting fats to their storage. Having a level of triglycerides more than 200 mg/dl increases the risk of having heart attack or stroke.
•Correcting the high blood pressure, since extra weight causes blood to push harder against the walls of the artery. Hence, losing 5% of your body weight can lower the pressure by about 5 points.

Insulin Resistance
•A little bit of weight loss can help reverse insulin resistance. Insulin is a hormone that lowers glucose level in the blood.
•Fat, especially the abdominal fat, releases chemicals that make the body resist the effects of insulin. Meanwhile pancreas works harder to make more insulin, and still blood sugar can get even higher

Cancer
Studies have showed that even losing 5% of your total body weight helps to lower levels of hormones linked to cancer like estrogens, insulin, and androgens.

Sleep Apnea
Losing 5% of your total body weight improves sleep apnea. Overweight people usually gains extra tissue in the back of their throat, so during night that tissue can drop down and block the airway making it hard to breath all night.
Sleep apnea increases your risk of hypertension, and heart problems

A Better Mood
Chase your blues away with a better body image and improved sleep. Studies on people with depression who were overweight felt better after they lost an average of 8% of their body weight.

How to Lose 5% of your Weight?
Diet
•Assemble half your plate from vegetables and fruits.
•Keep your protein lean and unprocessed by choosing meats trimmed of fat, eat seafood, beans, nuts, and seeds.
•Replace refined grains like white bread and white rice with whole grains like multigrain bread, brown rice, and oatmeal.
•Special weight loss surgery may be an option if you are seriously overweight.

Exercise
•Get 30 min of moderate activity at least 5 days a week.
•Add up some moves to strengthen your muscles, like pushups or light weight training

Christelle Bedrossian
Dietitian-Nutritionist
Beirut, Lebanon