Maintaining a healthy weight, achieved through a healthy diet and regular exercise, is a core element of your overall wellness. From the way you move to how well you sleep, weight, particularly if you’re obese, has a profound impact on how you navigate your day-to-day. Here is why primary care doctors recommend that even a slight loss in BMI can positively affect your health. 

How Losing Weight Affects Your Health

1. Joint Health

A significant factor causing joint pain in people with obesity and older adults is osteoarthritis. When you lose weight, you directly address the physical damage to your joints by relieving the mass they have to carry. Studies show that obese patients should lose at least 7.7% of their body fat to start seeing significant benefits. If joint health is a primary concern in your weight loss journey, your primary care doctor will guide you through incorporating anti-inflammatory foods like berries, fatty fish, and olive oil into your diet. If exercising is a chore due to joint pain, try low-impact activities like cycling and swimming.

2. Diabetes Management

Weight gain and poor diet not only cause someone to get type 2 diabetes, but they also make it harder for patients to control their blood sugar levels once they have it. Getting a grip on this insulin deficiency is more feasible with even minor weight loss. Cutting at least 5% of body mass can help you manage your diabetes better and make your fat tissue, liver, and muscles more insulin sensitive. Losing weight can also avoid complications that arise with diabetes, such as eye diseases, neuropathy (nerve damage), kidney problems, and liver damage.

3. Blood Pressure

High blood pressure occurs when your heart is pumping more blood through narrowed arteries, restricting safe blood flow. Long-term, it can damage your heart, specifically its blood vessels, and lead to a heart attack or stroke. Poor heart health relates to obesity because the more you weigh, the more blood you need to supply oxygen and nutrients throughout your body. As a result, increased blood flow equates to more pressure on your artery walls. In coordination with blood pressure medication prescribed by your primary care doctor, losing even 5% of body weight can substantially help you control this condition.

4. Cancer Risk

In 2014, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 40% of all cancers in the United States were linked to obesity, specifically 13 types of cancers. Studies suggest that this correlation occurs because obese people have chronic low-level inflammation, which can lead to DNA damage that causes cancer. Fat tissue also produces excess estrogen, which can be linked to breast, endometrial, ovarian, and other cancers. Studies show that losing weight can help decrease your risk of cancer and increase your survival rate, particularly with those who undergo bariatric surgery (also known as a lap band surgery).

5. Sleep Quality

Your weight can also have a significant effect on the quality of your sleep. Sleep apnea is a common issue in obese patients because of soft tissue in the mouth and throat. When your body relaxes as you fall asleep, the soft tissue will block your airway if you are overweight, making it difficult to breathe. As you lose weight, you relieve the pressure on your airways, allowing you to sleep better as normal oxygen flow returns. Just a 10% change in BMI can have a profound impact on your risk for sleep-disordered breathing. If you believe that you have sleep apnea, work with your primary care doctor to develop a strategy to treat this condition.

If you’re starting your weight loss journey, the team at Urgent & Primary Care can help you form a proper nutrition plan, exercise routine, and diet to meet your goals. Serving the Albany, NY, community with urgent care, rheumatology services, and more, their team of primary care doctors and healthcare professionals will empower you with a healthier lifestyle. For more information about their full range of services and to schedule an appointment, visit their website, or give them a call today at (518) 479-5240.