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If you’ve decided it’s time to lose the extra weight you’ve been carrying around, here’s some motivation: You can experience a number of health benefits from just a modest amount of weight loss. Losing just 5% to 10% of your total body weight can help you sleep better at night, maintain better control over your blood sugar levels, and lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Weight loss directly improves health, body image, and psychosocial factors that contribute to quality of life,” says gastroenterologist Christopher McGowan, MD, founder of True You Weight Loss. “Ultimately, weight loss really isn’t about the number on the scale. It’s about the impact on the individual, on their lifestyle, and their outlook.”
9 benefits of losing weight
If your weight is impacting your physical or mental health, here are some of the benefits of weight management.
1. Better blood sugar control
When you have Type 2 diabetes, your pancreas has trouble producing enough insulin to keep up with your body’s needs. Insulin facilitates the movement of sugar from your bloodstream into your cells to use for energy. Decreasing your body mass can help your pancreas keep up with insulin production. Recent research suggests that achieving even a small amount of weight loss can benefit your glycemic control.
2. Improved blood pressure
Being overweight or obese raises your risk for heart disease. If you add in another risk factor like high blood pressure, that increases your chance of potential problems even more. Fortunately, slimming down can help with both of these issues. Just a 10-pound loss can improve hypertension, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
3. Reduced triglyceride levels
Triglycerides are a type of fat that’s found in your blood, and having high levels of triglycerides can raise your risk for heart disease. According to the Mayo Clinic, higher levels can contribute to hardening of the arteries or lead to thickening of the artery walls, also known as atherosclerosis. But research suggests that even small amounts of weight loss can improve your triglyceride levels.
4. Improved cholesterol
You can lower your cholesterol levels by eating a healthy diet that limits your total intake of fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. But losing some weight can also help you decrease low density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as “bad cholesterol.” This can reduce the likelihood that you’ll develop coronary artery disease from cholesterol building up in (and narrowing) your arteries.
5. Better sleep
Want better sleep? Research also suggests that maintaining a healthy weight may even help you sleep better at night. Your provider can help determine what personal weight on the scale makes sense for you. And if you really want to improve your sleep quality, losing some belly fat can make a notable difference. In fact, you may even sleep longer if you can shed some weight around your waistline.
6. Improved sleep apnea
Some people who have trouble getting enough sleep have a condition called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which can raise their risk for a whole host of other health problems, including heart disease. Obesity is closely associated with obstructive sleep apnea. A 2021 study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine noted that weight loss can not only improve obstructive sleep apnea, but in some people, losing weight can even send OSA into remission.
7. Reduced cancer risk
Being overweight or obese is associated with an increased risk for many kinds of cancer, including but not limited to breast, colon and rectal, gallbladder, liver, and pancreatic cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Getting to a healthy weight may help you reduce your risk.
8. Reduced joint pain
Excess pounds can put excess strain on your joints—causing pain and even limiting your movements. That’s especially a problem if you live with a condition like osteoarthritis. But you can decrease the pain and improve function by achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for every pound that you lose, there’s a four-pound reduction in the load placed on your knees. Even modest weight loss, like 5% of your total body weight, can reduce that pain and disability.
9. Better self-esteem
Knowing that you can set a goal and reach it can be a big boost for your self-esteem and your self-confidence. You may feel and look better, which can benefit your mental health and well-being.
Tips for weight loss
Knowing all the ways that dropping a few pounds can improve your health doesn’t make it easy. If you’re working on a plan to change your lifestyle, these strategies can help you stick to it.
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Establish realistic goals
It’s important to set realistic weight loss targets so you don’t get discouraged if you miss a target that was set too high—and then give up. Consider the mnemonic SMART: Make your goals Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Also, remember that your weight loss goals need to be specific to you, not anyone else. “The most important aspect of a successful weight loss program is that it must be tolerable to the patient so that the changes are lifelong,” says Brandy Wellmon, PA-C, CDCES, a provider at Texas Diabetes and Endocrinology.
Seek help
If you need some help, you could consult a healthcare professional who can help you determine achievable goals and support you along the way. “Working with a registered dietitian, nutritionist, or certified health and wellness coach can be a great way of identifying what a healthy weight looks like for you and help lay out a plan of action,” says Christopher Eastburn, RDN, LDN, CDCES, a coach for Teladoc.
Reform your diet
You may need to take a hard look at your diet and consider how many calories you’re consuming. To lose 1.5 pounds per week, you will need to reduce your daily caloric intake by 500-750 calories, according to the Mayo Clinic.
But don’t lose sight of the need for good nutrition. According to the Cleveland Clinic, you should incorporate the following types of foods into your diet to help you lose weight and get the nutrition you need: fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, plant-based oils, avocados, nuts and seeds, calcium-rich foods, and lean protein.
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Exercise
Put on your walking shoes and get ready to exercise. “Healthy nutrition and increased exercise, including dedicated exercise, are still the foundation of any weight loss effort,” Dr. McGowan says.
Although the Mayo Clinic notes that “diet has a stronger effect on weight loss than physical activity does; physical activity, including exercise, has a stronger effect in preventing weight regain after weight loss.” In other words, you really do need to exercise, even if you’ve adjusted your diet because it will help you keep off the weight that you do lose. And it will help you build bone and muscle.
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Don’t get discouraged.
Sometimes you may fall off the wagon, so to speak. You may stray from your usual diet and even regain a few pounds. But don’t let some weight gain derail you.
“Don’t get discouraged by setbacks,” says Abigail Markman, MS, metabolic health nutritionist and coach at Lumen. “It’s normal to have setbacks or plateaus along the way, and it’s important to be kind to yourself and not get discouraged by them. Instead, try to identify any potential barriers that may be preventing you from making progress and work on finding solutions.”
In fact, research suggests that people who maintain weight loss are successful, in part, by not only continuing to use the strategies that they used to lose weight but by also using positive self-talk and productive problem-solving skills.
Consider weight loss medication
For some people, lifestyle changes, like exercise and diet improvements, are great for improving their overall health, but they’re just not enough to help them achieve significant weight loss. In this situation medications can help. Some of the newer weight loss medications like Wegovy (semaglutide) are especially effective in helping people lose more weight. Typically, you need to have a body mass index (BMI) ≥30 or a BMI > 27 plus a weight-related medical problem (such as high blood pressure or diabetes) to be eligible for many prescription weight loss meds.
However, cost can be a barrier for some people, since many insurance plans don’t cover the cost of many weight loss meds, notes Dr. McGowan. You may need to consider patient assistance programs or SingleCare’s card to lower the cost.
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The bottom line — Is weight loss healthy?
Is it always healthy to lose weight? Often it is, but not always. It really does depend on the individual. If your provider suggests that losing weight may help you with some existing medical conditions you may have or help ward off the development of others, it might be time to give it a try. Many people achieve a satisfactory amount of weight loss with some lifestyle changes, but it does depend on how much weight you have to lose—and other health conditions. In some circumstances, you may benefit from using weight loss medication. Research also suggests that bariatric surgery could be the right option for some people with moderate to severe obesity.
It is always a good idea to consult a healthcare professional before you launch into a weight-loss program. Not everyone needs to lose weight. If you’ve already achieved a healthy weight for you, all you need to worry about is maintaining that weight and making healthy choices.
And if your provider says that you should not try to lose any more weight, listen to that advice. “Losing too much weight can lead to excessive or rapid bone loss, increasing risk of osteoporosis,” Wellmon says. “Also, extreme weight loss or losing it too quickly can have an adverse effect on hormones.”
