Carrying around extra pounds can be detrimental to your health. If you are considering starting a healthy eating and exercise plan or you have fallen off your diet, this article may motivate you to get in gear.

What Extra Weight Can Do to Your Body

1. Carrying around excess body fat will decrease your energy level. Having just 10 lbs. of excess body fat is like carrying around a 10 lb. bag of lard.

2. Your heart has to work overtime to support more of you. Obesity has a harmful effect on your entire cardiovascular system. Your cardiovascular system includes your heart and all your blood vessels like arteries and veins.

3. You may develop breathing problems. For example, sleep apnea is a breathing problem that causes you to stop breathing for short instances during sleep.

4. Extra weight will take a toll on your joints. Obesity has also been linked to Gout.

5. Women can develop problems with their reproductive system including infertility.

6. Type 2 Diabetes has been linked to obesity.

7. Extra weight will put you at a higher risk for certain types of cancer. Obese men have a higher risk of developing colon, rectum, or prostate cancer. Obese women have a higher risk of developing gallbladder, breast, uterine, cervical, or ovarian cancer.

8. Being overweight may have an effect on your self-esteem that, in turn, will have a negative effect on your overall health.

Assessing Your Risk

Body Mass Index or BMI is an estimate of your total body fat. You can see a charts for calculating BMI here:
http://www.nutricounter.com/articles/bmi.htm

Weight loss is recommended if your BMI is over 30.

Weight loss is recommended if your BMI is 25 – 30 and you also have two or more of the following risk factors:

1. If you're a man, a waist circumference of over 40 inches.
2. If you're a woman, a waist circumference of over 35 inches.
3. High blood pressure
4. High cholesterol
5. High triglycerides
6. High blood glucose
7. Family history of premature heart disease
8. Physical inactivity
9. Cigarette smoking

By the above standards, if you think you need to lose weight, you should see your health care provider for a more accurate assessment.

Need help losing weight? Come and visit the NutriCounter web site and learn how you can lose weight and keep it off: http://www.nutricounter.com


About the Author
Renee Kennedy is the editor of the monthly ezine NutriCounter
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