What do you do? Why is this happening? Better yet, what is happening to my body when I gain weight? These are all fantastic questions that are going to be answered this book on how to lose weight, and keep it off.
Many people ogle the beautiful bodies on the beach - men and women alike. Nice, tight round bottoms, flat stomachs and well toned bodies. I'll be honest, there are some who don't need to do a darn thing and they stay in relatively good shape, but for the vast majority of people need to take notice of what they eat, how much they eat, and how much daily exercise they are getting.
Why does our weight matter so much to us? Probably for two reason - physical appearance and health.
Physical appearance
No one really wants to be fat. Plain and simple. For many people physical appearance is linked directly to their self-esteem. If they believe their body is undesirable to others, they can become depressed, or stressed and it causes serious emotional problems. Worse yet, in some, it can trigger the impulse to eat even more, making the problem worse.
The emotional side of being obese is only just being charted in the medical world. It is already understood that a person's self worth and self-confidence can be shattered if they gain excess weight. But the emotional toll it can take over an extended period of time might be considerably more damaging.
Here's a quick test to see if you have experienced some sort of emotional response to weight gain:
Have you ever looked in the mirror and thought, "I am so ugly"?
Are you comfortable with the way you look when you look in the mirror?
Are you concerned with what your partner thinks of your body?
Are you conscious of other people looking at your when you go out, or are seen in public?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, it is obvious that your weight has some sort of emotional control over you. I don't think anyone wants his or her physical appearance to have that kind of control. So, as I see it, a person has two choices: Do something about it, or live with it - and the potential ongoing emotional turmoil.
I would strongly suggest doing something about it, and we are going to show you how throughout the rest of this book.
Health concerns
You have no doubt heard the numerous health-related problems that come from being overweight. Even being 20 lbs. overweight can start to cause hidden health problems.
Instead of that lower back pain being from yesterday's squash game, it's because your body isn't used to carrying an extra 20 lbs. on the front end. Imagine right now if you were to strap a 20-pound weight to your belly and walk around with it all day long.
An extremely high weight can put considerable stress on your joints, especially if you aren't set up (height) to handle that sort of weight.
Then we get to the biggies - heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure. Oh, and don't forget diabetes. These are pretty serious players in the health world. In fact, they are the largest killers of human beings, in the world.
Medical Fact:
In a study of 5881 people over a 14-year period, doctors revealed that someone who is merely 'overweight' has a 34% greater chance of heart failure. A person who is considered obese has a 104% increase in risk of heart failure over someone who is in their target weight range.
Do we have your attention?
Overweight and obese
You might think, "what is the difference?" Medically speaking, there is a difference. Most doctors consider someone who is 20 to 30 per cent over their ideal body weight to be obese. You are considered overweight if you are over 25 on the body mass index. That's anywhere from 5 to 15 per cent over your ideal body weight.
Rather than try to tell you what your ideal body weight is, here is a great website that will tell you what your best weight would be (it also includes a table on BMI (body mass index)).
Either way, you are at a much greater risk of having one of the above diseases by being overweight. If that isn't a reason why you should start trying to lose weight, I don't know what is.
So, if you've found that you are overweight or obese by doing the above calculations, and you are serious about losing those unwanted pounds, then you have a decision to make.
Is it time to take action and make changes to your lifestyle that are going to make you healthier and happier?
We hope so!