From driving up your blood pressure and cholesterol, to
increasing your risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and
more, there’s no question that being overweight is more than
just a cosmetic problem – it’s a serious threat to your
health.
At the same time, if you’re like most folks, even the
thought of embarking on a 20-, 40-, or even 100-pound
weight-loss plan can seem like a mountain that’s impossible
to climb.
If this is the way you’re feeling right now, take heart. Today, the most progressive weight-loss experts agree you
don’t have to climb the whole mountain, or even go halfway
up, to improve your health. Indeed, taking even a few small
steps toward your weight-loss goals can go a long way in
reducing your health risks, even if you never reach the
ideal number on your bathroom scale.
Even Small Steps Have Big Benefits
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At the same time, Sondike tells WebMD that losing weight in
an unhealthy manner, for example, by starving yourself or
using diet aids like ephedra, can work against your overall
health, sometimes leaving you in worse shape than before you
attempted the weight loss.
“Depending on what you take or what you do, you could end up
with higher blood pressure and a worse cardiovascular
profile than when you weighed more,” says Sondike.
Along these same lines, University of Utah nutrition expert
Shawn Talbott, PhD, cautions that attempting too stringent a
weight-loss plan can also backfire, and take its toll on
your health.
“Both extreme calorie restriction and placing yourself under
a great deal of mental stress about losing weight has been
shown to increase cortisol levels, the hormone that is
associated with high stress,” says Talbott, the author of
The Cortisol Connection.
When this happens, he says, it causes your appetite to soar,
not only encouraging you to eat more, but also increasing
the likelihood that whatever weight you do gain will be
stored as abdominal fat.
“This can then increase your risk of heart disease and other
significant health problems,” says Talbott.
In the end, he says, it’s the act of living more
healthfully, and not just dieting, that matters most, even
if you never reach your weight goals.
Anhalt agrees.
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