I know one of life’s biggest challenges is learning to love the skin you're in. Being able to look in the mirror and loving the gift of aging and finding beauty in changes to your body. I initially loved the body positivity movement, and I still believe in what the movement is defined as. The movement is defined as a social movement that promotes a positive view of all bodies, regardless of size, shape, skin tone, gender, and physical abilities. But unfortunately, they took this movement and used it as a platform to say you can be obese and still healthy. And that is simply not true. We often hear you have to lose weight to be healthy BUT we do not understand the effects obesity and being overweight has on our health. I want you to KNOW that the next time someone tells you that you look beautiful being overweight. Understand you are Beautiful. But you have to lose weight for your health.
Let me break it down for you.
Obesity is a complex disease that affects so much more than the way you look. Obesity is linked to inherited physiological and environmental factors combined with poor nutrition and lack of physical activity. There are genetic, behavioral, metabolic and hormonal conditions that can affect your ability to lose weight. But those only play a small part of the overall picture. Poor nutrition and lack of physical activity ARE the biggest factors causing obesity. A study by the World Health Organization, found that 1 in 8 people are obese. 43% of all Americans are overweight. The study showed obesity has doubled in adults since 1990 and has quadrupled in children and adolescents.
Often medical providers use the BMI chart to figure out how your weight is associated with your health risk. Obesity is having a BMI of 30 or over. BMI does not take into account muscle. So further examination is needed. I wouldn’t say I necessarily agree with the BMI chart, but it is a good guideline.
Obesity affects nearly every part of your body. Your brain, blood vessels, heart, liver, gallbladder, being able to breath properly, bones and joints.
Let’s talk about your respiratory system. Stored fat around the neck can make airways too small which can make breathing at night difficult. This condition is called sleep apnea. People may actually stop breathing for short periods of time while sleeping with sleep apnea.
Being a healthy weight will improve your sleep and your breathing.
The heart: in obese individuals the heart needs to work harder to pump the blood throughout their body. This leads to high blood pressure. High blood pressure is the leading cause for strokes. High blood pressure can also cause the blood vessels in your body to harden and narrow. This can lead to a heart attack.
Obesity has been linked to an increased risk for several cancers including:
Endometrial, liver, kidney, cervical, colon, esophageal pancreatic
Having excess fat is associated with chronic inflammation, which research has proven to be linked to cancer by promoting cell mutation and tumor growth. The amount of fat we carry also influences our hormones, specifically our sex hormones and insulin levels.
Speaking of insulin levels, let’s talk about the endocrine system.
Obesity can affect the way the body uses insulin to control your blood sugar. Leading to insulin resistance that can cause type 2 diabetes. Being a healthy weight protects your pancreas and decreases your chances of type 2 diabetes.
Do you suffer from joint pain and stiffness?
Obesity puts added pressure on your joints leading to pain and stiffness. It also promotes inflammation that causes swelling, pain and the feeling of heat at your joints. Obesity can cause deteriorating bone density and muscle mass. Leading to a higher incidence of bone fractures.
Obesity affects your mental health as well. Obesity reduces a person’s overall wellness, can lead to negative emotions, depression and low self-esteem.
The link between every aspect of your wellness and your weight are proven by science. What you weigh is not about looking a certain way, it’s about being healthy.
I want to say beauty is not just what you see on the outside. Beauty is in every part of wellness. Yes, beauty is physical. And beauty is found in every size, shape and color! But beauty is also mental, accepting your feelings, allowing yourself grace. Beauty is in your environment, being able to look around you and see the world and all it has to offer. Social beauty is finding love and support in others, spiritual beauty is knowing there is a high purpose to all of this!
So the next time someone says you don’t need to lose weight because you're beautiful being overweight. They are right. Beauty is not associated with weight. Weight is about health. You're doing it so your breathing improves, your heart doesn’t have to work so hard, your cancer risk goes down, your decreasing pain, inflammation and swelling in your body, your regulating your hormones and your improving your mental health. Now that is Beautiful and HEALTHY!!!
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