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Losing Weight Over Fifty

© Robert M. Oliva

Introduction

Maintaining normal body weight is important throughout our life span. It is extremely important as we get older. Keeping fit and lean over 50 can be one of the best ways of remaining healthy and enjoying our lives.

Many of us allow our weight to creep up and up until we discover one day that we are overweight or even obese. Others of us may have had weight problems all of our lives. Whatever the situation, if we are overweight we are vulnerable to many serious health threatening diseases. Our quality of life is compromised. We tend to enjoy the pleasures of life much less if we are combating obesity and the many health conditions it produces. Too much extra weight is not good for us.

We all need to seriously consider maintaining proper body weight when we pass the 50-year mark. But in case you're not convinced, you may want to educate yourself about some of the serious health conditions that affect the overweight person. I hope this list will motivate you to start or continue your weight lose efforts.

1 – Diabetes

Diabetes is now epidemic in the industrialized world. It is also the disease that is most clearly linked to body weight. Those of us that are overweight are many times more likely to develop non-insulin dependent or Type II diabetes. Susan Zelitch Yanovski, M. D. of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland has said that there is no question that “obesity is a major cause of the development of diabetes.”

Losing weight has an immediate and dramatic affect on many diabetics. Those suffering from non-insulin dependent diabetes can see an improvement in blood sugar levels within days of losing just a few pounds. Also keep in mind that there are many unfortunate health problems associated with diabetes including heart disease and cancer. Do everything you can to keep your normal body weight.

2 – Heart Disease

Heart disease is the nation’s number one killer. The American Heart Association says that an American dies every 33 seconds from a heart attack. This is a staggering number of people. Half of these people are women. One half of all adults also suffer from hypertension, a leading cause of heart disease and stroke. Both these conditions are tied closely to being overweight. The more you weigh the more your heart has to work. The increased strain can be considerable. A poor diet can also cause arteriosclerosis, increase cholesterol, triglycerides and homocystine. All implicated in the genesis of heart disease.