How much weight do you really need to lose? It may be a lot less than you think

If you are considered one of one in three For Australians whose New Year’s resolution was to lose weight, you’re probably now wondering what weight loss goal you should actually be working towards.

But type “setting a weight loss goal” into any web search engine and you will likely be left with more questions than answers.

Sure, with the numerous weight loss apps and calculators available, setting this goal will be easy. They often use a body mass index (BMI) calculator to confirm a “healthy” weight and supply a goal weight based on this range.

Your screen will be crammed with influencers promoting diets that may help you lose ten kilos in a month, or ads for diets, pills, and exercise programs promising to help you lose weight quickly and effortlessly.

Most sales pitches suggest that you need to lose significant amounts of weight to stay healthy, which makes losing weight look like an unimaginable task. However, research shows that you haven’t got to lose a lot of weight to achieve health advantages.

Using BMI to determine your goal weight is inaccurate

We are a number-obsessed society. So it’s no surprise that we use measurements and equations to estimate our weight. The hottest is BMI, a measure of the ratio of body weight to height.

BMI classifies bodies as underweight, normal (healthy) weight, chubby or obese and may be a useful gizmo for weight and health management.

However, it shouldn’t be used as the only real measure of what it means to maintain a healthy weight when setting weight loss goals. This is because:

• it doesn’t consider two key aspects related to body weight and health – body fat percentage and distribution
• doesn’t consider significant differences in body composition based on gender, ethnicity and age.

How does losing weight affect our health?

Losing just 5-10% of your body weight – 6 to 12 kg for a 120 kg person – can significantly improve your health in 4 key ways.

1. Lowering levels of cholesterol

Obesity increases the chance of getting too much low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol – also often known as bad cholesterol – because carrying excess weight changes the way in which our body produces and manages lipoproteins and triglycerides – one other fat molecule we use for energy – .

Having too much bad cholesterol and high triglyceride levels isn’t good since it narrows our arteries and restricts blood flow, which increases the chance of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

But tests shows that improvements in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides are seen with as little as 5% weight loss.

2. Lowering blood pressure

Our blood pressure is taken into account high if it exceeds 140/90 at the very least twice.

It is chubby connected with hypertension in several waysincluding changing the way in which our sympathetic nervous system, blood vessels and hormones regulate our blood pressure.

Basically, hypertension causes our heart and blood vessels to work harder and less efficiently, over time damaging the arteries and increasing the chance of heart disease, heart attack and stroke.

Like improving levels of cholesterol, losing 5% of body weight recovering each systolic blood pressure (the primary number within the reading) and diastolic blood pressure (the second number).

AND meta-analysis of 25 studies on the results of weight loss on blood pressure also found that every kilogram of weight loss improved blood pressure by one point.

3. Reducing the chance of type 2 diabetes

Excess body weight is the most important manageable risk factor for type 2 diabetes, especially in individuals who carry a lot of visceral fat across the belly (belly fat).

Carrying excess weight may cause fat cells to release pro-inflammatory chemicals that interfere with the body’s regulation and use of insulin produced by the pancreas, leading to high blood sugar levels.

Type 2 diabetes can lead to serious conditions if not treated properly, including damage to the guts, blood vessels, major organs, eyes and nervous system.

Tests shows that losing just 7% of body weight reduces the chance of developing type 2 diabetes by 58%.

4. Reducing joint pain and the chance of osteoarthritis

Carrying excess weight may cause inflammation and damage to the joints, making us more susceptible to osteoarthritis.

Observational studies show that being chubby doubles the chance of developing osteoarthritis, while obesity quadruples the chance.

Small amounts of weight loss ease the stress on our joints. In one study each kilogram of weight lost resulted in a fourfold reduction within the load on the knee in each step taken during every day activities.

Focus on long-term habits

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight but found the kilos coming back almost as quickly as they went off, you’re not alone.

Some evaluation of 29 long-term weight loss studies found that participants regained more than half of the weight lost inside two years. Within five years, they recovered over 80%.

When we lose weight, we take our body out of its comfort zone and trigger its survival response. It then counteracts the weight loss by triggering several physiological reactions to defend body weight and “survive” hunger.

Just as the issue is evolutionary, the answer can also be evolutionary. Effective, long-term weight loss comes down to:

• losing weight in small, manageable chunks that you can maintain, especially periods of weight loss followed by periods of maintaining the weight and so forth until you reach your goal weight
• make gradual changes to your lifestyle to ensure you develop habits that may last a lifetime.

Setting a goal to achieve a healthy weight may seem difficult. However, this doesn’t have to be a predetermined weight consistent with the “healthy” BMI range. Losing 5-10% of your body weight could have immediate health advantages.