Reasons To Lose Weight

It’s official, we are a nation of roly poly fatties who are increasing our risk of dying young because of diabetes, heart disease or one of the many other problems associated with carrying around the equivalent of two shopping bags full of lard round your middle every day. So why don’t we do something about it? We know we should, but it’s a bit like cutting back on the booze or stopping smoking, it comes in handy as a New Years Resolution but is generally forgotten by around January 2. It’s so easy to put off until tomorrow, or next week, or next year. Here I stand with the rest of you, guilty as charged!

Reasons To Lose Weight

What we need is a few good reasons to lose weight, I know, we’ve heard them all before but if we didn’t take any notice then they didn’t do much good did they? Let’s try again:

1. Improving overall health is one good reason to lose weight, but surprisingly not the most usual (many see it as a bit of an added extra). We’re a vain lot aren’t we, most of us want to lose weight to look good.
2. Reducing the risk of diabetes and heart diseases should be a great motivation, but we all know that those things happen to other people, not to us, right? Think on!
3. You’ll also lessen the likelihood of needing things like hip and knee replacements if you lose a few pounds, just think of all the strain you’re putting on your joints day in, day out.
4. Living longer is a proven benefit of losing weight. So if we lose weight, not only will we feel better for it but we’ll have longer to feel better for and enjoy it.
5. Improving the quality of life is a great benefit, just think of all the things you could enjoy if only you were a few pounds lighter.
6. Increased stamina, it’s all following a theme, but if running up the stairs is a thing of the past without oxygen waiting at the top, then just think how nimble you’d be without carrying those extra sacks of lard with you.
7. Feel good about yourself. We can all achieve so much more if we feel good about ourselves, and just losing around 10% of our bodyweight can make all the difference. Small steps lead towards major success, take your first small step today.
8. You’ll be more motivated. Success breeds it’s own motivation, and once you see some real results in your weight loss, then you’ll be motivated to do more and more things in your life.
9. You’ll be more attractive to the opposite sex. OK, even if you’re married it doesn’t harm for you to think that you can still turn heads does it? – for all the right reasons though, not “how the hell did she squeeze herself into those pants?”
10. Increase your sexual appetite. Yes, losing a few pounds can make you not only look sexy, but you’ll feel more sexy too.
11. Look better in your clothes. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m about 9 or 10 pounds (4 inches) away from a whole wardrobe full of clothes which I won’t throw away, they’ve hardly been worn for goodness sake. The clothes I can still wear don’t look quite the same either, I’m sure they didn’t used to fit quite so snugly when I bought them.
12. Treat yourself to new clothes too. Never mind all that old tat in the back of the wardrobe (that’s just what you need to tell your other half), once you’ve worked to hard to improve your appearance surely you deserve a shopping trip or two?
13. Think up a whole new New Years Resolution. Just think, you won’t have to worry about the one you’ve made for the past 10 years or so, you can think up something entirely new. How about promising yourself to take up a new hobby? Belly-dancing anyone?
14. You’ll be so much happier. When you feel good about yourself you just feel happier, and then the people around you can feel happier too. It’s not true that fat people are jolly, well, some of them are but inside they’re mostly resigned to their lot.
15. Join in more family activities. You’ll be able to go along on a hike or a bicycle ride without worrying about being left behind, for a start, or feel more confident to swim in the sea without them calling out the coastguard to deal with a beached whale.

Right, is that enough for you? OK, are you with me, we’ll all start tomorrow, or maybe next week!