Who should lose weight isn't always an easy question to answer. Health care providers generally agree that people who have a BMI of 30 or greater can improve their health through weight loss. This is especially true for people with a BMI of 40 or greater, who are considered extremely obese.

Preventing additional weight gain is recommended if you have a BMI between 25 and 29.9, unless you have other risk factors for obesity-related diseases.

Obesity experts recommend you try to lose weight if you have two or more of the following:

  • Family history of certain chronic diseases. If you have close relatives who have had heart disease or diabetes, you are more likely to develop these problems if you are obese.
  • Pre-existing medical conditions. High blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol levels, low HDL cholesterol levels, high triglycerides, and high blood glucose are all warning signs of some obesity-associated diseases.
  • Large waist circumference. Men who have waist circumferences greater than 40 inches, and women who have waist circumferences greater than 35 inches, are at higher risk of diabetes, dyslipidemia (abnormal amounts of fat in the blood), high blood pressure, and heart disease.
A weight loss of 5 to 10% of your initial body weight can do much to improve health by lowering blood pressure and other risk factors for obesity-related diseases. Research shows that a 5 to 7% weight loss brought about by moderate diet and exercise can delay or possibly prevent type 2 diabetes in people at high risk for the disease.

In a recent study, participants who were overweight and had pre-diabetes–a condition in which a person’s blood glucose level is higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes–were able to delay or prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes by adopting a low-fat, low-calorie diet and exercising for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

Before & After Weight Loss

Throughout ObesityHelp, you will see thousands of members that decided weight loss was necessary for them.  We encourage you to read about their journeys, check out their amazing before & after photos and learn from their experiences through reading testimonials and participating on the message boards.  If you decide that weight loss is what you need for your life and health, the community on ObesityHelp is here for you on your journey - go ahead and create your first goal, start tracking your weight and measurements, and upload your before photos. These beginning steps will help you see your progress as you move on in your weight loss journey!

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