The incredible health benefits of losing 10kg

There is a temptation, when you are very overweight, to dream of a return to some idealised distant past, perhaps when you were in high school, and you think you looked really good – although chances are you hated your body then as much as you do now – ah, the benefits of hindsight. If only you could lose those 150 pounds you had gained, your life would be perfect and everything would just fall into place: professionally, personally, financially and so on ad infinitum. The hugeness of this goal generally causes people to attempt whichever new completely useless, or even harmful, wonder diet or diet pill is being touted as the solution to all your problems, and/or to discourage you from even making a start as the task just seems too overwhelming.

But other than people who are trying to sell diets and/or diet drugs, the general message in health promotion these days seems to be that small changes can make a big difference to your health. Most commonly touted figures cite a 5-10% weight loss as conferring real benefits in an overweight/obese population. For those of us with significantly more to lose, this might seem like something of a cop out, but I recently came across the research behind this figure. And it was a real eye-opener, so I’d like to share it with you. This data is based on a review conducted in 1997. The full reference is available free online, for those who are interested in such things, here: Jung, 1997.

The numbers are for a 10 kilogram weight loss, which would be around 10% for a person starting out weighing 15 stone 10 (220 pounds), interestingly enough, pretty much where I was at the start of 2009.

The Benefits of a 10kg Weight Loss
Mortality	20-25% fall in total mortality 30-40% fall in diabetes related deaths 40-50% fall in obesity related cancer deaths
Blood pressure	Fall of 10 mm Hg systolic pressure Fall of 20 mm Hg diastolic pressure
Angina	Reduced symptoms by 91% 33% increase in exercise tolerance
Lipids	10% fall in total cholesterol 15% fall in LDL (“bad”) cholesterol 30% fall in triglycerides 8% increase in HDL (“good”) cholesterol
Diabetes	Reduces risk of developing diabetes by >50% 30-50% decrease in fasting blood glucose 15% decrease in HbA1c (an indicator of blood glucose control – higher means poorer control)

So there you have it. As of this week, I have now achieved my 10% weight loss goal and am now around 20% less likely to die, over 50% less likely to get diabetes, should have a significant reduction in my blood pressure – I will get back to you on this, and a significantly improved lipid profile. This is 90% of a BBG signing out.