Obesity and overweight are term often used interchangeably. However, technically they refer to two different states.

Being overweight technically means excess body mass. This includes all the body tissues. Obesity on the other hand refers explicitly to excess body fat e.g. a professional heavy weight body builder is overweight because of excess muscles but is not obese.

Obesity is what should concern you. Losing weight is no longer an issue you can afford to procrastinate, and probably a good health scare is in order.

Reason #1 to lose weight

Diabetes:
It is well known that 80-90% of type-two-diabetes patients are overweight. Diabetes is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., as well as the leading cause of adult blindness in the world.

One of the direct causes of obesity is eating wrong foods. Some of these wrong foods include high glycemic foods. High glycemic foods are energy dense foods that quickly increase the level of blood glucose in your body after been eaten. This results to the body reserving the unnecessarily high glucose/energy into fat. This makes losing weight very difficult.

Releasing a hormone called insulin does this. Type-Two-diabetes occurs because the body cannot produce enough insulin to remove the excess blood glucose and store it as body fat. This will occur after straining insulin production for some time. And that's how you end up being fat and diabetic.

Reason #2 to lose weight

Stroke:
Obesity is associated with arteriosclerosis, the build up of fatty deposits in the arteries through out your body. This makes them narrow slowing blood flow and among other things increases risk of the blood clotting. Arteries at risk include those supplying blood to the brain. If clotting occurs due to narrowed artery, it blocks blood supply to an area of the brain resulting to stroke. Losing weight reduces this risk.

Reason #3 to lose weight

Cancer:
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates between 25% - 33% of cancer world wide are overweight and physical inactivity related. Body fat evidently promotes higher levels of insulin production and excess estoregens, a hormone. Both insulin and estorogens accelerate cell division.

Probably to create adipose tissue; new fat cells to store fat, in addition to the regular cell division.

As research has indicated, the faster cells duplicate the more they increase chances of a cancerous cell developing. The situation is further complicated as the rapid cell division caused by the excess hormones lead also to rapid cell reproduction of the one cancerous cell, hence cancer starts to develop actively. In addition fat cells tend to keep carcinogenic i.e. cancer-causing agents, trapped in the body which increases chances of developing cancer.

Types of cancers you will be at high risk to get include:-

Breast cancer- affecting the breast possibly in both men and women.

Colorectal cancer- affecting colon and rectum.

Endometrial cancer- affecting the uterus.
Esophageal cancer- affecting the esophagus.
Renal cell cancer, the cancer of the kidney, etc.

Reason #4 to lose weight

Respiratory problems:-
Obesity causes lungs to become smaller in size and chest wall become heavier to lift in the process of breathing in. The most common respiratory problem is sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a condition where by an individual stops breathing for some time while asleep. A soft tissue in the throat collapses around the air way probably due to weight, blocking it.

For the severely obese sleep apnea may get more complicated with hypoventilation. Hypoventilation is accumulation of toxic levels of carbon dioxide (the gas we breathe out) in the blood, due to inadequate breathing. Losing weight would be the only permanent safe and healthy solution to sleep apnea.

Reason #5 to lose weight

Urinary Incontinence:
This is involuntary release of urine. Being overweight can contribute to urinary incontinence. A heavy abdomen due to body fat deposit may cause valve of urinary bladder to be weakened.

The weight also exerts pressure on the urinary bladder, trying to push urine out. This results to leakage of urine when coughing, sneezing or laughing. This is because of a slight relaxation of the bladder valve that normally will not result to leakage. It can even result to bed wetting at night. This particular problem can be a very effective motivator to lose weight.

Reason #6 to lose weight

Varicose veins:
Also known as Venous Stratis Disease. The leg and thigh muscles assist the heart in blood circulation just like most large muscles in the body.

They are involved in pumping blood against gravity back to the heart with the help of valves that close to avoid a backward flow. Pressure as a result of a large abdomen may increase the work load on the valves eventually causing damage.

Damaged valves then allow for blood to back up, due to gravity, causing high pressure in these veins leading to swelling, thickening of skin and skin ulcers.

Reason #7 to lose weight

High Blood Pressure:
The BMI (Body Mass Index) and age together are the strongest indicator of risk of hypertension or high blood pressure. At least a third of hypertension is related to obesity.

Reason #8 to lose weight

Other Diseases:
Other diseases which MAY occur as a result of being overweight include;

Gout
Coronary heart disease
Lower back pains
Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Gall stones
Pregnancy disorders such as
Neural tube defect,
Prenatal mortality,
Maternal hypertension,
Gestational diabetes etc.
Impaired immune response
Liver disease
Pancreatitis
Bad body smell
Depression

Research shows that even modest weight loss of even 10 pound for the overweight significantly reduces the risk of developing these diseases. Weight loss is in fact a challenge taken by many every year.

Unfortunately many fail in this healthy endeavor. And all because of one thing; they lack proper information on effective weight loss. Effective weight loss is permanent, and a permanent weight loss depends fundamentally on four factors.