This is the Weight and Healthcare newsletter. If you like what you are reading, please consider subscribing and/or sharing! You can also gift a subscription to a friend, family member, even a healthcare practitioner! In part one of this two-part series we discussed the frequent claim that losing “just 5-10% of your body weight” can have health benefits, and found that was not supported by the evidence. Today we’ll look at how this fallacy plays out in the world, and how the evidence not only doesn’t support it, but in fact refutes it.
This is SO important. Thank you for writing it up so well.
In the past 18 months, I have experienced a couple of very important improvements in my health. First, I started CPAP therapy for sleep apnea, which has greatly improved my sleep. I also gained about 5 pounds after starting to use the machine, which my sleep doctor tells me is a VERY common side effect of CPAP machine therapy.
Second, I finally got a tentative diagnosis of a neuromuscular disorder that had been causing me extreme pain when I walk, extreme weakness in my legs, and a tendency to fall frequently. With proper treatment and physical therapy, I have slowed down the degeneration of my muscles, improved my stamina and balance (no falls for over a year now!), regained some strength in my legs, and greatly reduced the pain when I walk, though I still have some. I have also gained another 6 pounds, for a total of about 11 pounds in 18 months. (My clothes fit no differently, so I assume the added pounds are rebuilt muscle.)
So -- my health is better in all these ways, I'm able to be more active, I'm walking 4 to 5 miles a day, I feel much more optimistic about my future (probably WON'T have to use a wheelchair eventually after all), and my doctors are delighted with me.
Yet the standard nonsense we're all fed all the time would tell me that I should freak out and panic over having gained weight, and that none of the health improvements I've seen count because I'm heavier now than I was 18 months ago. Crazy.
This is SO important. Thank you for writing it up so well.
In the past 18 months, I have experienced a couple of very important improvements in my health. First, I started CPAP therapy for sleep apnea, which has greatly improved my sleep. I also gained about 5 pounds after starting to use the machine, which my sleep doctor tells me is a VERY common side effect of CPAP machine therapy.
Second, I finally got a tentative diagnosis of a neuromuscular disorder that had been causing me extreme pain when I walk, extreme weakness in my legs, and a tendency to fall frequently. With proper treatment and physical therapy, I have slowed down the degeneration of my muscles, improved my stamina and balance (no falls for over a year now!), regained some strength in my legs, and greatly reduced the pain when I walk, though I still have some. I have also gained another 6 pounds, for a total of about 11 pounds in 18 months. (My clothes fit no differently, so I assume the added pounds are rebuilt muscle.)
So -- my health is better in all these ways, I'm able to be more active, I'm walking 4 to 5 miles a day, I feel much more optimistic about my future (probably WON'T have to use a wheelchair eventually after all), and my doctors are delighted with me.
Yet the standard nonsense we're all fed all the time would tell me that I should freak out and panic over having gained weight, and that none of the health improvements I've seen count because I'm heavier now than I was 18 months ago. Crazy.
My blood pressure improved to normal with only regular exercise- about a 4 mile walk a day (not all at once) while my weight increased.
Would it be possible for you to link to the Klein et al piece on liposuction? I'm curious to see more info on that study. Thanks!