What happens when you gain just 10 pounds?

I don’t think I’ve shared this on the blog yet but last year my thyroid went out of whack and caused me to gain quite a bit of weight. So needless to say this year hasn’t been the easiest. Getting it off is so much harder than it ever has been in my entire life. But more on that later. Because when Vanessa Rhodes approached me to guest write an article on weight gain I wanted her to share her insights and studies with y’all! Let me know what you think!

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one third of adults in the US have obesity. With that in mind, we can easily conclude that obesity is now common, but also serious and costly. In many cases, obesity leads to diabetes type 2, heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer.

We can easily say that obesity is turning into one of the biggest and most serious causes of death among Americans alongside hypertension and high blood pressure. And what is even more alarming is that obesity usually leads to hypertension and high blood pressure.

With that in mind, once you see what happens with your body after you gain just 10 pounds, we are sure you will start looking for ways to lose weight instantly.

What the science says?

A research from 2017 showed us just how dangerous even moderate amounts of weight gain can be. The study focused on what happens with our body once we gain just 10 pounds of weight. If this happens during early or middle adulthood, we experience problems later in life.

The study was led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. The goal was to determine the “association of weight gain from early to middle adulthood with health outcomes later in life”. Participants were asked to recall their weight at roughly 20 years of age, and then the health outcomes were ascertained through age 55 thanks to medical records and death indexes.

The study included more than 93,000 women and 25,000 men. Of those, 97% were of white color. The study showed that weight gain beyond 5.5 pounds during the study period was associated with a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity-related cancers, and hypertension. Risks increased significantly with weight gain of 10 pounds and up to 20 pounds. There were even risks associated with cataracts and osteoarthritis.

The study concluded that “weight gain during adulthood was associated with significantly increased risk of major chronic diseases and decreased odds of healthy aging”. With that in mind, you should never underestimate weight gain. As we can see, even something seemingly innocuous as a 10-pound weight gain can lead to serious implications later in life.

Can you prevent weight gain in adulthood?

Of course you can prevent it. The question many ask is how to avoid gaining weight, even in moderate amounts as a 10 pound weight gain. With everything we know about obesity nowadays, it is crucial that as society, we focus on curbing childhood obesity.

At first glance, it might seem like a tall task. However, it is rather simple and easy to avoid weight gain if you focus on some healthy choices and habits. For example, focus on moving around instead of falling into the trap of a sedentary lifestyle.

Another example is to start using bike to get to work, as studies have shown it can reduce mortality and risks with heart diseases. It is the simple things in life that help. Instead of public transport and vehicles, start using the bike.

And last, but not least, start implementing some eating habits.

What constitutes a healthy diet?

We are now getting to the most important aspect of losing weight. And that is installing proper and healthy diet habits. It is impossible to prevent weight gain without a proper diet. As the saying goes, “you cannot burn a bad diet”. You can exercise as much as you want, but without a healthy diet, it is all in vain. Here are some tips for losing weight related to your diet:

– Cut out on sugar, as sugar is bad for you. Many people think fat makes you fat. But the fact of the matter is sugar makes you fat. Substitute sugar with natural sweeteners

– Read labels for hidden sugar foods and artificial sweeteners

– Stop eating processed foods, which is the biggest problem in the American diet. Processed foods are loaded with sugar and other artificial ingredients, and they are the heart of the obesity epidemic

– Consume more fresh vegetables and low-sugar fruits. Great examples are leafy greens that are loaded with vitamins and minerals

– Consume healthy fats. We all need fat to function properly. But the trick is to get healthy fats in your diet, and source your fat from grass-fed butter, olive oil, omega-3 rich foods, avocado, coconut oil, and similar

– If all else fails, try a low-carb weight loss diet, something like the keto diet