The Dangers of Being Overweight

Being overweight or being obese...everyone harps on about the dangers and they all go on and on about the importance of losing weight.  We've all heard it one thousand times before.  But now, there is a new compelling thought school as to why we should try and lose that extra weight...

Recent scientific research has shown that fat cells are biologically active; previously they were thought to be passive.  We now know that they secrete hormones & other chemicals that affect most of our organs and vitals.  

Overweight people hold more fat cells, and these fat cells are larger than in people of a normal body weight.  These cells release hormones and chemicals into our bodies in much larger quantities than needed.  This worsens when our excess fat is visceral fat (around the middle).  This increased level of hormones and chemicals widens the risk of diabetes, heart problems and cancer expotentially.

These fat cells produce various nasty substances, including retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) which increases insulin resistance, leading to clogged arteries & therefore a heart attack.  Extra fat cells also produce too much oestrogen, increasing the risk of breast cancer in women. There are studies which can prove the link between brain activity and visceral fat - large tummies are linked with dementia, memory loss and language instability.

To find out if you are in the danger zone, take a tape measure, and measure your waist above your hips.  For women, a measurement of 88cm and above is considered too high.  For men, the borderline is 102cm, where a waist higher than this is in the dangerous zone.

What to do

The first step is to increase the exercise you do.  Get more active - even walking up the stairs instead of taking the lift is a start, or take up biking or fast walking. You could even try a gym membership!  Take a look at my video regarding my fitness routine to inspire you to get more active:

If a gym membership is a step too far for you, exercising with weights also help reduce belly fat by increasing your muscle, which increases metabolism.  Try out this exercise video:

Finally, check out my top 10 tips for losing weight here:

And here in Portuguese:

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