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"wear-and-tear" on all weight bearing joints. These include the back, hips, knees and ankles.
Sexual and Reproductive Functions - Obese women often have irregular menstrual cycles and problems with infertility. When pregnant, obesity in the mother can greatly increase the risks of carrying and delivering a healthy infant.
Psychological - One should never underestimate the impact of obesity on the patient and virtually every aspect of their lives. The most common effects are depression (often, unresponsive to usual antidepressant medications), social isolation and markedly lowered self-image. The psychological impact certainly varies from person to person and is not, completely, related to the degree of obesity. If you are not impressed with the health factors, how about this: overweight people are less likely to be hired for a job. Overweight people make less money for a given job than someone who is not overweight. One study has shown that people are paid an average of $1000 less in salary for every pound they are overweight. Also, they are less likely to be promoted to higher paying jobs. Let that sink in for a while.
The simple point is this: all of the health risks from obesity can be improved or, at best, greatly improved by weight loss. Even the loss of just 10% of your current weight has been shown to reduce your risk of heart disease and hypertension by almost half. If you currently weigh 250 pounds, loss of just 25 pounds can improve your health significantly. So, even small progress can improve health and, equally important, your energy and self esteem.
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