You’ve probably heard or imagined all about the benefits of losing weight, right? Your life will change dramatically for the better; you’ll be in bliss, everything will be fine. After all, there’s less risk of chronic disease, increased longevity, etc.  But what about the downside of it, have you thought about that? Here are a few things you may want to consider before embarking on a weight loss journey and possible solutions for each one:

1: You May Live Longer:

If you haven’t saved enough for retirement, this could be a problem as your BMI (Body Mass Index) goes down, your longevity may increase. While this is not a hard and fast rule, this is more true if you are in the obese range of your BMI.  So, you may be thinner but need more money to fund your longevity and this could be a problem.

Solution: Talk to your financial advisor.

2: You May Make Other Women Jealous:

When you’ve lost the weight and you’re enjoying a treat meal of french fries and chocolate (like I do) you may feel the gazes of women who are jealous of your newfound freedom to enjoy food and be thin and healthy.

Solution: Enjoy yourself and they will join YOU!

3: You May Need Fewer Visits to your MD:

As your health improves, you may need less monitoring for your cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure, blood sugar or other metabolic parameters. If you like your doctor, this could be a problem. I happen to like mine.

Solution: Invite your doctor to lunch.

4: You Will Need New Clothes: 

I’m not just talking about outerwear, I’m also talking about bras, underwear, and getting new holes punched in your belts. And, when you’re losing weight at a steady pace, you may not want to buy new clothes, as you don’t know where you’ll be ending up. I thought I was only going to lose 10 pounds but when it kept going, I held off on buying new clothes until I stabilized. That in between time can be awkward when your clothes are falling off. New clothes are expensive.

Solution: Go shopping with a friend! Or, take your clothes to a tailor.

5: You May Need to Resize your Rings:

I was at whole foods the other day and was putting food on the conveyer belt when my wedding ring flew off, yes flew across the conveyor belt, unprovoked, no soap involved. This could be expensive to lose rings and expensive to have them resized. I hope you like your jeweler as much as I like mine! (BTW, it’s cheaper to size a ring down than up).

Solution: Visit your Jeweler.

6: You May be Called Names:

So the first time someone called me skinny after losing weight, it made me cringe. It may take some getting used to your new self-image. There were days when I’m called skinny several times a day. This took some getting used to believe it or not. See, I was very thin in high school so being called skinny or anorexic was not music to my ears back then, it brought me pain (btw, I was never anorexic, but being called that was horrible!). Now, I don’t get called skinny much anymore, I’m just the size and shape that I am, and I’m fine with that. You may even be called skinny bitc%$ behind your back, yikes.

Solution: You will adjust to your new self-image over time and not care about what others think of you. You’ll just enjoy being you!

7: You May Get More Attention:

If being overweight was keeping you from strutting your stuff, you may have to deal with getting more attention if you start. If this is uncomfortable for you, this moves into the category of unwanted attention. The previous points were more light hearted, this one is a bit more serious for some people and you know who you are, it’s no joke.

Solution: Develop an ‘I don’t care attitude’ if this is a minor issue or get help from a coach or a therapist if this is a big issue for you. If it’s not an issue, you’ll likely get used to it or even start to enjoy it.

So no post would be complete without the positives about fixing your metabolism and thus losing the excess weight. Here is my personal list for that after I did just that:

• It’s so much easier to buy clothes–they fit better!
• I can now live my life knowing my balanced blood sugar is helping every single system of my body function optimally
• I can eat my treat meals and not suffer the consequences, yay for chocolate! (read more about my journey)
• I have more physical energy and stamina

There are more benefits, but my life didn’t change dramatically, I still have stress, I still have challenges, I still experience the same joys I did when I was 20#’s heavier. I still value my health just as much as I did before, the difference now is that I look and feel a little different. I’m still the same person, just a tad bit healthier, which makes me VERY happy.

So everyone has a different motivation for losing weight. Many of my patients do it for their health, others to be a good example for their children, some just want to fit into their jeans and not stress about it all, they want freedom.

Got another reason that losing weight is bad? Post it here with a solution!

Please leave a comment; I’d love to hear from you!

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Yours in Health,