Top 3 Surprising Reasons to Lose Weight
Thin for Women, Muscular for Men
Idealised body types have long been the backbone of advertising and media. Many of us were subliminally (or blatantly!) taught from a young age to dream of a “perfect body”, with all else falling short.
This has lead to women developing eating disorders such as anorexia, where thin is never thin enough and men being trapped in the gym with their muscles.
These are real issues people face, and the media has a lot to answer for. However, times are changing.
Rise in Body Positivity
As a backlash to the above, body positivity is rising, particularly amongst women. It’s no longer seen as good for public self-esteem or health for stick thin to be portrayed as the ideal body type. In fact, size-zero models are being banned from the fashion industry in some places.
Some companies are rejecting thin altogether and making their mark with plus size fashion. The fashion industry is notoriously uncompromising in its aesthetics—so this is great news. Running alongside changes like this, is the Fat Acceptance Movement, working to eradicate negative social attitudes towards larger bodies. This trends as Fat Pride on social.
What’s abundantly clear is no one should be victimised due to his or her weight and everyone deserves representation in society. However, an overlooked problem is whether being “fat” should be promoted? After all, health has nothing to do with social acceptance.
Too thin, Too Fat
Much like promoting thinness, promoting fatness is a problem. One is based on visual perfectionism, and the other self-acceptance. Neither is grounded in what’s healthy and what isn’t. It’s wonderful to accept yourself, but not at the expense of your health.
Our bodies are sacred, and no one has the right to tell us how to look. But, science never says, lose weight and you’ll be more attractive.
Science lays it bare. According to the NHS, obesity is thought to affect 1 in 4 adults in the UK, bringing with it significant health risks. These include type two diabetes, coronary heart disease, and cancer.
This is scary stuff, and hard to incorporate it into our daily lives. Many of us know these things; they’re just at the back of our minds. Whilst avoiding serious health conditions is a strong reason to lose weight, there are other short-term benefits. As humans, we love being able to feel and see results.
Three surprising reasons to lose weight:
No More Tossing and Turning
Poor sleep is no joke. We’ve all been there, wide-awake in the wee hours, staring at the wall or ceiling. Or feeling the need to nap, right after waking. Persistent lack of sleep or poor quality sleep grinds us down over time, making us feel unwell.
What’s not common knowledge is how big a role what we eat plays in how we sleep. Although not exclusive to overweight people, eating sugary and fatty foods can impact being able to fall asleep, stay asleep, and how refreshed we feel in the morning.
New studies are showing the sleep chemical orexin could be to blame. Eating a high fat, low fibre diet may decrease orexin sensitivity—which in turn throws off the 24-hour sleep cycle.
Eat well, sleep well.
Food Will Taste Better
It seems strange, but we can overuse our taste buds.
With overuse comes dulling.
So binge eating, particularly salty foods, is a way to lower food satisfaction levels. It’s also thought that the hormones released during weight gain affect the taste receptors in our brain, making it harder to objectively enjoy what we are eating.
Better Sex, More Sex
The moment sex is mentioned…ears prick up. When not being in the mood becomes a regular thing, it’s possible that weight might be the cause.
Men that lose excess weight may find an exciting rise in their testosterone and sexual sensitivity.
Women might find their sensitivity and ability to become aroused increases too. Plus, both sexes are at the mercy of the stress hormone cortisol, which often coincides with weight gain. When we’re stressed, cortisol is released, which sets off a cascade of biological activations including insulin level increase, which in turn drops your blood sugar. It is this that makes you hungry and crave sugary, fatty foods.
Being stressed is not sexy, so reducing weight and cortisol in our bodies does wonders for sex drive.
Be Renewed at The Glass House
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We’re not a boot camp and we don’t promote heavy dieting. We’re all about you, your relaxation, and a positive lifestyle change.
In a world awash with stress and poor life advice, we give you the grounding to be healthy and happy.
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