Obesity is not just a health problem on its own; it can cause many other medical conditions that are detrimental to your health. Obesity health risks include high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea and high cholesterol, among others. In the United States, the problem of obesity is getting worse—the prevalence was more than 42% from 2017 to 2018, an increase of nearly seven percentage points from 2000. And the problem isn’t just in the U.S. Around the world, almost 3 million obesity deaths per year occur. Overall, obesity life expectancy is shorter than the life expectancy of normal-weight people, but there are many factors affecting obesity health risks and prognosis, including coexisting conditions and treatment options..
Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., second only to smoking. While the exact number of annual mortalities associated with obesity is hard to calculate, it’s estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of people. Severely obese people, meaning those with a BMI (body mass index) of 40 or greater, have a much greater chance of early death than normal weight people. In fact, men who are severely obese may die 20 years earlier than men of a normal weight, and severely obese women may die five years earlier than women of a normal weight. If you smoke, your risk of early death is even higher.
White people’s life expectancy begins to decrease at a lower BMI than Black or Hispanic Americans. Asian people begin to have a higher risk of death at an even lower BMI. In other words, a healthy weight for most Asian people is lower than that of white people, which is even lower than Black or Hispanic people.
Obesity Health Risks and Prognosis
Obesity contributes to a long list of medical problems, which means people with obesity have a higher risk of developing these conditions than people who have a healthy weight. Obesity often reduces quality of life too, particularly in older age, and obesity is frequently associated with depression. Other obesity health risks and complications include:
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Type 2 diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease
- Stroke
- Osteoarthritis
- Sleep apnea
- Some types of cancer
In addition to these specific health problems, people who have obesity also have a higher chance of death from any cause. As with life expectancy, obesity prognosis can depend on race. More than a quarter of deaths among Black women are associated with overweight or obesity, whereas more than a fifth of deaths among white women are connected with a higher weight. Men of different races have an even higher disparity—the deaths of 5% of Black men and 15% of white men were associated with being overweight or obese.
Treating obesity is challenging. If you are obese, you can improve your obesity prognosis with some lifestyle changes and potentially some medical options. Some obesity treatments include:
Lifestyle changes
A healthy diet, exercise, and rest go hand-in-hand. Getting enough sleep helps the mind focus, plan and adapt, which is important when you need to make lifestyle changes. And a healthy diet and exercise plan can make it easier to sleep. Focus on these three things:
- Shed excess pounds and maintain a healthy weight by eating a heart-healthy diet with plenty of vegetables. Cut back on (or even eliminate) sugary food and drinks, including alcohol. Ask your doctor about how many daily calories to consume, on average. (The estimate is between 2,000 and 3,000 calories per day for adult men and 1,600 and 2,400 for adult women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) Alter your diet gradually, so your mind has time to get used to the changes.
- Find physical activities you enjoy. Most people need about 150 minutes (30 minutes per day, five days a week) of moderate exercise each week to maintain a healthy weight. Doctors also recommend strength training of all major muscle groups twice a week. Someone who is obese may have to do more physical activity (or the same amount of high intensity exercise) than this. Having a training partner will hold you accountable while making the workout sessions more effective and enjoyable.
- Improve your sleep habits. Studies have shown that people who don’t get enough sleep are more likely to be overweight or obese than people who have healthy amounts of sleep.
Medical treatment options
Medical weight loss programs have come a long way in the last couple of decades, thanks to a better understanding of how the body responds to weight loss. For obesity, it is not always a simple equation of fewer calories leading to fewer pounds.
Medical treatment options include weight loss medicines, surgery, and comprehensive weight loss clinics:
- Weight loss medicines can either curb the urge to eat or prevent the body from absorbing fats. These medicines may not be right for everyone. They are combined with healthy lifestyle changes. Talk with your doctor about which type of weight loss medication is right for you.
- Weight loss clinics and programs, oftentimes based at a hospital, bring together a team of experts to help clients with long-term weight loss.
- Bariatric surgery can reduce the amount of food you are able to eat at a time. There are several types of weight loss surgery, including gastric bypass surgery and gastrectomy. Surgery comes with some risks of complications, and it’s not right for everyone’s health situation.
Some people embark on a weight loss journey alone, but most people need medical help and a good support system. Talk with your primary care doctor about a referral to a respected weight management specialist or bariatric surgeon (if you are interested in pursuing that option). If you start on your own, don’t get discouraged if pounds don’t start coming off immediately or as quickly as you’d like. It takes time, and any amount of exercise is better than nothing at all.