Losing Body Weight

[aquareef]

The title may be misleading as I do not mean only fat. I am currently 6'2'' at 210 and looking to improve my weight to 230 for a few years as a final goal.

My question is though, what is the health benefit of carrying less weight (fat, muscle, WEIGHT in general) on the body? And I mean besides just helping the heart work less - does it help other organs?

I'm wondering because I won't have the same athletic endeavors or personal strength goals in 5 to 10 years - so I wont care if I am 6'2 at 195lb if it means I am much healthier. I tend to feel best at around 15% bodyfat, which means I would need to lose muscle and fat to get here eventually.

What discernable benefit is there to being say 200lb at 6'2 versus 230lb at 6'2? Will this improve my quality of life? Or will it just make me live a few years longer in the long run?

Interested to hear what people have to say.

 

[B5150]

Great topic!

In with data before opinions start flying.

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"Although other anthropometric measures (eg, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio) could well add extra information to BMI, and BMI to them, BMI is in itself a strong predictor of overall mortality both above and below the apparent optimum of about 22·5–25 kg/m2. The progressive excess mortality above this range is due mainly to vascular disease and is probably largely causal. At 30–35 kg/m2, median survival is reduced by 2–4 years; at 40–45 kg/m2, it is reduced by 8–10 years (which is comparable with the effects of smoking). The definite excess mortality below 22·5 kg/m2 is due mainly to smoking-related diseases, and is not fully explained"

 

[CatSnake]

The title may be misleading as I do not mean only fat. I am currently 6'2'' at 210 and looking to improve my weight to 230 for a few years as a final goal.

My question is though, what is the health benefit of carrying less weight (fat, muscle, WEIGHT in general) on the body? And I mean besides just helping the heart work less - does it help other organs?

I'm wondering because I won't have the same athletic endeavors or personal strength goals in 5 to 10 years - so I wont care if I am 6'2 at 195lb if it means I am much healthier. I tend to feel best at around 15% bodyfat, which means I would need to lose muscle and fat to get here eventually.

What discernable benefit is there to being say 200lb at 6'2 versus 230lb at 6'2? Will this improve my quality of life? Or will it just make me live a few years longer in the long run?

Interested to hear what people have to say.

well, as a guy who's fat and carrying around a lot of extra weight, I will point out the effect on the knees. even losing 15 lbs is noticeable to me... ankles and feet, too.

some guys get sleep apnea from increased muscle/weight. I noticed I snored more when I was heavier...

your day to day energy levels are different... if you're natural and carrying extra muscle/weight, it really does increase your overall recovery/energy demands.

EDIT: to be fair, 230 lbs on 6'2" is not likely to cause you a lot of issues, depending on your frame.

 

[aquareef]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm going to have to test it out personally to see how my energy levels vary personally, but that was my suspicion that losing weight takes a load off (literally, too. lol) in terms of recovery and general well-being. Even if it is only 230 at 6'2''.

I'm surprised that BMI correlates so closely to all cause mortality though, even taking other factors into consideration. I would have thought that muscle (as opposed to fat) would diminish the "evils" of having a higher BMI.