We all know that being overweight can produce many negative side effects on your physical and mental health. Heart attack, stroke and diabetes are three of the most common. Some of the other less talked about but equally damaging are stress on your muscles and joints. It’s a fact: weight loss reduces physical stress.

Getting rid of some stress can actually make it easier to loss weight too. Stress and weight loss are intricately wound together. If you are under a lot of stress your body tends to hold on to the weight. Nothing works as well as it should. Your metabolism slows down and it is much harder to lose the weight.

As you can see it is a real catch 22. Being overweight puts stress on your body and being under too much stress encourages weight gain (or at least discourages weight loss).

OK, I know I’ve made it all sound overwhelming, but it doesn’t need to be. Even though weight loss reduces physical stress and stress makes it more difficult to lose weight, it’s not impossible.

The best way to start is with simple day to day changes. Don’t try to change your whole world all at once, instead pick one area to work on and then go for it. Once you’ve conquered that first obstacle, pick another.

Keep doing that and before you know it you will be at your proper weight, which will diminish the abuse your joints and muscles will take and you will have less stress in your life.

For many people a good first obstacle to try and work on is their eating habits. Again, don’t think you have to do it all at once. how about starting small? Maybe take a week and concentrate just on drinking more water every day. Or eating more fruits and vegetables daily. how about cutting down on the soda you drink?

Simple, one step at a time. Don’t expect huge changes quickly. It takes time to see changes and it takes time to let the momentum build. Once you start with one thing, successfully add another and so on, the whole process will begin to pick up steam. From that point on it will seem extremely easy to do.

If you can combine some diet changes along with a little more physical activity you can greatly speed up the process. Again, start small. While it’s commendable to join a gym and resolve to spend 30 minutes every single day on the treadmill, it is also a big change and it may be harder to stick with.

If you find that you can stick to it, great, more power to you. But for many people over reaching on their goals is a great way to fail and get discouraged.

Something as simple as parking a little further from the door so you have to walk more every day is a great place to start. How about taking the stairs in stead of the elevator at least once a day? Maybe take the dog for a walk at least twice a week, etc.

You get the idea. Just start making changes, simple changes that you know you can stick with, and the rest will follow.

True weight loss reduces physical stress but it can also help alleviate a lot of emotional stress as well.

Tags: Being Overweight, Catch 22, Eating Habits, Fruits And Vegetables, Health Heart, Healthy Diet, heart attack;, Joints, Losing Weight, Loss Weight, Mental Health, Metabolism, Momentum, Muscles, Obstacle, One Step At A Time, Physical Stress, Soda, Step At A Time, Time Don, Weight Gain, Weight Loss —