Losing Weight To Lower Cholesterol

It is important to know that being overweight generally raises total blood cholesterol levels. In addition to this, your cholesterol levels will surely be thrown out of balance - your HDL cholesterol (also known as the good cholesterol that helps clear blood vessels) will be lowered and the LDL cholesterol (also known as the bad or harmful cholesterol that clogs blood vessels). Besides its effects on blood cholesterol levels, being overweight increases your risk for heart disease by simply raising blood pressure and straining the heart.

Different types of body fat

Different people show obesity in different ways - some carry excess weight in the thighs and hips (referred to as lower body obesity or pear-shaped) while other carry the excess weight in the abdominal area (referred to as upper body obesity, or the apple-shaped). We now know that fat excess in the lower body is less likely to cause health problems such as high blood cholesterol levels rather than the fat in the abdominal area. A good clue as to whether you have too much upper body fat would be to measure around your waistline, since it reflects the level of abdominal fat. If your waist measurement exceeds - 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women - you have too much abdominal fat.

Dangers of Dieting

Even though it may seem worse, excess weight that raises blood cholesterol levels and increases risk for heart disease is not as worse as repeated cycles of gaining, losing and regaining weight. Rather than a crash-diet, you might go for a slow and steady rate of weight loss, which you are more likely to maintain over a longer term. Remember that the extra weight took a long time to creep on, so it will mostly take just as long to come off too. Rather than focusing on what your scales says, try thinking of the positive lifetime changes you are making for your health. You may be surprised how easily the weight will come off if you exercise regularly and adopt a healthy low-fat foods diet.

Losing weight and keeping it off

We established the fact that losing weight is hard to do, and takes a lot of time and patience to work long term. But keeping weight off is even harder. The two key ingredients in any weight control formula - changing the way you eat and maintaining a regular exercise program. When you limit fat and cholesterol in your diet, you get to cut also the calories, this way promoting weight control and helping improve your cholesterol levels. People who exercise regularly are the people who are most likely to succeed in losing weight and keeping it off.

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