Benefits of Being Overweight

Does being fat make you stronger? Though it is hard to believe this but the answer is yes! Till now you have been made to believe that excess weight is the cause of all your ailments, but recent research proves otherwise.

Studies have shown that being overweight can actually make you live longer and stay healthier. Read on to find out more about these surprising health benefits of being overweight.

Obesity and Overweight

One of the most common metrics that measures obesity and excess weight is the Body mass index or the BMI.

A person’s BMI is calculated by dividing the weight in kg to the square of the person’s height in meters.

Read: Health Benefits of Drinking Lots of Water

An index value greater than 25 indicates that the person is overweight and a value more than 30 indicates obesity. The ideal BMI value range is between 18.5 and 24.9.

The BMI calculator is just one of the tools to assess whether a person is overweight or not. Other factors that indicate this are waist size, ratio of waist size to hip size and so on.

What Causes People to Gain Weight?

A person can gain weight due to some medical condition or even as a side effect to some medication. But the most common cause of weight gain is sedentary life style. Long hours at office, mainly sitting jobs have all led to reduced physical activity.

When a person consumes more calories than he/she can burn, the calories add up overtime leading to weight gain. Eating too much, which is also called binge eating disorder, is also responsible for the excess weight.

In general, people gain weight as they grow older. Till now, this excess weight was considered all bad. According to most doctors and fitness experts, this excess weight can cause many diseases and shorten a person’s life span.

But, in the past decade many studies have shown that all fat is not bad. In fact, there can be rewards of being overweight.

Amazing Health Benefits of Being Overweight

1. Fat Cells Can Help in the Healing Process

Belly fat can help a person recover from internal injuries much faster. Studies have shown that a tissue like structure called the omentum which is found in the fat layer surrounding the stomach helps in the healing process of organs.

Some of the organs that benefit from this are pancreas, kidneys and liver.

Also See: Sunflower Seeds Health Benefits and How to Eat Them

2. Helps in Recovery from Illness

One of the benefits of body fat is that it can help you recover from disease much faster. Since the body needs more energy during recovery time, the excess fat cells help provide this extra energy.

Research has shown that among people suffering from same disease, overweight people recovered much faster than people who were underweight or had normal weight.

3. Less Risk of Developing Dementia

In 2015 a group of researchers doing a study on 2 million people for the last 15 years came up with rather startling results. They discovered that the most positive effect of obesity on a person is his/her reduced chances of developing dementia.

Dementia, a disease categorized by memory loss, seems to affect underweight people the most, according to the study. Obese have 24% less chance and overweight people have 18% less chance of developing this disease.

A word of caution. Though there can be some benefits of being overweight, being too much on the heavier side is still detrimental to health. No study recommends binge eating or piling up the pounds. So, maybe you should not worry too much about being a little overweight, but you should also not become careless with your diet and exercise routine.

4. Reduces Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Men

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a disease that is characterized by pain in the joints. Initially it was believed that excess weight can put pressure on the joints resulting in more wear and tear.

But, recently a research done specifically to observe the effect of excess weight on RA has come up with a surprising benefit of being overweight.

It was found that obese and overweight men are at a reduced risk of developing RA than men of normal weight. It seems that excess fat in the body provides a protection against the development of this condition.

Slim does not necessarily mean fit. And BMI might not give an accurate picture of obesity since it does not calculate the fat percentage. People who have denser muscles tend to weigh more. Also, fat surrounding the hips and buttocks is not as bad as belly fat.

5. Body Fat Can Protect You from Physical Injury

One of the handiest benefits of being overweight is that it can protect you from physical injuries. There are numerous cases that point to this fact. People who have been stabbed or shot survived because the extra layers of fat in their body protected them.

The body fat acts as a cushion that can protect the internal organs from getting injured when a person falls or gets punched.

Must Read: Top Uses and Health Benefits of Manuka Honey: Medihoney

6. Excess Fat Can Provide Protection from Cold

Another wonderful benefit of being overweight is that it helps you keep warm. Like fat can protect the body from severe physical harm, similarly the excess fat in the body can actually help to keep a person warm in frigid climate.

The excess layers of body fat prevent the body’s temperature from decreasing too quickly.

High BMI has actually prevented cold water swimmers from developing hypothermia.

7. Fat Helps Absorb Certain Vitamins Better

This benefit is not directly related to being overweight. It is more related to the factors that make a person overweight, and that is fatty foods like butter and egg yolks.

These food items contain fat soluble vitamins that help reduce inflammation and keep the skin and bones healthy. Hence, there are actually advantages of fats and one should not stop consuming diets that have fats just to get the perfect weight.

Positive Benefits of Being Overweight

The above were some of the best things about being overweight. It clearly shows that being a little overweight is definitely not as life threatening as previously thought to be. So stop worrying if you do not have the perfect weight.

What is important is to remain fit and healthy. So, rather than concentrating on losing weight it will be wise to follow a fitness schedule that will help you achieve long term good health.