New studies have shown that, whilst losing weight at a later stage in life is great, gaining just a few extra pounds may cause serious detrimental impact to your cardiovascular health. The research curated by the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre shows that gaining weight following intentional weight loss may have a negative effect on some cardiometabolic, or CM, risks in postmenopausal women. The risks analysed included one’s risk at developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, whilst looking at blood pressure, HDL and LDL cholesterol and insulin.
The study focused on how the CM factors changed in the year that followed significant intentional weight loss and how these factors were altered by any weight regain. Interestingly, although all of the CM risk factors were improved with weight loss, nearly all of them returned back to their original values just 12 months after. In fact, some of those factors analysed were actually worse once the weight was regained.
The study analysed 112 obese, postmenopausal women who were an average of 58 years old, over a five month weight loss programme and the following 12 month non-intervention period. The women lost an average of around 25 pounds during the intervention, and 80 women agreed to return for at least one follow up measurement. The status of the weight gain was decided based on whether or not the individual gained at least four pounds following the weight loss – two thirds of the women studied fell into this category, with an average of 70 per cent of lost weight regained overall.
The research concluded that in most cases, the weight was regained mainly as fat rather than muscle, leading to more health problems such as heart disease. In contrast however, those who can maintain their lower weight show sustained improvement in the cardiometabolic profile. Women who intentionally lose weight at this stage in their life should aim to see it has a lifestyle change rather than a fleeting development.
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