The media often links the idea of lower weight leading to greater sexual prowess, but is this actually the case? In truth, whilst beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder, there is a strong correlation between weight loss and sexual wellness and wellbeing.
Obesity can cause all different kinds of related conditions which can affect your sex drive on a mental and physical level. Around 30 percent of all those who are overweight have issues with their sexual desire, sex drive, performance or all of the above.
Conditions including insulin resistance (an early indicator for type 2 diabetes) and high cholesterol have an ability to make a difference to your sexual performance, and this in turn can impact on desire, particularly when it comes to men. It stands to reason that a man who has problems getting or maintaining and erection gradually loses his desire for sex after a period of time.
When an individual puts on a lot of weight, the hormones in the body are negatively affected and start to fluctuate uncontrollably as a chain reaction. The chemical in the body responsible for sexual function (sex-hormone-binding globulin) increases, which directly causes a drop in testosterone, the hormone responsible for male sexual desire.
The more you weigh, the more you produce this sex-hormone-binding globulin, and so the lower levels of testosterone that are available to you, and that stimulate arousal in your body.
This, combined with other factors such as high cholesterol, can lead to a real drop in libido. High cholesterol has an impact as it can lead to the buildup of plaque in the blood vessels that supply the pelvic reason, and this can flow the supply of blood to the area that is the most important for sexual arousal.