Now is the BEST time to get to a healthier weight!

Posted: Jul 20 in Weight loss by Dr. Lazarus

I was riding my bike the other day. It was 95 degrees out, and I passed a sign that said, “Ice on path.” It got me thinking, timing is everything! Oftentimes when it comes to trying to get healthier, that seems like a rock we can kick down the road. “I’m too busy today… this week… this month… this year.” Before we know it, years have gone by, and our health has slipped. We now have pre-diabetes or even full-blown type II diabetes.

Unfortunately, this is often how it is with obesity – “I’m too busy / tired / stressed to work on getting to a healthier weight.” I’ve seen this for the past 16 years that I’ve worked at CNC. In fact, one of the best ways that I can tell if a person will do well with weight loss is if we can answer 1 simple question: “Is now the right time to get to a healthier weight?”

I’d like to suggest that now is the BEST time to get to a healthier weight. Why? Well, most people have seen activities canceled, travel canceled, obligations canceled. Now is the time to get healthy because now we have extra time to use for this! And, now we have a compelling reason to get weight off.

On June 25th, the CDC stated that any level of obesity is a risk factor for severe illness from COVID-19. They specifically called out the following conditions:

• Chronic kidney disease
• COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
• Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant
• Obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30 or higher)
• Serious heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies
• Sickle cell disease
• Type 2 diabetes mellitus

So, why not spend our time on getting healthy, getting some weight off, getting to a healthier BMI, and if we should contract COVID-19, that we have gotten ourselves to the lowest risk that we can?

Is now the right time? If not now, when?

-Dr. L