Further to increasing the onset of metabolic imbalances, obesity leads to reduced life span and affects cellular and molecular processes in a fashion resembling aging.
People who carry more weight tend to look a little younger. How much younger? Twin studies revealed that a person who has a BMI 4 points higher can look 2-4 years younger. The reason is that the face naturally loses fat as we get older.
Ultraviolet (UV) light and exposure to sunlight age your skin more quickly than it would age naturally. The result is called photoaging, and it's responsible for 90% of visible changes to your skin. UV light damages skin cells, contributing to premature changes like age spots.
Having low body fat may look great on your body but it causes your face to look prematurely older. As we age and lose collagen, our skin doesn't retract as much as it used to. Unable to tighten back up, our skin is left loose causing deep wrinkles and in some cases even hanging skin.
Carrying extra fat leads to serious health consequences such as cardiovascular disease (mainly heart disease and stroke), type 2 diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders like osteoarthritis, and some cancers (endometrial, breast and colon). These conditions cause premature death and substantial disability.
While being overweight is a precursor to obesity and, like obesity, can increase the risk of diabetes, heart attack and stroke, it's also possible to be overweight and still healthy, especially if you're free from chronic diseases like hypertension or diabetes.
The biggest changes typically occur when people are in their 40s and 50s, but they can begin as early as the mid-30s and continue into old age. Even when your muscles are in top working order, they contribute to facial aging with repetitive motions that etch lines in your skin.
' This natural deflation begins in our late 30s and is accelerated by weight loss, which breaks down the scaffolding under the surface of our skin and causes the face to sag. 'Older, thinner skin is more vulnerable to volume changes of the fat compartments,' says Dr Papageorgiou.
But while aging is natural, we're all ears when it comes to ways we can slow the process and protect our appearance. Let's take a critical look at how the 4 most common aging factors (stress, sugar, sun damage, and smoking) act on your body and what you can do to reduce their effects.
When fat is lost, so is collagen, the scaffolding within skin that keeps it firm and plump. Your skin already naturally loses collagen due to age (consider it the worthy tradeoff for another birthday), so combine that with losing weight and it's not surprising to see droopier, wrinkled skin.
Increased facial fat is typically due to weight gain. It may also be as a result of water retention, which can make the face appear puffy or swollen. Making changes to a person's diet and lifestyle can help support weight management and prevent excess facial fat.
One of the more visible benefits is that people often look younger after weight loss. This is due to a number of factors, including improved skin elasticity, reduced inflammation, and increased collagen production. Weight loss can also lead to a more youthful appearance by improving the body's proportions.
It is estimated that your metabolism slows down 5% every decade after you turn 40. This can occur because of the loss of muscle (or sarcopenia) which plays a crucial part in maintaining your metabolism. Consequently, as you age you may not be able to maintain the same dietary behaviors without gaining weight.
Your 30s is when you start to see some early signs of aging, as well as the first effects of sun damage that most likely happened in your teenage years or in your 20s. Dr.
For Caucasian women, it's typically around the late 30s. "This is when fine lines on the forehead and around the eyes, less-elastic skin, and brown spots and broken capillaries from accumulated sun damage crop up," says Yagoda. If you're a woman of color, the tipping point is more likely in your 40s.
Excess weight or obesity boosts risk of death by anywhere from 22% to 91%—significantly more than previously believed—while the mortality risk of being slightly underweight has likely been overestimated, according to new CU Boulder research. The findings, published Feb.
How muscular you are: A few people have high BMIs but don't have much body fat. Their muscle tissue pushes up their weight. An example: "A football player or a body builder who is very muscular. Their BMI shows up pretty high, and yet their body fat is actually pretty low," Kahan says.