How gaining weight with arthritis can pose a health risk

Weight loss isn't merely about vanity; it's about health. Particularly for people with arthritis, achieving a healthy weight can make all the difference in reducing pain and halting the advance of the disease.

• The primary reason is obvious: carry around less weight and you put far less stress and strain on your joints.
• Being overweight with arthritis can become a vicious circle.
• Loading joints — especially knees — with extra pounds causes more pain and decreases mobility.
• That typically makes you cut back on physical activity, which in turn contributes to even more weight gain.

• If you've started getting more physical activity to build strength and endurance, you've already taken a giant step toward breaking the cycle of increasing weight, pain and disability.
• But most overweight people (and their doctors) recognize that exercise alone won't pare pounds.
• Instead, you need to combine your calorie-burning activity with diet control.Losing weight can seem daunting, particularly with all the conflicting approaches and products being pushed at us.
• But the most effective diet tactics are deceptively simple. Better yet, they work best when you apply them over time rather than making a drastic overhaul of your current eating habits.

• There's no doubt the changes are worth the effort. One of the most recent studies connecting weight and arthritis found that about 56 per cent of osteoarthritis is due to being overweight — a more significant role than genetics.
• But the fatness factor works in reverse as well, a recent study found that dropping just two units on the body mass index scale cuts your risk of pain and stiffness by half.