Weight Loss Not About Beauty Standards: It’s Brain Health

“All bodies are good bodies” doesn’t apply to obesity when it can accelerate mental decline as one gets older. 

There is no such thing as “You’re perfect just the way you are” when it comes to excessive body size, being that more and more research is showing that obesity harms brain function.

University of Georgia research shows a higher body mass index can speed up mental decline as people age.

Getting older usually brings mild memory shifts. Thinking clearly and handling daily tasks gets harder over time for many healthy adults.

Accelerated Cognitive Drop

The study tracked over 8,000 adults over 50 across 24 years.

Higher scores tied directly to faster losses in memory and planning skills.

Each point increase in BMI numbers brought quicker cognitive drops.

Older adults showed the most severe effects.

Managing weight can slow down these cognitive changes — and relatively fast.

Researchers noted that dropping pounds reduced cognitive decline rates within just two years.

Biological Causes of Decline

Excess weight triggers inflammation and hurts blood flow.

Obesity means body-wide inflammation. This is never a “perfect” way to exist. 

Being complacent with a significantly overweight body, in the name of “effing beauty standards” or clapping back at so-called societal standards, will not stop the inflammation from harming the brain down the road.

These bodily changes raise dementia risks. 

Don’t Get Fixated on BMI

Many people oppose the BMI metric because, among other reasons, it can be misleading.

However, the misleading element of it applies mainly to the “overweight” category (25 to 29.9).

In some cases, it can apply to the “obesity class 1” category (30 to 34.9).

This is because high muscle mass can inflate the BMI. Someone with a lot of muscle mass, but with low body fat, can still have a BMI in the overweight category. A pro bodybuilder may even have a BMI in the obese category.

However, the higher the BMI, the less likely we can attribute it to abundant muscle.

With that all said, we can tell fatness simply by our eyes, especially when the obesity is in the morbid range.

In simple English, being fat is bad for brain health.

The study also notes that waist size is predictive of future health. Waist to height ratio should be under 0.50.

Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness, where she was also a group fitness instructor, she trained clients of all ages and abilities for fat loss and maintaining it, muscle and strength building, fitness, and improved cardiovascular and overall health.