Skip main navigation

Military Health System

Clear Your Cache

Health.mil has undergone a recent update. For the best user experience we recommend clearing your browser cache.

Six Immediate Health Benefits You Will See If You Lose a Little Weight

Image of A soldier assigned to the 256th Combat Support Hospital, Twinsburg, Ohio, drinks water from a gallon-sized jug during Combat Support Training Exercise 18-03 at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, March 26, 2018. The 256th CSH implemented a goal setting competition, dubbed Dandy Camp, to teach and encourage soldiers to monitor their total carbohydrate intake during the field exercise. The overall goal of Dandy Camp is to educate soldiers about healthy eating choices and encourage soldiers to set and meet goals for themselves. . A soldier assigned to the 256th Combat Support Hospital, Twinsburg, Ohio, drinks water from a gallon-sized jug during Combat Support Training Exercise 18-03 at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, March 26, 2018. The 256th CSH implemented a goal setting competition, dubbed Dandy Camp, to teach and encourage soldiers to monitor their total carbohydrate intake during the field exercise. The overall goal of Dandy Camp is to educate soldiers about healthy eating choices and encourage soldiers to set and meet goals for themselves. Photo by Army Sgt. First Class Debra Richardson

Did you know that dropping just 10 pounds of body weight takes 40 pounds of pressure off your knees? That's equivalent to not carrying around a cinder block.

Losing even a little weight now can have a major impact on your health and quality of life. This long list of benefits might help motivate you to adjust your habits to achieve a happier, healthier lifestyle.

Reduce Blood Pressure

Eating more nutritious foods and drinking more water can reduce high blood pressure, and its risk of stroke and heart attack. Nearly half of service members diagnosed as overweight or obese are also diagnosed with hypertension, Defense Health Agency data shows.

Reduce Joint and Back Pain

Carrying less body weight will reduce stress on your entire body. DHA data shows that one in five overweight service members reports lower back pain.

Women's Health

Obesity can also have significant consequences for women's reproductive systems, including menstrual disorders, infertility, miscarriage, and poor pregnancy outcomes. If you plan to get pregnant, now's the time to shed some weight.

Better Sleep

The more weight you lose, the less likely you are to snore or have sleep apnea, where your breathing actually stops for short periods of time throughout the night. You might even get to stop using your C-PAP device.

DHA data finds that 1 in 4 service members who are overweight share a diagnosis of sleep disorder like apnea and snoring.

The result of better sleep? You're less fatigued, have more energy, and a happier bedroom partner.

Reduced Risk of Diabetes

Another bonus of losing weight? Your chances of developing prediabetes or full-blown type 2 diabetes drop significantly as your blood sugars drop.

Mood improvements

As you take more control of your weight, you may see a decrease in symptoms of depression and an improvement in self-image.

Finally, you likely will reduce the anxiety that hovers over you knowing that you're going to have to pass that fitness test.

How to Start

So get started. Talk to a nutritionist, dietitian, or physical trainer about getting your weight loss plan in place. In the long run, finding and sustaining a healthy weight lowers your risk of serious chronic diseases. Now's the best time to start.

Pro Tip 1: Drink More Water

What should be your first step and how quickly can that help you? The answer is as simple as drinking more water.

Drinking water throughout the day fills you up, lubricates your joints, improves your skin, eliminates toxins faster, and helps with digestion. No more acid reflux, also known as GERD, or eating handfuls of antacids like candy!

Start carrying water with you at all times and sip it until you need a refill. Then do it all again.

Making this one change can help with joint pain which comes with being overweight, as well as reducing arthritis symptoms.

Pro Tip 2: Start Small

The best advice from nutritionists is to start small and then make more changes as your health improves.

Start with a specific, measurable goal that is achievable within a short period of time. That will make it relevant to you.

For example, try to lose 5% of your body weight, dropping 1 or 2 pounds a week. For a 230-pound man, that's about 11-1/2 pounds.

You also may be interested in...

Report
Jun 1, 2023

MSMR Vol. 30 No. 6 - June 2023

.PDF | 1.55 MB

This annual issue quantifies the impacts of various illnesses and injuries in 2022 among members of the active component of the U.S. Armed Forces as well as the U.S. Coast Guard; health care burden metrics include the total number of medical encounters, including hospitalizations and ambulatory services, as well as numbers and types of individuals ...

Report
Jan 1, 2023

MSMR Vol. 30 No. 1 - January 2023

.PDF | 1.22 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Incidence and management of chronic insomnia, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2012 to 2021; Changes in the prevalence of overweight and obesity and in the incidence of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes ...

Report
Dec 1, 2022

MSMR Vol. 29 No. 12 - December 2022

.PDF | 2.22 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Surveillance trends for SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens among U.S. Military Health System Beneficiaries, Sept. 27, 2020 – Oct. 2,2021; Establishment of SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance within the ...

Report
Nov 1, 2022

MSMR Vol. 29 No. 11 - November 2022

.PDF | 1.30 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Surveillance trends for SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens among U.S. Military Health System Beneficiaries, Sept. 27, 2020 – Oct. 2,2021; Establishment of SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance within the ...

Report
Oct 1, 2022

MSMR Vol. 29 No. 10 - October 2022

.PDF | 1.41 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Surveillance trends for SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens among U.S. Military Health System Beneficiaries, Sept. 27, 2020 – Oct. 2,2021; Establishment of SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance within the ...

Report
Sep 1, 2022

MSMR Vol. 29 No. 09 - September 2022

.PDF | 2.12 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Surveillance trends for SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens among U.S. Military Health System Beneficiaries, Sept. 27, 2020 – Oct. 2,2021; Establishment of SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance within the ...

Report
Jul 1, 2022

MSMR Vol. 29 No. 07 - July 2022

.PDF | 1.67 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Surveillance trends for SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens among U.S. Military Health System Beneficiaries, Sept. 27, 2020 – Oct. 2,2021; Establishment of SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance within the ...

Report
Jun 1, 2022

MSMR Vol. 29 No. 06 - June 2022

.PDF | 3.07 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Absolute and relative morbidity burdens attributable to various illnesses and injuries, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2021; Hospitalizations, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2021; Ambulatory ...

Report
May 1, 2022

MSMR Vol. 29 No. 05 - May 2022

.PDF | 1.25 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Update: Sexually transmitted infections, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2013–2021; Evaluation of ICD-10-CM-based case definitions of ambulatory encounters for COVID-19 among Department of Defense health ...

Report
Apr 1, 2022

MSMR Vol. 29 No. 04 - April 2022

.PDF | 1.51 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Exertional heat illness at Fort Benning, GA: Unique insights from the Army Heat Center; Update: Heat illness, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2021; Update: Exertional rhabdomyolysis, active component, U ...

Report
Mar 1, 2022

MSMR Vol. 29 No. 03 - March 2022

.PDF | 1.52 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Update: Malaria, U.S. Armed Forces, 2021; Obesity prevalence among active component service members prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, January 2018–July 2021; Brief report: Refractive surgery trends ...

Report
Feb 1, 2022

MSMR Vol. 29 No. 02 - February 2022

.PDF | 1.10 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Diagnosis of hepatitis C infection and cascade of care in the active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2020; A new approach to categorization of ocular injury among U.S. Armed Forces; Surveillance snapshot: ...

Report
Jan 1, 2022

MSMR Vol. 29 No. 01 - January 2022

.PDF | 1.23 MB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Description of a COVID-19 Beta variant outbreak, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA, February–March 2021; COVID-19 and depressive symptoms among active component U.S. service members, January 2019–July 2021; ...

Skip subpage navigation
Refine your search
Last Updated: February 25, 2025
Follow us on Instagram Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on YouTube Sign up on GovDelivery