Is it too late to reverse the damage?

kellyanne4210 · July 2020

I am nearly 26 and currently weigh 205 pounds. I have already lost 29 pounds and am going to keep going until I reach my goal weight of around 150 pounds.

I have been overweight since I was about 20 and have been reading up a lot in the effects of being obese. I never really paid attention but am now aware of the increased risk of heart disease, cancer, infertility etc. Is the effects of being obese for 6 years now irreversible? Has the damage already been done?

Thanks in advance

MaltedTea · July 2020

The body is wonderfully and amazingly resilient.

Put in the work now, with small but consistent positive changes, and you will reap rewards over the long term.

Your healthcare team will let you know what "positive changes" can look like for you, based in your medical history and goals.

Diatonic12 · July 2020

Get a checkup and don't leave it to chance or guesswork. Look your results directly in the eye and know the sooner you can get a grip on all of this the better off you'll be. Without our health and overall well being we get mostly diminishing returns. All of this matters.

You don't want to wait until you're looking at mounting hospital bills and taking whopping boatloads of Rx's to compensate for everything. You are young. Hit the ground running and turn this ship around now.

Nbaker0909 · July 2020

I don’t think it’s ever too late to get healthy! Whether you will have long term consequences (such as type 2 diabetes just as 1 example) is impossible for us to say because we don’t know your medical history. BUT the benefits of getting healthy are always worth the work. I’m 30 and recently lost 42 pounds so I’m below my prepregnancy weight from my 15 month old. I feel so much better. We’re both so young and have so much life left ahead of us that it’s absolutely worth getting healthy now. I was 215 at my previously heaviest weight years ago. I got down to 150 and maintained until right before i got pregnant. I’m finally back down to 150 again and working on figuring out maintenance So i had a very similar journey to the one you’re on. You can do it! Feel free to friend request me if you’d like.

amusedmonkey · July 2020

Weight loss never stops being beneficial. I spent 35 years fat, quite a few of them morbidly obese. I had high blood sugar and high blood pressure. Weight loss reversed both. Some people experience a less pronounced result, but they do experience results with as little as 10-15% loss. Weight related infertility is often a direct result of having too much fat and once there is no longer too much fat fertility improves. The above examples are of cases that already have obesity related conditions and most of them see improvement. If you don't have any of these conditions yet then you're even more likely to avoid or delay them.

RelCanonical · July 2020

You will have much better outcomes having been obese and lost the weight than to never have lost the weight at all. The only time it's too late is when you're dead - otherwise, you can still make great improvements to your overall health through getting into a healthy weight range, even if you've been obese in the past.

Even people who have smoked most of their lives have amazing improvements to their heart and lung functions only a year after having quit. Sure, it's not going to be at the level of someone who's never smoked, but it can get surprisingly close even for those who are long-term smokers, just by quitting.

mullanphylane · July 2020

It's never too late to improve, but the longer one waits to start - the harder the road will be.

lgfrie · July 2020

It'd require a doctor and blood tests and such, to determine if you've had any "damage". But in general 6 years obese in your 20's is a drop in the bucket compared to what tens of millions of people go through. The trick is to bring that phase of your life to an end and get on a healthy footing for the future. You can't undo the past; you can only decide what the future will look like.

I started dieting in my mid 50's. 330 lbs when I started. My blood pressure was off the rails 155/100, resting heart rate 84-88, and blood sugar over 100 and creeping higher with every annual exam. Little over a year later, I'm at 124/80, RHR 59, blood sugar still a work in process but stable as opposed to increasing. So by all the conventional markers, losing weight has made a huge difference. Having already put my body under the pressure of obesity for 30 years, there's little doubt there'll be a price for me to pay eventually, but for now, everything looks pretty good. The point is, it is never too late to grab the bull by the horns and get yourself on a better course. I wish I had done that when I was 26 like you, instead of waiting most of a lifetime to realize how very important it is to be serious about health and fitness. So, get started, don't look back, check in with the doctor, and charge forward to a new you.

Jacq_qui · July 2020

Knowledge is power. And now you know, which means you can do something about it. Personally I think it's never too late. If it makes you feel better, I used to smoke in my twenties! I'll never forgive myself for that, but you have to move forward. At 40, I exercise more, lift heavier, and eat healthier than I ever did in my 20s. You're going to be in way better shape at my age then i am now, it's going to be worth it!

AnnPT77 · July 2020

You're still very young, with lots of years ahead of you. If you work on your weight and fitness now, and keep it on a good basis going forward from there, you definitely improve your odds of long term good health. (None of us have any guarantees, so it's all about odds-shifting.) Moreover, you can only start where you are, the past is unmodifiable. No point in worry about what we can't change.

Even losing from obese to a healthy weight at age 59-60, after several previous decades of obesity, made a big difference in my health. My cholesterol/triglycerides were high; now they're normal. My blood pressure was high; now it's normal. My joint discomfort/pain from osteoarthritis (OA) is dramatically reduced, at a lighter body weight (and I suspect lower systemic inflammation, too).

Do I still have some consequences from all those years of obesity? Sure. For one, I'm betting my OA is worse than it would've been if I hadn't had all that weight-stress on my joints for decades.

You're at a point where you can still hope to avoid some long-term consequences entirely, and reduce damage from pretty much any of them. Your older self with thank you for doing that.

Wishing you excellent results!

kellyanne4210 · July 2020

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond to me! Your words have eased my anxiety and I am just thankful I am no longer ignorant and that I am on the right path to becoming a better and healthier me

preshalin · July 2020

Hi there, it's not too late. At the age of 22 I was diagnosed with High blood pressure and told my risk for heart disease went up. I started to suffer with gout and my cholesterol was high. I would wake up with back pains after drinking and just in general I didn't have much energy. I was on chronic medication for the high blood pressure.

I no longer suffer with any of the above for the last 3 years. I'm 29 now. I started to eat better and try and do some exercise. I'm not great at it. I still sometimes hardly exercise and I sometimes fall off the wagon and binge. I'm not at the weight I want to be but my point is I'm no longer suffering with those conditions. I no longer need medication. Just stay on your journey and goodluck!!!

Is it too late to reverse the damage?

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