Your weight doesn’t just affect your risk of arthritis. Once you have arthritis, you’re more likely to become disabled if you’re overweight.
While body weight is often linked to osteoarthritis, it also contributes to rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis develops at an earlier age in people who are overweight or obese. Additionally, carrying extra weight slows down the effects of the medications we prescribe to treat the disease and slows down joint damage.
Many people can prevent arthritis or significantly reduce their risk of developing it by losing weight. You don’t even have to lose a lot of weight to make a difference. For example, obese women who lose 11 pounds can reduce their risk of knee osteoarthritis by at least 50%.
How does being overweight affect arthritis?
Here are three main ways that being overweight affects arthritis:
1. Being overweight speeds up osteoarthritis
Your weight-bearing joints are particularly susceptible to arthritis. The weight in your upper body puts pressure on your spine, primarily your lower back. Being overweight, in turn, leads to facet arthritis in the joints of your spine. Your knees and hips bear the brunt of your excess body weight. Every time you take a step, the force generated when your foot hits the ground is transmitted to your legs. Your joints then absorb and transmit that force, contributing significantly to the constant wear and tear that leads to osteoarthritis.
When you walk, the force on each knee is three times your body weight. When you jump, the load is 10 times your body weight.
When you gain weight and put extra pressure on your joints, the protective cartilage degenerates and wears away more quickly. That’s how you develop osteoarthritis.
2. Being overweight increases arthritis
Arthritis is an inflammatory disease. Rheumatoid arthritis begins when your immune system attacks the tissues lining your joints, causing inflammation. Although osteoarthritis does not start with inflammation, it develops gradually due to damage and irritation to your joints.
If left untreated, arthritis becomes chronic and contributes to the severity of your condition. If you have rheumatoid arthritis, the inflammation erodes your bones and leads to joint deformities.
There is another way that being overweight contributes to inflammation. Fat cells continually release inflammatory biochemicals throughout the body, including the joints. Extra body weight translates into more biochemicals and higher levels of inflammation. This additional inflammation increases your risk of developing arthritis and makes existing arthritis worse.
3. Being overweight leads to faster progression of the disease
Arthritis is a progressive disease for which we have no cure. Osteoarthritis progresses more quickly in people who are overweight. Eventually, the joint becomes so damaged that the only treatment is joint replacement surgery.
Strategies to Help You Lose Weight Effectively
1. Set Realistic Weight Loss Goals
Many people set themselves up for failure by setting goals that are too high. If you start with unrealistic goals, you will be disappointed, and for too many people, that means the end.
If you are overweight or obese, start with a goal of losing 5% of your weight. (That’s just 10 pounds for someone who weighs 200 pounds.) Once you reach your first goal, set another goal of losing another 5%. Setting achievable goals is especially important when you have the challenge of arthritis, since you may be limited in the amount of physical activity you can do.
2. Effective Dieting Strategies
There is no one weight loss plan that has been proven to work for everyone. Some people succeed by carefully counting calories. Others lose weight and keep it off by eliminating certain high-calorie foods from their diet, such as sugary drinks or high-fat desserts.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Many people fail before they find what works best for them. If you have tried and failed, think about what worked and what didn’t work for you. Consider what types of long-term changes you are most likely to make. Choosing an approach that you feel most comfortable with is the key to making healthy changes you can live with.
3. Eat at Home and Cut Calories
Restaurant meals are often high in fat, salt, and calories. Some appetizers contain nearly as many calories as most of us should consume in an entire day. If you go out for lunch or dinner, split oversized portions in half before you start your meal and take the rest home.
Make it a habit to cook and eat at home, most people who eat at home and maintain their weight do a lot of cooking at home. When you cook at home, you control exactly what and how much you eat.
4. Exercise to lose weight
Cutting down on the calories you eat is half of the equation for losing weight. The other half is burning calories through physical activity. Studies show that exercise is especially important for maintaining weight.
Exercise also poses challenges for people with arthritis. In particular, painful knees can make many activities painful. Any activity that puts stress on the joints, such as running, can aggravate arthritis. However, there are still many activities that even people with osteoarthritis of the knee can do; for example, swimming, water aerobics, walking, and light resistance exercises.
5. Find a Weight Loss Buddy
Signing up for a weight loss program helps some people lose weight. But even if you don’t want to sign up for an organized program, you should still form your own informal support group.
Many studies show that social support is an important factor in the success of any type of lifestyle change, including diet and physical activity. Chances are you have friends and coworkers who would like to lose a few pounds with you. Talk to them about setting goals together and motivating each other.
6. Stay Motivated to Lose Weight
To stay motivated, it’s important to reward yourself along the way. Reward yourself with something special when you reach your short-term goals, and be aware of the less tangible rewards you receive as you lose weight.
