Lose Weight and Lose Pain, Too

Both obesity and chronic pain are widespread problems in the United States, but what you might not know is that the two conditions can be related. If you’re carrying extra weight, you’re at risk for chronic pain, especially after age 40. And the heavier you are, the greater the risk.

Recent research published in the journal Obesity made the relationship between pain and obesity very clear. This study of more than a million people suggests that obesity in and of itself may cause pain, even in the absence of a painful disease or condition. Researchers speculate that body fat increases

hormones associated with inflammation, leading to pain.

Weight Loss to Conquer Pain

You can dampen the risk of pain-causing inflammation by losing weight. In the process, you'll also decrease the strain that excess weight puts on your body, especially your back. “We ask a lot of our backs," says David Greene, MD, CEO of Florida Pain Network. "They carry our body’s weight [and] provide the ability to rotate, flex, extend, and absorb significant loads every step of the way.” He adds that carrying additional weight forces the spine to absorb more load than necessary, which may lead to herniated discs, sciatica, or spinal arthritis — all painful conditions.

Losing weight is easier said than done, but by breaking it down into small steps, the hurdle can seem less daunting. These ideas for long-term weight loss from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics will get you started:

• Change your mindset from a quickie diet to a permanent change in your eating habits, the difference in long-term success. Learn from past mistakes and don’t give up, even if you have to make several attempts to lose weight.
• Create both short-term and long-term goals before you start a weight loss program. Good general goals are to exercise more often or to eat healthy snacks, but you may have better success reaching them by setting weekly goals with a more narrow focus. For example, decide to eat an extra serving of vegetables each day instead of a starch. Or, replace that slice of cake for dessert with a cup of juicy berries.
• Slow and steady wins the race. Avoid making radical, across-the-board diet changes. Start by improving what you are eating for breakfast and advance from there.
• Make your food servings look appetizing by adding colorful fruits and vegetables to your plate. They’re loaded with nutrients as well as fiber, which keep you feeling full longer and make you less likely to snack between meals.
• Drink a large glass of water before each meal. Research has shown that people who drink water before a meal ingest about 75 fewer calories with the meal. Over a year’s time, that’s 14 pounds lost!

If you’re having trouble getting started, enlist a registered dietitian to help you with a sensible approach and get support and motivation from family and friends.

Exercise Gently to Conquer Weight and Pain

You might be tempted to rely on diet alone to shed pounds, but exercise is the second part of any successful weight-loss plan. Besides its many health benefits, exercise boosts weight loss — it helps you burn more calories and builds muscle, and muscle uses calories even when you’re at rest. Common examples of physical activity include walking, yoga, running, swimming, and lifting weights, but even small daily activities — climbing stairs, sweeping the porch — burn calories. And those calories add up. These steps can help you ease into exercise:

• If you’re out of shape and are battling chronic pain on top of that, start with low-intensity activities that don’t require much exertion, like walking around the block once or twice a day. Find ways to be more active at home or on the job — put down your remote control and get up to change TV channels, walk across the room a few times a day, and refill your water bottle at the office water cooler during breaks. Gradually, you’ll be able to exercise for longer periods of time.
• Once walking is comfortable, try a moderate-intensity activity, like swimming or riding a stationary bike. (Swimming is especially low-stress because the water cushions your joints, rather than straining them.) One easy way to tell if you’re at the right level is if you can talk during the activity but not sing.
• Strength training is another type of exercise that increases your fitness level and helps you lose weight. Start slowly by working with resistance bands or light hand-held weights, and target each of the major muscle groups two or three times a week (with a rest day in between). To avoid injury and learn proper form, try working with a certified fitness trainer to get started. As you get stronger, you can add more weight.

As you progress and as the weight comes off, you’ll find the motivation you need to keep going. Remember to reset short-term goals as you reach them and keep relying on your support network of loved ones and health specialists to stay on course for the long term.