You may be fat, but if you maintain or increase your fitness, it can reduce the risk of heart disease.

A study reported by Duck-Chul Lee in the Journal of American College of Cardiology, 2012 of 3148 men and women over a 6 years period. The study found that there was an increase in high blood pressure by 4% per year, high cholesterol by 3% per year and metabolic syndrome by 2% per year.

People who gain body fat over time are more likely to develop heart disease risk factor. For every 1% increase in body fat, there is a corresponding increase in risk factor by 3-8%.

Those who gain weight but keep up with fitness level managed to counter the negative effect of weight gain.

It is best if the overweight people can reduce weight and increase fitness at the same time. But this can prove to be difficult for some.  So stay fit and active irrespective of your weight if you want to reduce the risk of heart disease.

Healthy but sedentary people can take up moderate exercise such as brisk walking. This applies to overweight and sedentary people but it is better to check with your physician first before starting.

Those who are already exercising regularly, you can continue and increase in intensity to strengthen the heart further.

So for the overweight people, if you are active in keeping fit, don’t be discourage if the weight did not come off. You need to combine with a healthy diet plan to lose weight permanently.

Ultimately, it is critical to maintain or increase in fitness to reduce the risk of heart disease.

If you need help to work on both fitness and weight loss, you can look through my personal wellness program and contact me for consultation.