If it is hard to lose weight, then why do people keep trying?

Because they know they’ll look better. They’ll feel better. And they know that being overweight may lead to serious health problems.

For example, in a recent study of more than 115,000 American women thirty to fifty-five years of age who were followed for eight years, those who were as little as 5 percent overweight were 30 percent more likely to develop heart disease. Those who were mildly to moderately overweight had a risk of coronary disease 80 percent higher than their lean counterparts. And those who were 30 percent or more overweight were over 300 percent more likely to get it. Put in a more positive way, losing even a little weight may significantly improve your health and well-being. So even if you’re only interested in losing ten or twenty pounds to look better, you’ll also benefit in many other ways.

Overweight people are less likely to be hired for a job. They make less money for a given job than someone who is not overweight. For example, one study found that people are paid an average of $1,000 less in salary for each pound that they are overweight. Also, they are less likely to be promoted to higher paying jobs.