Focusing primarily on weight loss as a fitness goal may not be the best idea

In attempts to lose weight and eat a healthy diet, individuals may be actually gaining weight and decreasing overall health without knowing it, a new study explains.

Experts explain that to achieve the best results, individuals should focus on overall health instead of sheer weight loss for long-term success with a lifestyle change of this type.

With the growing number of individuals who are overweight or obese, many health officials suggest weight loss as the primary goal. However, researchers have found that fat has been extremely over-exaggerated in terms of the health risks that small amounts pose.

Instead of consistently encouraging weight loss, researchers suggest additional efforts be made to inform the public about nutritional food choices and ways to improve overall health instead of focusing mainly on weight loss. Not only does focusing on weight loss often lead to failure, but when the primary goal is to lose weight, a significant negative connotation is carried, also affecting self-esteem.

For this study, researchers analyzed data from more than 200 different studies. The findings are vastly different than most other health and weight loss studies.

Researchers found that weight loss may not prolong life, that diet and exercise may not work for everyone, and that weight loss should be the primary goal for overweight individuals, among other findings.

Additionally, the study found that focusing mainly on weight loss does not produce long-term results.

Experts suggest providing informational material to overweight individuals and to focus more on a long-term health approach instead of just weight loss.