Weight Loss

Weight loss is a reduction in total body mass through loss of fluid, body fat, or lean tissue, and can be intentional or unintentional. Intentional weight loss, pursued through diet and exercise, is the primary treatment for obesity and can help prevent progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes, and even modest loss has measurable benefits, with each kilogram lost associated with roughly a one millimeter of mercury drop in blood pressure. Unintentional weight loss, by contrast, is a warning sign of underlying disease: losing at least ten percent of body weight in six months, or five percent in a single month, without dieting or increased exercise, is considered clinically significant, and when it is not explained by reduced eating or activity it is termed cachexia, a pattern associated with cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, HIV/AIDS, gastrointestinal disease, and heart failure.