Scary Effect of Weight Loss on Your Brain

Being obese or overweight has numerous effects on the brain. This is because excess fats in the body reduce brain cells, which affects the normal functioning of the brain. This also increases the risks of several brain diseases, such as Alzheimer. Thus you can reduce these risk factors by controlling your weight through healthy eating and physical exercises. If you are obese or overweight and have decided to adopt a healthy lifestyle so as to lose weight, you must know that your brain will also be affected. Studies have shown that weight loss has some scary effects on the brain. But you should not be worried about this effect because it is a positive one.

Effects of weight on your brain

Weight loss improves the health of your brain

This translates into enhanced functioning. Recent studies have also shown that weight loss can reverse the negative effects that extra weight had imposed on the brain. Thus after losing weight, expect the functioning of your brain to return to its original form.

It improves cognitive function of the brain

This means that your attention, organization, and planning will improve after weight loss. The reason for this is because weight loss enhances the anterior cingulate gyrus.
Your memory will also improve because losing weight enhances hippocampus thus reversing damaged memory.

It also prevents your brain from faster aging and risk of dementia

The brains of persons who are overweight and obese looks 8 and 16 years older respectively than those of persons with normal weight. In addition, obese or overweight persons have less brain volume, which is a big risk factor for dementia. Thus weight loss will prevent you from these risks, and you will perform better on cognitive tests.

It will deactivate overeating

Excess weight may activate your brain to crave more fatty and sugary foods, which leads to overeating unhealthy foods such as cakes and cookies. When you lose weight, your brain will be sensitized to the pleasure you get when you eat these foods. It, therefore, means that intake of these foods will significantly reduce (if you will still eat any).

Therefore as you start celebrating your new look after losing weight, know that you have also improved the functioning of your brain by reversing the negative impacts that excess weight had put on the brain. The method you use does not necessarily matter as long as you get rid of those excess fats. You can do so by changing your lifestyle or undergoing surgery.