Your visit to the doctor often includes blood tests, your blood pressure, listening to your heart and lungs, and recording your weight. Doctors and their patients obsess over their A1C, cholesterol, and a whole lot of numbers. Their recommendations often revolve around controlling those numbers to reduce your risk of a health problem, but does that actually make you live healthier and longer? If you are overweight or obese, your doctor has discussed this with you as well and suggested a diet that can make many of the high numbers in your blood screen improve over time while taking needless weight off of your frame. Chiropractors often speak with their patients about weight not only for general health but because many of their patients whose body mechanics are not ideal feel worse with the extra pounds. Also, poor diets full of sugar cause inflammation which can cause systemic damage and heart disease over time. The NY Times recently weighed in with why exercise may be the most important, next to weight loss for less heart disease and premature death than dieting. It is our opinion that it is a combination of both that will ultimately improve your overall health, but exercise may be the most important. Check out the article below Why Exercise Is More Important Than Weight Loss for a Longer Life People typically lower their risks of heart disease and premature death far more by gaining fitness than by dropping weight. By Gretchen Reynolds Sept. 29, 2021 For better health and a longer life span, exercise is more important than weight loss, especially if you are overweight or obese, according to an interesting new review of the relationships between fitness, weight, heart health, and longevity. The study, which analyzed the results of hundreds of previous studies of weight loss and workouts in men and women, found that obese people typically lower their risks of heart disease and premature death far more by gaining fitness than by dropping weight or dieting. The review adds to mounting evidence that most of us can be healthy at any weight, if we are also active enough. I have written frequently in this column about the science of exercise and weight loss, much of which is, frankly, dispiriting, if your goal is to be thinner. This past research overwhelmingly shows that people who start to exercise rarely lose much, if any, weight, unless they also cut back substantially on food intake. Exercise simply burns too few calories, in general, to aid in weight reduction. We also tend to compensate for some portion of the meager caloric outlay from exercise by eating more afterward or moving less or unconsciously dialing back on our bodies’ metabolic operations to reduce overall daily energy expenditure, as I wrote about in last week’s column. Read more