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The more weight you carry, the more you crush your feet and the harder it is for your joints to work properly.
Carrying extra body weight greatly increases pressure on the bottom of the feet, flattens the feet, shortens your gait and can lead to your feet angling out more. Since extra weight can stretch out the connective tissues holding bones together, your feet may well widen somewhat with time.
When you walk across level ground, the force on your knees is the equivalent of 1½ times your body weight. That means a 200-pound man will put 300 pounds of pressure on his knees with each step. Extra body weight significantly increases the pressure.
When you climb stairs or walk on an incline, you carry approximately 4-6 times your body weight across the ankle joint. That same 200-pound man, then, depending on incline, will put a minimum of 800 pounds of pressure on the ankle joint.
And extra body weight significantly increases the pressure on knees, hips, ankles and feet.
Various studies have shown that just one pound of weight loss results in four pounds of pressure removed from the knee and six pounds of pressure from the hips. So, what are you weighting for?
