This Is How Much Money You Can Save By Losing Weight

Small efforts can make a huge difference when putting away money. Opting out of that expensive morning cup of coffee, packing your own lunch, and not using dollar bills as kindling for campfires rank among the best day-by-day habits (starting to incorporate these habits of good money-savers into your daily life is a good start too) that can save you the big bucks over time. But according to Men’s Health, there might be one you’re missing out on, one that could also help your health in the long run.

New research from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health points to weight loss as one of the best boons to your financial health. The study, recently published in Obesity, used a computational simulation model to analyze the different financial and health costs that someone will pay at age 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80, in three different BMI groups (obese, overweight, and normal weight).

The benefits to dropping some pounds remained steady for the bulk of the study, starting at age 20 with a savings of $17,655 for 20-year-old who went from being obese to overweight and $28,020 for a 20-year-old who went from being obese to normal weight.  The average savings are based off of projected medical costs and productivity losses incurred by excessive weight. (Did you know that 90 percent of American men have this dangerous weight condition?)

“Over half the costs of being overweight can be from productivity losses, mainly due to missed work days, says Bruce Y. Lee, the executive director of the Global Obesity Prevention Center at the Bloomberg School, “This means that just focusing on medical costs misses a big part of the picture, though they’re a consideration, too.”

The savings start to taper off after age 50, when adults only see notable financial savings when they go from being obese to normal weight, but not from overweight to healthy weight. Ready to start you weight loss journey? Here are some proven, fast weight loss tips. 
[Source: Men’s Health]