Too often when dieting, we focus on what we’re giving up rather than what we’re (for lack of a better word) gaining. In fact, medical research has shown that we don’t even have to reach our goal weight before our bodies will begin to benefit from the healthy perks that can come about after losing just 7 to 10% of our body weight.

In a compelling writeup on WebMD, Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD reports that best selling author David Katz, MD, MPH, Director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center and the Yale Preventive Medicine Center confirms, “’Lifestyle changes that include healthier diets, regular physical activity, and weight loss of 7%-10% have shown phenomenal health benefits that can be more effective than medications.”

In fact, Katz confirms on WebMD that 90% of all diabetes, 80% of heart disease, and 60% of cancers are preventable with healthier lifestyles and normal body weights.

Researcher Catherine Champagne of the Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center reports to WebMD that “We have seen a consistent pattern in our weight loss studies that when patients lose 5%-10% of their body weight, they lower blood pressure, reduce LDL [AKA “bad”] cholesterol, improve glucose tolerance, and in general, lower the risk for cardiovascular disease.”

Champagne went onto tell WebMD that some doctors have reported that they have successfully taken patients off blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medications after the patients lost small amounts of weight.

Article author Zelman goes onto suggest that we consider how much harder it would be to climb stairs or simply to walk if we were carrying around a backpack filled with 5- or 10-pound bricks. Now imagine how much lighter we would feel without the backpack. That’s the feeling we could get from losing as little as 5 pounds or 10 pounds.

Zelman also recommends that we think in terms of “progress,” rather than “perfection.” This translates to ignoring stricter diets along with the dated notion that I takes “All or nothing” to truly achieve success on a diet.

Zelman also reports that Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, of Northwestern Memorial Hospital Wellness Institute, affirms that “Anyone who actively makes healthy lifestyle changes will begin to see and feel the improvements in 8 to 12 weeks.”

To conclude her insightful article, Zelman includes five simple health tips from Katz that you can read by clicking here.

So next time you start thinking about what you’ve given up (food-wise) or what you’re doing without (treat-wise), focus in on the medical benefits that you’re going to gain by eating healthier and moving more. And, it turns out, you won’t have to necessarily reach your goal weight to start feeling – and enjoying – the perks.