Relevant articles, statistics, and links...

Topic:  Post information about your health goal such as statistics about diabetes or links to articles about the benefits of running.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/health/14obese.html
-This article doesn't pertain to weight loss in particular, but I found it VERY interesting.... the CDC has released that the national obesity rates have hit a plateau... remaining steady for men for about 5 years, and closer to 10 years for women and children.  However, of course these numbers have leveled out at a very high percentage as most of us know.... 34% of adults are obese, and 17% of children are considered obese. This information is controversial in that some believe that this news means we have halted the obesity epidemic, while others believe this is nothing to be proud of until the numbers begin to fall... what's your take on it?

http://www.webmd.com/diet/tc/obesity-health-benefits-of-weight-loss
-Quick bullets of the benefits of weight loss... of note, even modest weight loss between 4.4 lbs to 9.7 lbs was enough to significantly lower blood pressure.

Santanasto, A.J., Glynn, N.W., Newmann, M.A., Taylor, C.A., Brooks, M.M., Goodpaster, B.H., et al. (2011). Impact of Weight Loss on Physical Function with Changes in Strength, Muscle Mass, and Muscle Fat Infiltration in Overweight to Moderately Obese Older Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Journal of Obesity, Volume 2011, Article ID 516576. doi: 10.1155/2011/516576
-Bottom line of this RCT: the physical activity + weight loss group (PA + WL) showed additional improvements in function over exercise alone or physical activity + successful aging health education (PA + SA) primarily due to loss of body fat.

http://weightloss.about.com/library/blhealthbenefits.htm
-Even losing just 10% of your body weight can make a huge difference in things like lowering cholesterol and BP, improving mobility and breathing, improving sleep, etc.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/101/nutrition-basics/health-benefits-of-weight-loss.aspx
-Similar article as above, that goes over the basic benefits of being at a healthy weight... how even losing just 10% of your body weight can have positive effects.

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/index.html
-Direct from the CDC website... information on assessing your weight, balancing calories, and healthy weight loss (via physical activity and nutrition) which helps you keep it off... also you'll find tips and guidelines on healthy eating and physical activity.

http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/
-From the Weight-Control Information Network, definitions of obesity and overweight, along with statistics and economic costs of these...

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/obesity.html
-A collection of very relevant articles from MedlinePlus in the categories of latest news, treatment, research, organizations, statistics... to just name a few. 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_110655.html
-An article I found off the above MedlinePlus site called: "Babies Born to Obese Moms face Higher Death Risk: Study"... straight from the article:
"Babies born to mothers who were obese in early pregnancy have a much greater risk of dying before, during, or up to one year after birth, a new British study says."
They recommend women reaching a healthy weight before becoming pregnant. Not that I'm planning to get pregnant any time soon... but definitely good to keep in the back of my mind as it may come in the future.