The big picture: Losing just 5 percent of your body weight could help lower your risk for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The science: Obese people who shed 5 percent of their body weight (around 12 pounds) improved their insulin sensitivity, decreased their total body fat, including hard-to-lose abdominal and liver fat, and decreased their blood pressure, according to 2016 research in
Cell Metabolism. Those benefits continued to mount if they went past the 5 percent marker, says Sam Klein, PhD, professor of medicine and nutritional science at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
What it means for you: This study was done on obese people, and results for non-obese people may be less dramatic. Still, you'll likely see some improvement in important health markers like abdominal fat and insulin sensitivity from a 5 percent weight loss.
