Having overweight or obesity is linked with an increased risk of developing certain diseases like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and certain cancers. But take heart from the silver lining in this cloud: The heavier you weigh, the faster you burn calories.
Estimating Calorie Burn
The American Council on Exercise lists a number of activities according to how many calories they burn per minute, depending on your body weight. A 20-lb. weight difference can translate to a more than 10-percent increase in calories burned for some activities. For example, if you weigh 160 lbs., you'll burn about 10.3 calories per minute swimming the crawl at a moderate pace. However, if you weigh 180 lbs., you'll burn about 11.6 calories per minute.
Video of the Day
Video of the Day
Fat vs. Muscle
Although larger people do burn more calories than smaller people, muscle still burns more calories than fat. If a 200-lb. man with high body fat and a lean, muscular 200-lb. man work out together at the same intensity, the muscular man will burn more calories -- every pound of muscle contributes actively to the calorie burn.