Weight gain halts breast cancer survival
Sometimes incentives are all it takes to motivate the masses to lose weight. For the masses of breast cancer survivors out there, here's an incentive: New research indicates that for every 11 pounds a woman gains following her diagnosis, the chances of the disease proving fatal rise 14 percent. While I didn't previously know these precise numbers, I was aware of the fact that carrying extra weight hurts chances of breast cancer survival. This is, in large part, why I've been tweaking my diet and exercise practices over the past seven months. I'd gained 10 pounds throughout my own treatment. Now I've lost 15. In light of this new finding, I'm certainly relieved I'm not going in the other direction.
This new study -- paid for by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation -- is not completely definitive at this point, but it does supply strong evidence that controlling weight gain may be especially important after breast cancer. For women considered obese, researchers found the death risk to be more than twice that of women with a normal weight. Pretty compelling, I think.
The sad reality of breast cancer treatment is that it often causes women, like me, to gain weight. And while this may not be preventable throughout the treatment phase, it's critical that survivors get back on track as soon as possible so they can keep from gaining weight over the long term. This is exactly what I'm trying to do.
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