This is a great read.
https://www.rodalewellness.com/health/obesity-manhood
There are libraries full of research showing connections between obesity and your health—heart disease, cancer, diabetes—but one area is commonly overlooked: the bedroom. "Intimacy and sexuality is a question of high importance for tens of millions of Americans who are overweight or obsese and having difficulty in the bedroom," says Sarah Varney, author of
XL Love.
#1. Shrinking Penis
"[Many men reported that] as they gained weight their penises appeared to shrink," says Varney. She learned from Edward Karpman, MD, a California-based urologist, that a shrinking, even disappearing, penis is a real concern for obese men. "This wasn't a matter of rounded bellies getting in the line of sight; the men's penises, when measured, were in fact not as long as they once were."
Don't worry, your penis doesn't actually shrink when you get fat, but it does look like it. Varney explained that this happens because the penis is attached to the back of the abdominal wall, so as23 the belly expands outwards, it "engulfs" a man's penis. "Dr. Karpman explained that for every 50 pounds overweight you are, you lose an inch of penis," she says.
Take a sigh of relief because the reverse is also true: As men lost the weight, their penises returned to their rightful size.
More From Rodale News: 11 Surprising Sperm Killers
#2. Low-T
"The association of low testosterone and obesity in men is well established," says Varney. She explains that belly fat has an enzyme that converts testosterone into estrogen. It's not that obese men aren't producing enough testosterone, it's that what they have is getting converted into estrogen. "Normally, men lose about 1 percent of testosterone a year, but obese men fare far worse; testosterone loss starts earlier in life and occurs more quickly." And one symptom of low-t is
decreased sex drive.
Varney has found that doctors often prescribe testosterone treatments for these obese men as a way of jump-starting the process. Then, as men lose weight, their body begins to naturally increase testosterone production, returning them to normal levels (and normal vitality).
#3. Erectile Dysfunction
"That dip in testosterone also causes a dip somewhere else," says Varney. In her interviews with different doctors, she discovered that obese younger men were coming in with organic causes of erectile dysfunction. And it's not just low-t that effects ED. "Diabetic men are twice as likely to have abnormally low levels of testosterone than men without diabetes," says Varney, "and—perhaps not coincidentally—three times as likely to develop sexual problems as nondiabetic men of similar age." She explains that studies have found that half of diabetic men have moderate or mild ED and one in four had severe ED.
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Losing weight not only gets rid of the testosterone-killing belly fat; it helps strengthen some of the necessary hardware, as well. "Increased physical exercise can also improve the functioning of the cells that line blood vessels and are critical for maintaining an erection," says Varney.
#4. Self-Esteem
"The ob-gyn practices for women always have psychologists on their staffs," says Varney, "You just don't see that as much in men's practices." And this is an issue because there's a big connection between weight, self-esteem, and sex. "The most powerful force is what people feel about themselves," she says.
In writing her book, Varney encountered a man named Eric. "In the way that he avoided mirrors and his own reflection, Eric felt like he was hiding from himself and from his wife. His self-loathing was so great that surely, he imagined, his wife must loathe him, too," Varney explained. With such low self-esteem, Eric lacked the confidence to even approach his wife with the idea of sex. Luckily, with the support of his wife and therapy, Eric has been able to unhitch his sexual confidence from his weight to get back to intimacy.
For more reasons to enjoy sex more, check out these surprising
benefits of sex.