When it comes to eating right and living well we have all heard the same messages time and time again. We know it makes us thinner, we know that it will reduce our risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes and we know that in the long run it will probably help us live longer. Therefore why are some of us just not getting the message?

Maybe, we need a new incentive? Maybe, we have heard the health messages too often and now they don’t register as strongly as they should? Maybe, someone needs to give us a real, palpable, and measurable reason to get healthy and lose those excess pounds? Well here it is:

Losing weight will help you get a better sex life!

Although the links between weight and sex are different for men and women and the research is still in its early days the implications for both genders are huge.

Women, Weight Loss and Sex.

 Shallow though it sounds, for women, the real link between weight and sex is self image. Since we were young magazines, newspapers and television have all been telling us that the only way to be truly desirable is to be thin. Now, you can be fairly certain that if you asked a man what he thinks when he sees a naked woman for the first time it wouldn’t be “she could really do with losing a few pounds”. However, how women see themselves has a huge knock on effect on their desire to have sex.

Desire is the key factor in better sex, the higher your sex drive the more likely you are to really enjoy it. Exercise can help increase your libido so not only can it help you lose weight and therefore improve your self image the increase in libido that you get from exercise will play a major part in improving your sex life.

Losing weight and eating healthy will also help to balance your hormones. Unbalanced hormones have been shown to cause a dip in, or even a complete loss of, sexual desire. By balancing your hormones through being healthier you can redress this balance and help fix your desire.

Finally, and some would same most importantly, losing weight helps allow increased blood flow and the really good news here is that this increases your chances of orgasm and can even increase the intensity. Given that it’s women who can manage multiple orgasms don’t you want them to be as good as possible? Focus on quantity and quality.

How Weight Loss can Affect a Mans Performance.

Although it’s not something you’ll catch many men discussing openly, Erectile Dysfunction (ED) is a much more common problem than is often let on. According to the National Institutes of Health around 5% of 40 year old men may be suffering from some form of ED. There are many causes of ED and since its introduction in 1998 Viagra and other ED drugs such as Levitra have been the saving grace for many men. The relative anonymity in which you can buy these drugs online is appealing to many men, though if you are going to, be sure you buy levitra safely online from a licensed phramacy, however, for many men the answer may actually be to lose some weight.

An Australian study conducted in 2011 and published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found that losing as little as 5-10% of your body weight had a significant effect on ED. The study was only conducted on 31 men so the results are a little limited but during the study there was a clear correlation between the participant’s weight and their performance sexually and even increased their desire.

The theory behind this is that excess fat, and in particular belly fat, reduces the blood flow to the penis because blood vessels are restricted. The lack of blood flow limits a man’s ability to achieve and sustain an erection. The excess fat also creates a dip in testosterone which impacts on sexual desire by reducing it.

Dr Kevin Billups of the University of Minnesota  says that a man can decide for himself if his weight is a contributing factor in his ED by standing up and looking down. If he can’t see his penis, says Dr Billups, then there is a chance that weight is a part of the problem.

Of course if you don’t suffer from ED your weight can still cause problems with sex. While men don’t normally suffer the same insecurities as women, their looks can still impact on their self image and therefore affect their sex life. However, regular exercise and losing some weight can not only improve your looks but also give you the flexibility to give some more adventurous moves a try.

If none of that is an incentive to lose the weight then remember, men tend to carry their weight on their hips and pelvis, losing some of that weight can actually help your penis look bigger! The generally accepted rule of thumb is 50lbs lost=1 inch gained. So maybe it’s time to dump the doughnuts and hit the treadmill.

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Lily writes about sexual health and weight on behalf of a licensed healthcare business. Whilst it can be tempting to take the 'immediate or easy' option and go for medication first she strongly believes taking lifestyle steps can be even more important.