Everyone knows that carrying a few too many pounds can be bad for your health, with more than 112,000 Americans dying each year from obesity-related problems.
However, not so many people stop to think about the effect that their weight has on their wealth, but when all factors are taken into account, the overall impact is considerable.
Setting aside the higher grocery bill that anyone eating calorific or excessive amounts of food must fork out for, there are a number of other additional expenses that those with a more streamlined physique do not have to face.
Individuals caught in a yo-yo cycle of dieting often attempt a number of different methods to trim down and pay out for diet pills as well as alternative methods such as patches, hypnotherapy or in extreme cases, even surgery.
Needless to say, these costs can quickly eat into money that has been set aside for a rainy day.
Individuals with a particularly large frame may find they also are unable to squeeze into a single airline or cinema seat and have to purchase two tickets in order to fit.
Medical insurance also comes at a much greater cost for those who are obese, with a sliding scale of charges that increase as the BMI goes up.
Some insurers will refuse to provide any coverage for individuals who are morbidly obese, who rather ironically, are the very people that need the insurance the most as the probability of falling ill is much greater.
Another strategy some health care providers adopt is to exclude pre-existing conditions, meaning that anyone whose weight was at the wrong end of the scales when joining up could find themselves having to pay for their own bills if weight played a factor in the illness.
If you are overweight, it is therefore more important than ever to keep a reasonably sized financial buffer in the bank and to make the most of your money it is recommended that you look around the market to see where you could find the best rates.
Comparison websites can help take the pain out of researching; checking out savings at moneysupermarket would be a good place to start.
Even more worrying for those with a larger physique are the results of recent academic studies in to the impact that being overweight has on earning power.
Research conducted by both Cornell University and Ohio University demonstrated that wealth and weight were irrevocably connected, with heavier individuals lighter in the bank than their more slimline colleagues.
Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics used in the Ohio publication showed that for every increase of 1 point in the BMI ratio, the net worth of the person dropped by $1000.
In the other piece of research carried out by John H. Cawley at Cornell, salary was found to go down as weight went up. Women who were 64 pounds heavier than the average had a wage that was 9% lower – a significant drop.
Whilst no-one can irrevocably prove that the drop in value is due to weight, other studies have reproduced the same results, leaving only one conclusion; that being obese is as bad for your wealth as it is for your health.