Losing weight can make you look good and feel better, but it can also have unintended positive benefits for your wallet. Really. According to a study from George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, being overweight is taxing, not only on the body, but on the bank account. And that's not a good look.


What do you get if you slim down? According to the study, losing weight lowers medical bills. People who are overweight spend an average of $346 on medical costs per year, and have higher rates of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. All of those diseases are super expensive to treat. Another huge benefit of losing weight? You'll make more money. A 2011 study of youth found that obese women earned an average of 15 percent less than normal weight women, which was confirmed by this most recent study.

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Plus, people who weigh more spend more money on -- wait for it -- fuel. This sounds pretty crazy, but weighing more affects your fuel efficiency, and fuel efficiency improves 2 percent for every 100 pounds you shed from a car. So if an overweight couple who each have around 50 pounds to lose get into a car, they have the potential ability to improve their fuel efficiency by 2 percent. Over time that's quite a lot of fuel.

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So yes, aside from the obvious benefits, taking a hit at the wallet is just another reason to keep at it at the gym. [Business Insider]