Your weight directly affects your insurance rates.

Maintaining your ideal weight has a number of benefits. Aside from looking better and feeling better, it will also save you some coin, and I'm not talking about your grocery bill.

If you have applied for life insurance lately you know that a nice person will stop by your house to take your blood pressure and measure how tall you are and how much you weigh.

There's a good reason for the insurance company trying to decide if you are at your ideal weight. Nearly 34% of our population is obese, or has a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or more. The margin of grace is minor, about 10 pounds, but that is not the real problem.

If you have chronic health issues like blood pressure or diabetes you would expect to get dinged on your rates. But insurers have figured out that obesity in crippling this country and destroying the health of many. The problem for us as Americans (and the rest of the world is catching up...) is that we've been super-sizing for so long that we are accepting overweight and obesity as the new normal.

The statistics are sobering: 67% of Americans are overweight or obese. These are Center for Disease Control numbers and an accurate reflection of reality. We are just plain fat. The "Ideal Weight" for a 6' man is around 195lbs. If you are of the fairer sex and are 5'5", you need to tip the scales at 170lbs.Have you been on the scale lately?

Rates go up dramatically if you are over your "Ideal Weight" and you may not be insurable at all.

Insurance companies know that obesity does not exist in a vacuum; they can lead to other serious health conditions, which is why it affects your life insurance rates. According to the CDC, being overweight or obese increases your risk of the following conditions:

• Cancer

• Coronary heart disease

• Dyslipidemia (such as high cholesterol)

• Gallbladder disease

• Gynecological problems (such as infertility)

• Hypertension (high blood pressure)

• Liver disease

• Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)

• Sleep apnea and respiratory problems

• Some cancers (such as endometrial, breast and colon)

• Stroke

• Type 2 diabetes

A "healthy" BMI is between 20-25. Life insurers all have their own underwriting guidelines, but generally speaking, you can get the best life insurance rates (often called Preferred Plus) even if your BMI is up to 26 to 28.

As soon as you slide past the ideal weight you rates go up. Once past a BMI of 35, you are really in a bad place rate-wise, if you can be insured at all.

Many have convinced themselves that they are not in that bad of shape because they are looking at what's going on around them, co-workers and friends, but they are comparing themselves with a control group that has almost 2/3rd overweight or obese. The only way to know for sure is to get a body composition analysis. If you are not where you want to be, it's time for a personal wellness coach to help you make the corrections necessary.

Being at your ideal weight can have a substantial effect on your life insurance rates as well as your overall quality of life.