Being overweight significantly increases the amount of pressure on your joints.  Extra weight can cause arthritis to progress quickly and be more painful.  While losing weight cannot reverse damage that has already occurred, it can decrease the amount of pain and keep further damage from happening.  A recent study found that knee osteoarthritis in obese women would decrease by 31% if they brought their weight down.  For overweight men, the data declared that it would decrease by 21.5%.  A great place to start with a weight loss plan would be to cut out trans fats, avoid partially hydrogenated oils, and reduce consumption of saturated fats.  These have been dubbed as instigators of inflammation and weight gain because the body has a difficult time breaking them down.