When I had my beloved little R22 beta II my belly was a bit bigger than it is now. (Ironically now that I have lost weight I fly a 44 II).
I recall taking off one day from my garden with 2 fat boys on board when I was faced with a choice - it was either trim the rotor blades on a telegraph pole or exceed the limitation. I chose to exceed the limitation.
A chat with the engineer later on reassured me that all was well.
Both the 22 and 44 have more power available than the red line indicates.
It is there on the rare occasion that you need the extra power to prevent rolling the machine up into a ball.
SB