What Is Obesity?

Obesity Facts and Not Fiction

According to the World Health Organization obesity has now reached epidemic proportions in many Western countries but just what is obesity and why is it such a problem?

Obesity Definition

In simple terms the definition of obesity is that it is a condition in which your weight rises to the point at which it places an undue strain upon the resources of the body and thus increases your risk from a number of diseases and other health problems.

Obesity in America

In the United States, which has one of the highest rates of obesity of any country in the world, a staggering 127 million adults are now overweight and no fewer than 72 million adults are classed as being obese. As if this were not bad enough, 9 million American adults are classified as being severely, or morbidly, obese.

To put these figures into perspective 66% of the population are overweight, 34% are obese and 5% are severely obese.

If the human body receives more calories than it needs then it simply converts the excess calories into fat and stores that fat for use at a later date if needed. However, if this stored energy reserve is not needed and the body continues to receive more calories than it needs, then it simply goes on building up its fat reserve and weight continues to increase.

At first this excess weight has little effect of the body and being slightly overweight will do you little if any harm. Indeed there is an argument that being slightly overweight may actually be helpful in the elderly.

However, once your weight rises above a certain level, the excess fat in the body begins to put the body under strain and health problems start to develop.

The problems created by excessive weight once you reach the point at which you are considered to be obese, rather than simply overweight, are many and varied but commonly include such things as:

• Coronary heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes
• Cancers (particularly breast, colon and endometrial cancers)
• High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
• Stroke
• Liver and Gallbladder disease
• Sleep apnea and other respiratory problems
• Osteoarthritis

But at what point does being overweight become a case of being obese?

The point at which you are classed as being obese needs to be assessed by your doctor in a clinical setting however, as a general guide, a measure known as Body Mass Index, or BMI, is commonly used.

How to calculate BMI

BMI is calculated as a ratio between your weight and height and a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered to be the normal weight range. A reading of 25.0 to 29.9 indicates that you are overweight and, once your reading reaches 30.0 you are classed as being obese. Severe, or morbid, obesity is indicated by a BMI of 40.0 or higher.

Calculating BMI is simple and the BMI calculator below will answer the question "What is my BMI?"

You should note that while this calculator is fine for calculating BMI in adults and determining adult obesity it should not be used for children. Please see our article on Determining Obesity in Children for information about how to calculate BMI for children, adolescents and teenagers.

In this section of the website we examine the facts about obesity through a collection of articles which are constantly updated as new information is received.

Please take a moment to view the index of currently available obesity articles.