Obesity is generally defined as being 20 percent or more above your ideal weight – a point at which excess weight becomes a health risk. Obesity becomes “morbid obesity” when it significantly increases the risk of one or more serious disorders (“co-morbidities”) that can result in serious disability or death.

In practical terms, morbid obesity is often defined as being 100 pounds or more overweight. Some 97 million Americans are considered overweight or obese. An estimated 5 to 10 million Americans are considered morbidly obese. The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a tool for defining normal weight, overweight and obesity parameters, calculating body weight divided by height. The resulting calculation correlates fairly well with the fat content in the body. Access our Body Mass Index calculator >>

What Are the Risks of Obesity?

Obesity and overweight substantially increase the risk of death, disability or lowered quality of life from a broad range of illnesses. These include:

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Type 2 diabetes
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Gallbladder disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Sleep apnea
• Respiratory problems
• Reflux disease
• Infertility
• Skin infections
• Endometrial, ovarian, breast, prostate and colon cancer.

Higher body weights are also associated in increases in all-cause mortality. It’s been suggested that obesity is second only to smoking as a preventable cause of death. Some estimates suggest that obesity can increase an individual’s chance of death by 10 times or more.

Relative costs for a morbidly obese individual are estimated to be as much as 1.78 time higher than for a normal-weight person. Medical costs related to obesity now account for 6 to 12 percent of all health care expenditures.