What is Obesity?

Obesity is a condition in which the natural energy reserve, stored in the fatty tissue of humans and other mammals, is increased to a point where it is associated with certain health conditions or increased mortality.

Obesity is both an individual clinical condition and is increasingly viewed as a serious public health problem. Excessive body weight has been shown to predispose to various diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus type 2, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis.

In fact most obese people have experienced negative thoughts about their body image, and many take drastic steps to try to change their shape, including dieting, the use of diet pills, and even surgery.

Obesity, especially central obesity (male-type or waist-predominant obesity), is an important risk factor for the "metabolic syndrome" ("syndrome X"), the clustering of a number of diseases and risk factors that heavily predispose for cardiovascular disease. These are diabetes mellitus type 2, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and triglyceride levels (combined hyperlipidemia).

BMI, or Body Mass Index, is a simple and widely used method for estimating body fat.

The current definitions commonly in use establish the following values,

A BMI of 18.5 - 24.9 is normal weight

A BMI of 25.0 - 29.9 is overweight

A BMI of 30.0 - 39.9 is obese

A BMI of 40.0 or higher is severely (or morbidly) obese

A BMI of 35.0 or higher in the presence of at least one other significant comorbidity is also classified by some schools of thought as morbid obesity.

After calculating your BMI, if you find yourself obese then visit us at The Obesity Surgery Institute in Mumbai, India and obtain personalized consultation for Obesity treatment and surgery.