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The Facts About Obesity

What are the true facts about obesity? Well, first off, what is the definition of obesity?

A person has traditionally been considered to be obese if they are more than 20 percent over their ideal weight. That ideal weight must take into account the person's height, age, sex, and build.
Obesity has been more precisely defined by the National Institutes of Health (the NIH) as a BMI of 30 and above. (A BMI of 30 is about 30 pounds overweight.)

For children, this is more difficult still, as they are constantly growing upward. However, our concern is that they are also growing outward. The problem today is that the outward growth is not proportional to the upward growth.

We can't really go over the facts about obesity, without also covering the obesity statistics (in the US at least).
Does fast food cause obesity? Click here to find out.

For starters, let's cover just the general obesity statistics. How does this sound to you?

58 Million Overweight; 40 Million Obese; 3 Million morbidly Obese
Eight out of 10 over 25's Overweight
78% of American's not meeting basic activity level recommendations
25% completely Sedentary
76% increase in Type II diabetes in adults 30-40 yrs old since 1990
Obesity rates doubled from 1980-2000!
Almost 61% of children ages 5-10 who are overweight have at least one marker for heart disease

If you want to read more about what the CDC has to say on the facts about obesity, Download this article

Things don't look so bright, do they?

If you want to know what the facts about obesity for children, then click here. We really hope that you are understanding what the problem is with being obese.

However, if the facts about obesity aren't enough to scare you, go check out the effects of being obese.

Financial Facts

As if the facts on obesity weren't bad enough from a health standpoint, chew on this:

States, as well as the federal government could be Bankrupted by health care costs attributed to obesity!
The lap-band surgery can cost as much as $30,000 to help people lose weight
The cost of getting a gastric bypass surgery can cost as much as $25,000
The average person spends $6000 per year on food and dining. The average obese person is likely to spend almost double that!
Research on obesity shows that almost $93 Billion (yeah, with a B) was spent on health care for overweight people...in 1998 (and it's rising)
Obese people will pay, on average, $395 more per year for health care costs than their normal weight counterparts.
Health care costs for obese and overweight people have surpassed that for smokers and drinkers!

Discouraged?

Don't be. There's plenty of hope to reverse the trends of obesity at large, and specifically, childhood obesity. We want you to have the best chance of winning this fight, so please sign up for our newsletter below. We will focus weekly on the facts about obesity, causes of obesity, obesity prevention, and the effects of obesity.

Another thing to remember is that just because childhood obesity is considered an epidemic, it does not have to be. Nor will it be a permanent problem...as long as we all take action. So please, sign up for the newsletter and stay with us so you too can help combat this pesky situation. Your waistline, and your wallet will be happy you did.