What is Obesity?

Obesity is a growing problem in the United States and in many other countries. Obesity is not only a personal problem but it affects those that are around us, especially our families. Obesity affects the way people live their lives. It affects child development. It affects our personality and overall health. Obesity is a problem for many families in America and is something that needs to change.

· About one-third of U.S. adults (33%) are obese.

· Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents that have obesity has almost tripled since 1980

Obesity is defined as having a high body fat. Obesity is considered to be more then 20% over healthy body weight. This percentage is based on body mass index (BMI). BMI is a ration of weight to height connected with body fat.

· A BMI over the 85th percentile for a child is considered overweight

· Obesity for a child is a BMI over the 95^thth percentile (Beck, 2010).

· An adult who has a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight

· An adult who has a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese (Overweight and obesity, 2010)

Our country has been trying to lower our obesity rate for the past few years but unfortunately “No state has met the nation's Healthy People 2010 goal to lower obesity prevalence to 15%. The number of states with an obesity prevalence of 30% or more has increased to 12 states in 2010” (Overweight and obesity, 2010).

This map shows the percentage of obesity in the U.S. in 2010 by state.