The Definition of Obesity Is not Set in Stone

When you see an obese person, you will know that they are obese, but the definition of obese differs for certain purposes.

The basic dictionary definition of obesity explains that it describes someone who is overweight. There are further explanations in other dictionaries that add that the weight has been accumulated because a person has eaten too much fat. There are synonyms included in some definitions of obesity that include words like corpulent or fleshiness.

There are other definitions of obesity for other purposes.

The Definition of Obesity Depends on the Context

Some experts and organizations have more complicated definitions of obesity. These definitions of obesity could go on for pages and some are used for very specific reasons. Some medical professionals accept certain definitions, and then these people base some of their medical prescriptions on the definition of obesity. Other medical experts respect these experts and use their definitions of obesity as a starting point for treatment.

Many of the experts agree that the definition of obesity depends on the lifestyle of the patient. The patients often end up obese because they eat too much food and do not exercise enough to burn off the excess calories.

Some organizations provide tables of heights and weights and show the desirable combination of those two factors. There is a relatively new figure that is called body mass index (BMI). There is a calculation provided to figure the BMI and this is cross-referenced with a definition of the status of the desirable outcomes. The definition of obesity is often a term used in these tables. These guidelines are used to inform people and medical professionals about acceptable weights for people. Obesity is a condition that is not beneficial to any human being. These definitions and statistics should help people decide on healthy goals for their weight.

There is now a surgical procedure that staples or bands the patient’s stomach so they cannot eat too much. The surgeons that do this operation often demand that the person is morbidly obese before they will perform these procedures. The surgeons often think that this procedure is somewhat risky so only those with great problems with their weight should risk this surgery. The definition for morbidly obese for the purposes of this surgery is usually one hundred pounds over weight. Many of the people that undergo this surgery are more than one hundred pounds overweight.