having a BMI of 30 or greater. BMI, or body mass index, is a number that is calculated

by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared. Obesity begins at

a BMI of 30 and 40 or greater is considered actually morbid obesity.

Obesity is an epidemic in our country. Over one third of adults are obese. Another scary

statistic is that greater than 17% of our children and adolescents are obese. This number

is growing each year. Another scary thing is that obesity has actually surpassed smoking

as being the number one cause of preventable death. While this statistic is scary, the

good news is that there is something that you can do about it. Because when you do lose

the weight your risk of premature death decreases drastically.

Something many people don't know is that diet and exercise are very difficult. A lot of

people, while they may lose weight, a lot of them are not able to keep that off. Something

that you should know is that for conventional diet and exercise only about 1% of people

who are morbidly obese, or whose BMI is 40 or greater, only 1% of those people will keep

half of the weight off that they lost after five years.

Obesity carries with it several health risks. 85% of type II diabetics are obese. These

are just statistics of obesity that I think it's important for you to know.