Do You Have to be Over Weight to be Morbidly Obese?
The first and probably most important step when faced with weight problems is understanding the definition of morbid obesity. Obviously the reason for this is how can you deal with it if you really do not know what you a dealing with. With the diversity of people it can be a challenge to develop a meaningful definition of morbid obesity. Applying a general definition to a specific situation can be as bad as having no definition at all.
One of the best ways to get a feel for the definition of morbid obesity and if it applies to you or a loved one is to realize that it probably involves a wide variety of subjective variables such as age, eating habits and exercise habits.
Do You Fit into the Definition of Morbid Obesity ?
Although it is not a very pretty term it is critically important to know if you fall into the definition of morbid obesity. According to the National Institute of Health, the definition of morbid obesity is a person who weighs 20 percent or more than their ideal body weight.
With the ever increasing number of people that meet the definition of morbid obesity by the NIH how it is defined is more important than ever. If we do not change the path we are on our children’s generation is going to be even more obese.
However, it does not necessarily mean you are morbidly obese just because you meet the requirement of the NIH definition. A person in a wheelchair could be way below this criterion yet be morbidly obese while a football player may be way over yet not be obese for example. It is not enough to just use the NIH definition of morbid obesity even though it is a good general indicator.
Let’s look at some criteria that might better be used to help with the morbid obesity :
1) If your weight is causing health problems then you may be at or dangerously close to morbid obesity . If this is the situation getting your weight down is something you must start right away. You can try any one of the many different and very successful weight loss programs out there to shed those excess pounds. It may take you a bit of trial and error, but you can get there and achieve a healthy weight.
The most important thing is that you find a way to lose the weight in such a way that you will be able to keep off for a long time. Most of those short term diet programs may help get weight off quick but they usually don’t help keep it off and in fact many folks will end up gaining more pounds back in the end.
2) Are you doing enough exercise? Excess calories consumed should determine the amount of exercise done each day to burn them off. For this reason the definition of morbid obesity should include the level of exercise you maintain over a period of time. Our increasingly inactive lifestyle makes this a crucial element in determining obesity.
3) When defining obesity it seems that mental or psychological factors must also be part of the definition of morbid obesity . Our mental condition affects the way we look at ourselves and our corresponding behavior. If we are not healthy mentally we probably won’t be healthy physically.
To sum up, if any of these three simple criteria applies to a person then there is a reasonable possibility that person would fit the definition of morbid obesity . Morbid obesity is not something to be taken lightly and action is mandatory or the results could be fatal. As we have developed this definition of morbid obesity it mandates an understanding of the definition in order to accomplish the necessary lifestyle changes every individual faced with morbid obesity must make.
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