Questions and Answers about Weight Loss

Q: How many Americans are overweight?
A: 34% of US adults are considered overweight. An additional 31% of US adults are considered obese.

Q: How do doctors define overweight versus obesity?
A: Anyone with a Body Mass Index (a ratio between your height and weight) of 25 or above -- that's someone, for example, who is 5-foot-4 and 145 pounds -- is considered overweight, according to the National Institutes of Health. Anyone with a body mass index of 30 or above -- such as someone who is 5-foot-6 and 186 pounds -- is considered obese.

Q: How many deaths are attributed to obesity each year?
A: Three hundred thousand people die each year due to obesity-related causes, making it the second-leading cause of death after smoking. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some cancers.

Q: Are youth affected by the weight control epidemic?
A: Fifteen percent of youth ages 6 to 19 and 10 percent of children 2 through 5 are considered seriously overweight.

Q: How much do we spend on obesity?
A: Americans spend more than $33 billion a year on weight-loss products and services. However, the economic cost of obesity in the United States was about $117 billion in 2000.