What is morbid obesity?
Morbid obesity is a serious medical condition. If you are morbidly obese, it means that you are severely overweight, usually by at least 100 pounds. It also means that you have excessive amounts of body fat compared to healthy standards.

How do I know if I’m morbidly obese?
A good way to assess your weight is to calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI). Your BMI estimates how much you should weigh based on your height.

Click on the link to calculate your Body Mass Index and access other Health Tools.

http://www.fountainvalleyhospital.com/CWS/Calculators.aspx

Use the chart below to see what category you fall into, and whether you need to be concerned about your weight.

BMI  CATEGORY
Below 18.5 Underweight
18.5-24.9 Normal
25.0-29.9 Overweight
30.0 and Above Obese
Over 40  Morbidly obese

You can also follow these steps to calculate it:

1. Multiply your weight in pounds by 703
2. Divide that answer by your height in inches
3. Divide that answer by your height in inches again

Although your BMI is a simple way to evaluate whether your weight puts you at potential risk for health problems, a lot of other factors may also affect your health. These include:

• General health history
• Level of physical activity
• Diet
• Waist measurement
• Smoking history
• Family health history
• Blood pressure
• Blood sugar
• Blood cholesterol levels

Health Effects of Obesity
Being more than 100 pounds overweight is associated with illnesses that can lead to debility and an early death. Among these — but not limited to these — are the following:

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Type 2 diabetes
• Heart disease
• Angina
• Congestive heart failure
• Stroke
• Arthritis
• Asthma and obstructive sleep apnea
• Back pain
• Pregnancy complications, including diabetes, high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia and c-section delivery
• Menstrual irregularity and infertility in women
• Bladder problems
• Gallstones
• Liver disease
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Gout
• Poor heat tolerance
• Complications and infections after surgery
• Skin infections
• Depression and eating disorders
• Endometrial, breast, prostate, kidney, esophageal and colon cancers
• Premature death

Social Effects of Obesity
Besides major illnesses there are many social problems that the obese patient must face. These include:

• Limited choice of clothing sizes
• Limited physical (including sexual) activity. Many patients refuse to go out to parks, beaches or meeting places
• Limited choice of seat size. Many patients refuse to fly they don’t fit into a seat
• Limited choice of occupations
• Open ridicule in public by children and by insensitive adults