Obesity is an excess proportion of total body fat.
A person is considered obese when his or her weight is 20% or more above normal weight.
The most common measure of obesity is the body mass index or BMI.
A person is considered obese if his or her BMI is over 30.
Within the obese classification, level 1 (high risk) is a BMI of 30-34.9, level II (very high risk) is a BMI of 35-39.9 and level III is a BMI of ≥40 (extremely high risk). For example, a level III 5′10″ male weighs 300 pounds and a 5′4″ female weighs 250 pounds.
