Obesity is determined by your BMI (body mass index) and most people end up with a rude shock when they take the time to check their BMI. I would strongly suggest some of you take the time to look up you BMI before posting, because most of you are fatter than you think. (if you are 5'2" and weigh over 130lbs then you are overweight and if you weigh more than 165lbs you are obese) Look up any BMI calculator online and plug in your weight and height and it will tell you your rating. Overweight is a BMI of over 18 for men and over 25 for women. For men anything over 25 is considered obese and for women it's anything over 30

Most of your facts are correct, but you may want to check a few things in terms of BMI: BMI isn't the best tool for determining obesity. The waist to hip ratio is much better. BMI doesn't work for everyone; the very short, the very tall, the pregnant, bodybuilders, and those with malformations or amputations, can not use this system. 18 is considered underweight for both males and females (NOT overweight in males). A BMI of 25 or higher is considered overweight for both; a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese for both. The issue with this lies in the fact that male bodies have a different makeup than female bodies - females have a higher fat content, therefore they may very well be overweight and have excess fat, even though their BMI says they're not overweight. Source: I took a nutrition class as an elective last semester.

You need to re-examine your notes because a lot of your info is incorrect and/or incomplete.

I was looking through them as I typed them. I wrote down exactly what my nutrition teacher taught; I did well on all the tests. Google it, even. I'm sure you'll find that I'm certainly not wrong.

I Googled - you're wrong. Waist to hip ratio is a tool to determine risk factors not to determine overall healthy and unhealthy weight for a person and as a tool it utterly fails to take into consideration natural body shape, height, race etc. Wikipedia: The WHR has been used as an indicator or measure of the health of a person, and the risk of developing serious health conditions. Research shows that people with "apple-shaped" bodies (with more weight around the waist) face more health risks than those with "pear-shaped" bodies who carry more weight around the hips. Your teacher was clearly working from outdated information and you should have taken the time to Google before quoting misinformation as gospel. Just because you did well at remembering what she taught you does not mean that she knew what she was doing when she taught it to you . As for the BMI - It varies by culture and racial group and I turns out I was looking at the charts for Asian people lol

That's part of my point. Bigger midsection = more problems later in life. Thank you for confirming and reinforcing my statement. Though, you shouldn't trust Wikipedia as "gospel" either. Just saying... My teacher was working from the most recent textbook (it had been revised since the previous year's) with the most up-to-date information. I believe the publication date was 2009; it was certainly no earlier and may have even been published in 2010. I took the course in May, so there was publication time. Since the book was so new, why would I have googled accurate, up-to-date information? It's possible wherever your from has different standards than where I'm from. I'm simply saying in general, what I said is true. I assume the information I was going by for BMI was for Caucasians. I could be wrong; it wasn't specified to me who it was for. "Although BMI is a more accurate way of determining obesity, waist/hip ratio is still the best tool for assessing abdominal obesity. ..." You're partly right, then; BMI may be more accurate for determining overall obesity, but it certainly can't be used on everyone and therefore, there must be a better method to determining obesity that covers a wider range of people. The method I suggested was better is good for determining abdominal fat obesity. My mistake. It's possible the "body fat scale" works better than either of these.

"BMI isn't the best tool for determining obesity." ""Although BMI is a more accurate way of determining obesity," Both of your statements from earlier - so no, you do not know what you are talking about. A grossly obese person can have a very good WHR if their body fat is distributed evenly enough. Waist to hip measures RISK FACTORS and even underweight people can have abnormal waist to hip ratios - because WHR measures HEALTH RISK FACTORS and is not a tool for determining obesity in and of itself. All of your exceptions - very tall, very short, pregnant, body builders etc also apply when using waist to hip as a tool so your argument falls apart there as well. Abdominal obesity is a reference to where a person carries their excess fat and is not an indication of actual obesity. It is also EXTREMELY unreliable because people who have poorly toned stomach muscles, or distended stomachs (eg. postpartum, alcoholics) for any reason will always measure high in this test. WHR should only be used AFTER an indication of obesity is determined by other forms of testing which usually includes a BMI. So yes.. you are WRONG and you need to stop before someone makes the mistake of thinking that a good WHR score means they can ignore serious weight problems (both under weight and overweight) and other health risks associated with morbid obesity.

Right. It's more accurate, yet not the best tool to use overall. Please read and interpret correctly. A grossly obese person will have large amounts of fat ALL over the body; an overweight person may only have a large waist and a relatively small (or small in comparison) hip/ass circumference. While it's true those who are obese with an hourglass shape will still have a smaller waist, this does not mean they are healthy. It's true that they may have a good WHR depending on fat distribution, but this is where BMI comes in; they're very clearly over where they should be if they're that obese. I'm sure you've been told that BMI should not be used as the only indicator; the same goes for WHR. It depends on just how underweight the person is. My immediate thought when I think of "underweight" is someone who has little fat on their body; a 5'4" person with a weight of 100 pounds, for example is considered underweight. They may also have little muscle mass while having a decent amount of fat (i.e. "skinny fat"). Once again, these two should be used in complement. My exceptions (namely, very tall, very short) can still use the WHR. Height does not factor in, therefore results aren't as heavily skewed as with using BMI. Abdominal obesity doesn't ALWAYS mean the person is obese, though they commonly ARE obese. Abdominal obesity usually signifies an unhealthy weight, therefore they would more than likely be overweight. Of course, as with everything, there are exceptions. You're wrong in your mentioning of alcoholics - they tend to have a larger midsection because they eat more while intoxicated. This is still ingesting excess calories, therefore waist size is still relevant. I'm wrong yet I've found loopholes in all your arguments...? How does that work... Sorry, I'm going to stick with what google and my textbook is telling me. No one should be relying on what either of us is spouting out; a doctor should tell them about their weight issues and treatment, not us. Please refer to the part where I said both should be used TOGETHER in order to more accurately determine obesity. Finally, do you remember reading the part about the fat scale? I'm done repeating myself unless you make more of a fool of yourself.

You are wrong and repeating the things I have said while babbling a stream of bullshit does not constitute finding a loophole. Anyway... you're too stupid to learn so I'll just leave it at that.

No. I agreed with a few things you said, not all. I also proved MY points that I threw out there, as well as added a few new points that neither of us had previously mentioned. I'm sorry you're too moronic to realize this; please look into comprehending the English language.

not exactly. no. I don't necessarily think skinny is good, your average weight for your height is healthy. obesity is a manifestation of laziness. I'm normal weight for my height but there was a time my metabolism was high. it cept me thin. THAT is how we are supposed to be. not obese and unable to live a normal life.