A morbid obese person is someone who is suffering health effects because of his or her weight. Or it can be someone who isn’t yet suffering the effects of it but will in the future if they don’t reduce their weight. A morbid obese person has extra weight that could very well contribute to his or her death.
You can determine whether you’re morbidly obese by looking at a few different factors. First, just take a moment to notice how your body feels. Look in the mirror. Think about the way people treat you and react to you. You know it if you’re overweight by more than just a few pounds. That doesn’t mean you’re morbid obese, though.
Chances are you’re not morbidly obese unless you’re more than 100 pounds overweight. You can be obese, being 60-99 pounds overweight, for instance, without being considered morbidly obese. And if you’re 10 to 50 pounds overweight, you may just be considered overweight and not obese at all.
Another way to measure your obesity is through the body mass index. If your BMI number is over 40, you’re morbidly obese. If you’re 100 pounds or more overweight, your BMI should automatically be 40 of above.
If your BMI number if 35-39 but you’re having health effects directly related to your size, then you can also be considered very obese. Some of the health effects you might be experiencing are things like high blood pressure.
Sometimes you can be overweight even just a little bit and it can make your blood pressure rise. But if you’re obese, your blood pressure can rise dangerously high, causing damage while you don’t even know it.
Being that overweight can also cause diabetes. At first you might just have high blood sugar and be considered “borderline.” A doctor may give you a diet to follow and prescribe pills. You’ll probably get a special device and test strips so you can test your blood regularly.
If you have these problems even with a BMI of 35, then you would be classified by the doctors as morbidly obese.
If you’re heavy, probably close to 100 pounds overweight, and you’ve tried in the past to lose weight unsuccessfully you may be classified as morbid obese. The inability to reach a healthy weight and maintain it is a hallmark of morbid obesity.
The reasons doctors use this classification is that morbid obesity is a good reason to have weight loss surgery. While it’s always preferable to lose the weight naturally through good diet and exercise, sometimes that doesn’t happen.
When a person is very heavy and hasn’t been able to lose the weight on his own, surgery is an option. If health problems are already showing up, and the person hasn’t been able to lose weight, there’s little doubt that the pattern will continue and things will only get worse.
Some morbid obese people need weight loss surgery to prevent an early death, and help them overcome high blood pressure and other diseases for good.
