There is no human condition that can be equated to obesity in prevalence, mortality, morbidity, sickness or stigma. Obesity has been on the rise in the United States for a longtime and increased dramatically since 1980. Those afflicted with obesity will struggle with a poor sense of self, yo-yo dieting, and hopelessness.

The key is to find the motivation to change your lifestyle in a way that works for your daily routines and your body. Familiarize yourself with nutritional facts and discover a weight-reduction plan that works for you. It is important to remember that every body is different so what works for somebody else may not be effective for you. Developing a regimen with your healthcare physician is not only important for weight loss, but also for health in general. Obesity is associated with several detrimental diseases and can ultimately lead to death if not remedied immediately.

Binge Eating has been associated with obesity. Food begins to control your life to a point where the act of eating becomes and out of control behavior. By definition, binge eating is characterized as repeatedly consuming large quantities of food in an effort to cope with whatever they are struggling with emotionally. We all binge on occasion, for instance around holiday season, but eating does not interfere with our lives. Binge eaters have an obsession with food often consume thousands of calories in secret. Work, family, and social lives can suffer as a result of the preoccupation. There is a lack of self-control associated with binge eaters and after each binge there are feelings of self-hatred, guilt, depression, and disgust. Obesity is affiliated with binge eating because there is no compensation for the food that is ingested. Anorexics fast, bulimic people purge after a binge and both anorexic and bulimic individuals will often exercise excessively. Compulsive eaters do none of the above, which results in weight gain.

Here, the prevalence of obesity is broken down into different demographics.

	1991	2001
Gender
Male	11.7%	21.0%
Female	12.2%	20.8%
Total	12.0%	20.9%
Age
18-29	7.1%	14.0%
30-39	11.3%	20.5%
40-49	15.8%	24.7%
50-59	16.1%	26.1%
60-69	14.7%	25.3%
>70	11.4%	17.1%
Race
White, non Hispanic	11.3%	19.6%
Black, non Hispanic	19.3%	31.1%
Hispanic	11.6%	23.7%
Other	7.3%	15.7%
Education Level
<High School	16.5%	27.4%
High School	13.3%	23.2%
Some College	10.7%	21.0%
>College	8.0%	15.7%