Obese means excessively fat. In medical terms, it means you have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, at which point your body's excess fat begins to threaten your health.
In the last third of the 20th century and into the 21st, increasing numbers of Americans are obese, in what health professionals call "an obesity epidemic"; they attribute it to rising portion-sizes, increased consumption of processed food, the demise of family meals, and food marketing, among other factors.
