The CDC defines overweight and obesity as labels for ranges of weight that are greater than what is generally considered healthy for a given height.

• Know your child's BMI (Body Mass Index). This number will help you understand whether he or she is at risk for certain obesity health problems.
• BMI is a useful tool that shows only one indication of how healthy your child may be.
• BMI is not a diagnostic tool and should be used in combination with your child's doctor to perform further assessments.
• However, we are finding that many parents fail to recognize when their child is obese.

• According to the CDC, overweight and obesity ranges are determined by using weight and height to calculate a number called the "body mass index" (BMI). BMI is used because, for most people, it estimates the amount of body fat.
• BMI ranges for children and teens are defined so that they take into account normal differences in body fat between boys and girls and differences in body fat at various ages, according to the CDC.
• Determine your child's BMI with this tool.
• A child with a low or high BMI can be at risk for a number of diseases and health conditions.

• Everyone knows that we should eat better and exercise. Childhood obesity is a crisis because nearly 40% of children in the state are overweight or obese.
• It's a health crisis because obese children are at risk for developing heart disease, hypertension, liver and kidney disease and type 2 diabetes

• Nearly 1 million kids in Georgia are overweight or obese.
• The state of Georgia has the second worst rate of childhood obesity in the United States, falling just behind Mississippi.
• 75% of parents in Georgia who have overweight or obese children do not recognize the problem.
• We want to be the first southern state to fix the problem.

• Childhood obesity threatens the health of our kids, strains family relationships and costs our state a lot of money. Georgia's obesity costs are estimated to be $2.4 billion per year due to the rise in this epidemic.
• If you have a child and his or her health is at risk, you should consult his or her healthcare provider and ask for help.