In 2008, the American Medical Association recognized obesity as a disease, stating that "Recognizing obesity as a disease will help change the way the medical community approaches this disease." complex problem that affects around one in three people. Americans,” said Patrice Harris, MD, AMA board member. While this may be true, is this a justifiable reason to classify obesity, the result of unhealthy decisions, as a disease? The fact is that obesity is the consequence of an unhealthy lifestyle. It is true that the unhealthy lifestyle may not be chosen on purpose, but “the choices we make by accident are just as important as the choices we make by design” – Anonymous. Therefore, if obesity is a consequence of choice, then I believe that obesity itself must be a choice and not a disease. To continue, obesity occurs when a person regularly consumes more calories than necessary. Calorie intake is the amount of energy you get from food. After reading this, it may seem strange that excess calories can lead to obesity. If calories are just energy, shouldn't eating a lot of them lead to excess energy, not obesity? What may come as a surprise is that obesity is an excess of energy, of course potential energy. The body stores potential energy by converting it into fat. To fight obesity, you simply need to choose healthy, lower-calorie foods. Instead of eating the steak, have the salmon. Instead of eating at McDonalds, make your own sandwich. This brings up another factor: fast food restaurants, such as McDonald's, are the main reasons for people's unhealthy choices. Sure, McDonalds has some choices that seem healthy, like their Premium Southwest Salad with Crispy Chicken, but don't be fooled. This salad contains thirty t...... middle of paper ...... sity is a condition and yes it prevents the body from functioning properly but using this criterion to classify something as a disease would require the classification of several other things like illnesses. Let's take into account smoking, smoking is a condition and it causes lung cancer which prevents the body from functioning normally but is smoking a disease? No, it is the cause and any dysfunction of the body is the effects and the effects are the real diseases. The same thinking should be applied to obesity, because obesity is not a disease, but a biological consequence of unhealthy decisions. To summarize, obesity is the result of poor diet, lack of exercise and nothing else. The problem with these factors that lead to obesity is that they are all choices. The question is therefore not whether obesity is a disease, but rather what to choose.?