Types of Obesity

Type-1 and Type-2 Obesity
Type-1 obesity is not caused by a disease and, in most cases, it is caused by excessive eating habits and lack of exercise. Type-2 obesity accounts for less than 1% of obesity cases and is caused by a disease; abnormal weight gains occur with type-2 obesity even when little is eaten.


Cushing syndrome, hypothyroidism, polycystic ovarian disease, and insulinoma, are some internal secretion diseases that cause type-2 obesity. Cushing syndrome is characterized by thinning arms and legs and abdominal obesity, whereby fat gathers around the body, and in some instances, the hypodermis cracks from sudden weight gain causing line marks on the abdomen, groin, underarm, and back. Persons with hypothyroidism experience a drop in their metabolism, and weight gain occurs as a result of low calorie consumption. Type-1 obesity can be treated with general obesity treatment methods like simultaneous dietetic treatment and exercise. But type-2 obesity requires that the underlying disease be treated first. Usually, obesity goes away naturally after the underlying disease has been treated.

Child-type and Adult-type Obesity
Although obesity may look the same from the outside, a full examination reveals that there's a considerable amount of personal difference in the number and size of fat cells. According to the size and number of fat cells, obesity can be divided into adult-type, where only the size of fat cells is increased, and child-type, where the number of fat cells is increased.

The number of fat cells increases the most during the year after birth. People who have always been obese since childhood, have 3-4 times more fat cells than people who became obese as adults. With adult-type obesity, the number of fat cells is close to normal, but the size increases. This happens mostly after middle age. But generally, the reason child-type obesity is more dangerous and important than adult-type obesity is because it is extremely difficult to reduce the number of fat cells already made. Therefore, treatment is much more effective for adult-type obesity, where the enlarged fat cells just have to be returned to their original state, than for child-type obesity.

Abdominal Obesity and Limb Obesity
Depending on where fat is stored on the body, obesity can be divided in to abdominal obesity and limb obesity. Abdominal obesity is when fat is mostly distributed over the abdomen and back, and limb obesity is when fat is concentrated around the thighs, arms, legs, and buttocks. Abdominal obesity occurs mainly in men; limb obesity occurs primarily in women.

The reason the distribution of fat is significant is because depending on where it's concentrated the danger level for adult diseases changes. So with abdominal obesity there's a higher danger of ischemic heart disease, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. This is because low protein steatolytic enzymes, which breakdown nutrients into triglycerides and store them in fat cells, are very active within abdominal fat.