Introduction: one hundred and forty-seven billion dollars. This is the estimated cost of obesity in the United States (CDC, 2013). Today, obesity tends to become one of the greatest public health challenges after tobacco (Perry & Creamer, 2013). In 2010, 33.7% of U.S. adults and 17% of children ages 2 to 19 were considered obese (CDC, 2013). Although obesity is increasing at an exponential rate, there is a disconnect between how society views and defines obesity and the actual medical costs and future health risks that the disease poses (ACSM, 2010). This is where medical professionals must bridge the gap between the medical and social constructs. Medical Construction of Obesity: The American Medical Association defines overweight and obesity as an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat that can impair health. To classify weight status, the most commonly used metric in adults is body mass index (BMI) a measure of weight per height (weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) (Cawley, 2010) A BMI greater than or equal to twenty-five is considered overweight and a BMI greater than or equal to thirty is considered obese. BMI is calculated differently in children due to changes in body fat with age and differs between girls and boys. BMI for children and adolescents is often called BMI for age. A child between the ages of 2 and 20 who falls between the 85th and 95th percentiles is considered overweight; a child in the 95th percentile and above is obese (CDC, 2013). Causes of overweight/obesity. There are multiple factors that combine to influence body weight, including genetic, behavioral, metabolic, environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic factors. The main cause is an imbalance due to excessive calorie consumption and/or physical inactivity. I… half the paper… the childhood obesity epidemic as an expanding site of social stratification. Retrieved 10/19, 2013, from https://ssa.uchicago.edu/childhood-obesity-epidemic-burgeoning-site-social-stratificationMalnor, K. (2006). Problems of fat adolescents: A sociological perspective of obesity in adolescents. (Unpublished sociology). Macalester College, Moffat, T. (2010). The “childhood obesity epidemic”: Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 24(1), 1-21. Perry, CL and Creamer, MMR The childhood obesity epidemic: lessons learned from tobacco. The Journal of Pediatrics, (0)Puhl, R.M., & Heuer, C.A. (2010). Obesity stigma: Important public health considerations. American Journal of Public Health, 100(6), 1019. Schwartz, M. B., & Puhl, R. M. (2003). Childhood obesity: a social problem to be solved. The International Association for the Study of Obesity: Obesity Reviews, 4, 57-58-71.