Obesity is technically defined as having a body weight in excess of 10% of the recommended weight for height. In practice though, being obese depends on the accepted cultural standards. People in the West are generally far more sensitive socially, as compared to the orient.Obesity has assumed epidemic proportions in the developed nations. Enormous amount of money is being put to find methods to stay thin. Ayurveda cautions us that attempts to stay artificially thin may be unhealthy and may aggravate vata dosha. According to ayurveda people with a kapha constitution are more likely to gain weight as compared to pitta people and predominantly vata people are the least likely to gain weight. So efforts at reducing body weight must take into consideration a persons constitution also.