It is an honor and great pleasure to write a few welcome notes for the session entitled “Obesity and Weight Management". Despite all of the advances in our knowledge of nutrition related to obesity, this disease still plagues many individuals around the world today. One of the major reasons for many individuals failing to lose weight while participating in obesity treatment programs is due to inaccurate information regarding their individual energy metabolism.

Many obesity treatment programs rely on out dated or inaccurate methodologies to provide baseline and periodic determination of energy needs throughout treatment. Furthermore, there is very limited information on the actual energy expended for various physical activities that some obesity treatment programs use as an adjunct. This, combined with some of the inaccuracies regarding dietary recall, can lead to low success rates for obesity treatment.

Finally, obesity can begin during infancy. Accurate measurement of energy metabolism should begin at this time and be available throughout the lifespan. It will be a great opportunity for the WOC participants, including young and senior researchers, scientists, clinicians, and academicians, to gain knowledge with the up-to-date methodologies in regards to the treatment or prevention of obesity.