Although most dieters strive to achieve “ideal” body weight, clinical and laboratory evidence clearly supports the value of a modest weight loss goalto attain health and emotional benefit. Weight loss as low as 5% has been shown to reduce or eliminate disorders associated with obesity, though several questions remain partially or completely unanswered regarding the roles of degree of weight loss, method of weight loss, distribution of fat reduction, and other variables. This paper reviews the effect of degree of weight loss on specific disease states and risk factors and discusses the impact of ethnic background at distribution, age, and mode of weight loss on outcome.