Introduction: obesity is the prelude to Chronic No communicable diseases; their development at an early age endangers the general population. Objective: identify predisposing factors for the development of overweight and obesity in students from state schools of Canton Loja, Ecuador. Material and methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted with 1337 students of 11-17 years in schools-Canton Loja, the body mass index was determined; the results are presented in tables. Results: overweight was present in 30.77%, obesity 12% mostly in females and in urban population, among the predisposing factors are family history, eating fast food and little physical activity. Conclusions: more than quarters of students wereoverweight or obese and are exposed to factors modifiable and non-modifiable risks.Keywords: overweight, obesity, predisposing factors.</p
