The Centers for Disease Control have released new data about which states are the most overweight, and the news... isn't great.
You may already know that a recent stat shows that 69 percent of American adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese. Now, research from the CDC breaks the number down, state by state. From the report:
By state, obesity prevalence ranged from 20.7% in Colorado to 34.9% in Mississippi in 2011. No state had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. 39 states had a prevalence of 25% or more; 12 of these states had a prevalence of 30% or more: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia.
Mississippi has the highest prevalence of obesity (about 36 percent); Colorado has the lowest (just under 21 percent). These figures came from a 2011 telephone survey that asked adults their height and weight (households with only cell phones were included along with those with home phones, for the first time).
Since 1985, the Centers have gathered data about obesity--and, as a country, we've definitely gone from "could stand to lose a pound or two" to "need a serious weight intervention." Take a look at this map slideshow to see almost every state get colored in darker and darker--yikes. (2011 data can't be compared with the earlier data, since the methodology has changed--but the 1985-2010 maps are comparable.)
Where does your state rank? Does it seem consistent with what you've noticed around you daily?