Bucking the trend in my state

Umpire57

According to myriad news sources out today:

"The annual ranking of U.S. states found 10 out of the 11 states with the highest rates of obesity were in the South with Mississippi number one for the sixth year in a row with 33.8 falling into the category."

Hopefully soon, my BMI will be out of that category entirely as I was the poster child for Mississippi obesity for many years!

jrich1

We lived in MS for two years, its the local cuisine of BBQ etc and the general lack of education and nutrition provided to the kids.

Becka77

I'm in Oklahoma. We are #6.

jlewis2896

I'm from Wisconsin, I'm sure we rank pretty high up there, too. Right now I'm only a few lbs. away from a healthy BMI -- can't wait to not be a statistic myself!!

Umpire57

Honestly we, as a state, get a bad rap in many media outlets. There are horrible, backwoods, rednecks around but there are also great places and great people that never get shown. There have been times where people are surprised we have electricity much less them find out that I am a computer engineer.

kjensen15

I am in Oklahoma as well. I was in the bathroom at a concert the other night. I was really taken back when I looked around and EVERY single person in there would have been clalssified as obese. Then I watched several of the women leave the restroom and go straight to the concession line. All ordered a soda of some type, nachos, candy, cotton candy, sno cones, etc.... It really saddened me to see what complete disregard people have for their health around here.

cobygrey

I'm with you. North Carolina Tied for 9th place. I can't believe Virginia didn't make the list.

marybethbeech

I live in Mississippi, too. I don't know what can be done about the state wide problem, but I'm doing my best to make sure I'm not a statistic, too!

jrich1

Honestly we, as a state, get a bad rap in many media outlets. There are horrible, backwoods, rednecks around but there are also great places and great people that never get shown. There have been times where people are surprised we have electricity much less them find out that I am a computer engineer.

Where in MS are you at? We lived in Olive Branch for 2 years before returning to TX

husker_gal

I don't know where Phoenix ended up but I'm sure it's probably close the making the top 10. Almost everybody here, man woman and child is over weight if not obese. It's really sad... It sure makes me feel really proud of myself for changing my own lifestyle to slim down and live healthier.

skygoddess86

Well I'm in Oregon and every where you look is a sea of obesity. It's really very sad.

PixieGoddess

My family is from MS, and I went to Jr High and High school there. Now I live in Colorado....so I went from one end of the list to the other! :laugh:

A lot of the problems with MS (and the South in general) is the tradition of fried and/or greasy foods, eating for every occasion, and eating a LOT! When I first started this journey in Nov 08, I'd lost about 10lbs when I went home for thanksgiving. The first words outta my MeeMaw's mouth was that I looked like I needed to eat more, and she kept trying to get me to have another helping.

However, another huge problem that became really apparent to me when I moved to Boulder for college, is that there's a lot more people living in rural areas than in cities. This makes walking or biking places impossible; personally, I had a 20-30 minute drive to high school, which most of my friends here just can't fathom. And along those lines, most of these areas don't have sidewalks, so unless you like to dodge tree limbs or walk/ride on an unpaved road where large work trucks fly around blind corners, you're not going anywhere! My brother just started working out, and my parents bought a family pass to the nearest gym, again about a 20 minute drive from home. Here in Colorado, I get over 30 min of exercise daily just because I walk between the bus station and my office instead of taking the shuttle, and my boyfriend and I (who are broke) also like to spend the day taking long walks around our neighborhoods. It's really very different lifestyles.

Umpire57

I can not argue with you there Pixie.

If you want to get somewhere here then you are driving. I have thought many times I would love to bike to work but I would get here for my desk job drenched in sweat and needless to say, that is not an option.

MeeMaws, Mamas etc here attribute eating to love. I am 39, been married for almost 21 years, have 2 daughters of my own and still eat at Mama's every day for lunch. (Leave the Mama's boy jokes at home) and I had to train her to fix stuff I needed instead of frying everything.

SaveTheDrama

I am from Alabama! I think we are ranked number 2.