Is obesity 'normal' where you live, or 'abnormal'?

no obesity is not normal here.....people tease you,make fun of you even if you are slightly overweight.

:happy:

Obesity is NOT normal in Colorado. It was ranked as the first (or at least one of the first) in healthy-weight people. There is so many activities to do both summer and winter. Of course, we are known for skiing in the winter, but also hiking the "fourteeners" * in the summer.

NOTE: The "fourteeners" refers to the 53 mountain peaks in CO that are 14,000 feet or more.

Just makes me stand out more and feel bad about myself.

I'm originally from Colorado Springs, CO and spent my entire life up until age 18 there. I went to college in AL. I do notice that although I was overweight while in CO I was still VERY active and fit. AL is VERY different from CO and the introduction of sweet tea was probably not a good thing lol. In the South it is very accepted an almost preferred as skinny people are called "po" (poor). And while anyone will tell you I love my hips, curves, and bodonkadonk, I'm really trying stay active, eat healthy, and be the mom my daughter deserves

Rich people tend to be fatter here in California. Since they tend to sit around drinking and socializing. They just keep spray tanning in hopes to appear thinner. But there is a lot more healthy in shape people on the coast. The more inland you go the fatter the people get. California is a roll of the dice. But I can tell you the senior community is known for being obese. And the lazy parenting is causing obesity in children . I think it's everywhere. Having high end " food or shops" doesn't mean a damn thing, since fast food is on every corner. It's everywhere.

Normal here in Texas. And in Oklahoma, another place I lived for a long time. Friends from California would come visit and remark about how odd it was to see so many obese people using the electric carts in Wal-Mart. To me that had become normal.

When I was in Alabama, it was normal.

In Shreveport, I've noticed many women are very thin and then there's some that are really big. It's like there's no middle ground.

Also in Tampa the ladies around me are TINY!

Normal, unfortunately. Not everybody is obese, but most are overweight. I'm fighting to go against the grain.

I recently moved from a small town in Kentucky to a small town just outside Grand Rapids, Michigan and it's like night and day! One of the first comments I made was "It would take a year to see as many people exercising (walking, biking, running..,you name it) in Kentucky as you see in one day here! Every other car has a bike carrier. I can't remember ever seeing one in Kentucky. Obesity is very normal there.

I agree, I'm also also NYC and it's rare compared to other cities that you see obesity because of all the walking involved just getting to and from subways. Health is a big thing around here. Lots of food choices, healthy and not. What I found so suprising, (being that I've rarely traveled to parts outside of the northeast), is that on my visit to kentucky there were nothing but fast food chains and very bad quality fod. A lot of the people there knew little of nutrition becuase they were surrounded by bad food and its what they knew and grew up with. I'm thankful for the food selections out in NY.

I spent the first 25 years of my life living in a place where the FUPA was a fashion statement and exercise was weird. I never even realized I was overweight because everyone around me so friggin huge. My husband changed my perspective. We moved several hours away and things are much different. There are bike lanes here and people actually use them. Amazing! It kinda sucked to stand out as a chubby chick when we first moved but that's slowly changing. Being surrounded by health conscious people has had a huge impact on my quality of life.

I live in a pretty affluent town (upstate New York), so there aren't too many people who are extremely heavy in my immediate area, and very few overweight kids in my kids' elementary school. But if you go a half hour out into the more rural areas, there are lot more obese people. But then if you keep going farther north, it becomes a very active, outdoorsy lifestyle again.

I think it's some what "normal" around here... There are more fast food restaurants than anything else it seems like and the smaller local restaurants have HUGE portion sizes it seems like.

Also in Tampa the ladies around me are TINY!

I thought it was just me but, yeah, I rarely see obese people here.

Four years ago I lived in San Antonio, Texas and fast-food restaurants were readily accesible to me. Therefore, many of my friends were overweight or obese. In my observation, the younger residents of this area are not really overweight much less obese. For that reason, I would say obesity would be considered extremely unhealthy to most people around here. In fact, I think most Americans would agree that being obese is unhealthy but for me it was hard to define myself as an obese person. My husband keeps reminding me that my goal is not prececisely shedding pounds but more so getting healthy. Obviously, getting smaller will be a positive consequence of getting healthy : }. So there you have it: health should be the norm.

In my hometown (Oregon City, OR) and where I currently live it is absolutely normal for all ages to be overweight or obese. But there are definitely active parts of Oregon where it isn't quite as "normal". Portland has a lot of biking, so that helps.

Pretty normal in Iowa. As others have said, wealth is a great predictor. People here love their comfort food and getting a good deal on a lot of unhealthy food. It is improving though.