colorado is the leanest state, mississippi is the heftiest

North Carolina

#10

Is not surprised at all.

Arizona is 30th. If I lived in Mississippi, I'd have a hard time keeping slim. So much good food there! Po' Boys, Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice, Jambalya, Hush Puppies. Oh the hush puppies!

That food is all courtesy of Louisiana...

yep yep yep.. I live about 40 minutes outside of New Orleans and the good food. Probably why I am on this site. *Sighs*

Arizona is 30th. If I lived in Mississippi, I'd have a hard time keeping slim. So much good food there! Po' Boys, Gumbo, Red Beans and Rice, Jambalya, Hush Puppies. Oh the hush puppies!

That food is all courtesy of Louisiana...

yep yep yep.. I live about 40 minutes outside of New Orleans and the good food. Probably why I am on this site. *Sighs*

You and me both!

Being originally a Tx girl, I can see why it's number 13. Moved out here to Hawaii in June, and it's ranked 47th! Wow! Funny how things change when you have so much to do! Everything is here all in one little location: hiking, swimming, surfing, rock climbing, etc. You don't have to drive all day long to get to the other side of the state just to do your favorite activity. Although I miss TX like crazy, I'm thankful for this move and the evidence in my weight loss is proof!!

i'm in colorado. but that doesn't mean i don't still have 60 pounds to lose, haha. but really, it makes sense that CO is so lean - almost EVERYONE spends weekends in the mountains. in the summer, hiking and in the winter, skiing, snowboarding, snow shoeing, etc. it is very easy to be healthy here.

Yeah - I'm from Colorado, too - I have to admit that the fact that people are so healthy here made it more intimidating to get going and start exercising. I still feel really self-conscious at the gym and when I'm out jogging, like someone is going to tell me I don't belong. :laugh: I'm slowly getting over that, though.

I live in Mississippi. You folks who live in states where there are plenty of outdoor activities to do, be thankful. Not only is there great southern fried food here, there is absolutely nothing to do. And all of the fun outdoor activities to do during the summer, no one can stand to do because it is so freakin' hot you can't breathe just standing there doing nothing. My husband and I took on the C25k this summer and I'm really surprised that neither one of us experienced a serious case of heat exhaustion. When the heat index is above 100 at 11 p.m., who can stand to get out and have fun? But hey, we didn't die or pass out so I guess it made us stronger!! Gotta love the great southern food culture though. We sure know how to make it tasty.

Gotta give you credit for doing C25k in such a humid environment! :drinker: I visited family down in San Antonio this summer for a week, a couple weeks into C25K. I did one workout and promptly decided it could wait until I got back home to resume. :laugh: I've never been so sweaty in my entire life. I felt so gross!

This does remind me of a list of "Things to do in Baton Rouge" one of our local magazines published. Devoid of outdoor activities, or really, many activities at all, it included restaurants to eat at and radio stations to listen to.

Go figure.

@ accountant_boi (meant to do a quote, but forgot, whoops!)

Yeah, I know what you mean. Whenever I go run in City Park I kinda have to talk myself into it, haha. But once I get started and most of the people I see are very friendly, I get over it.

Yay! My state is one of the leanest! Go Montana!

i'm in colorado. but that doesn't mean i don't still have 60 pounds to lose, haha. but really, it makes sense that CO is so lean - almost EVERYONE spends weekends in the mountains. in the summer, hiking and in the winter, skiing, snowboarding, snow shoeing, etc. it is very easy to be healthy here.

Yeah - I'm from Colorado, too - I have to admit that the fact that people are so healthy here made it more intimidating to get going and start exercising. I still feel really self-conscious at the gym and when I'm out jogging, like someone is going to tell me I don't belong. :laugh: I'm slowly getting over that, though.

Come ride or jog around Cherry Creek reservior, thats where I do my work outs, I've always seen friendly faces and got encouraging nods. Even from the ubber cyclists, and I'm slow... Lol. Its a great atmosphere

I live in Connecticut, which is ranked as the second leanest state... interesting. I definitely don't see that many overweight people in CT, especially throughout middle/high school. Not sure why that's true, as there's really not a ton of outdoor activities to do here. I guess there are a lot of sports, but I think that's true anywhere you go, right?

Hawaii is ranked 47. Interesting.

I grew up in Louisiana, moved away after high school (1981). Lived quite a few places in the US and Europe and now live in Colorado.

The food in Louisiana, as mentioned above, *is* awesome. But it always struck me as odd that Louisiana was called 'Sportsman's Paradise." Its so freakin hot during the summer that you just don't want to go outside, much less move around unnecessarily. For those that don't know, the "sports" they are referring to are all basically drinking a whole lot of beer while sitting around waiting for X, where X is a fish or a bird or a deer or a squirrel. Still, back in the 60's and 70's, it was still pretty uncommon for a person to be truly fat. Especially kids.

Now, living in Colorado, I'm struck not so much by how fit people are here, as by how overweight *all* parts of America are. Colorado is just a little bit less so. For those who do chose to exercise, there are a lot of fun things to do outdoors. Here in Colorado Springs, the second largest city in the state, it almost feels like so many people head up into the mountains that there isn't much of a market for fun cultural (i.e., sedentary) activities for those who stay in town. For its size, its very "non-urban".

And as far as the fitness stats go, Colorado Springs is surely helped out by the presence of 5 different military establishments, the Olympic Training Center, and the presence of dedicated athletes who relocate here to live/train at somewhat of an elevation.

Still, for the population as a whole, I'm not sure I would say Colorado is more fit than *any* US state was 30 years ago.

For a while I've been struck by how overweight we as a country are. Very recently, I finally decided that it was time for *me* to drop a few pounds. I started walking (1 mile at a time, 2x per day) and was surprised that on day 3 I started having chest pains. My cardiologist wants me to lose 50 pounds. Turns out I'm clinically obese. Who knew ?