'Fat' is the new normal in America
'"Fat" may be the new normal in America," declares WalletHub in its latest report.
More than three-quarters of American adults are now overweight or obese, according to a study by JAMA Internal Medicine, cited by WalletHub.
Moreover, that same study showed that for the first time ever, there are more obese people than overweight people in the country.
And on top of that, in 2014, nearly 83 million Americans were "completely inactive, the highest number reported since 2007," according to data cited by WalletHub. For what it's worth, that's 26% of the total population doing virtually zero physical activity.
With that in mind, WalletHub calculated the states with the biggest weight problems in 2015, based on "obesity and overweight prevalence" and several "unhealthy habits and consequences."
You can see in the map below, which states have the biggest weight problems (not to be confused with the most obese states in the country.) The darker the blue, the worse the problem is.
Many of the countries with weight problems are located in the southeast of the United States. Meanwhile, the healthier states were generally located on the coasts.
The top five states for the worst weight problems are as follows:
- Mississippi (1st for obesity/overweight, 3rd for unhealthy habits)
- Louisiana (2nd for obesity/overweight, 2nd for unhealthy habits)
- West Virginia (6th for obesity/overweight, 1st for unhealthy habits)
- Tennessee (5th for obesity/overweight, 6th for unhealthy habits)
- South Carolina (3rd for obesity/overweight, 15th for unhealthy habits)
On the flip side, Hawaii, Colorado, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Utah have the smallest weight problems.
Taking a closer look at the details, WalletHub found that Mississippi and West Virginia had the highest percentage of obese adults, while Nevada and Alaska had the highest percentage of overweight adults.
And as for the kids, Mississippi and South Carolina have the highest percentage of obese children, while North Dakota and Louisiana had the highest percentage of overweight children.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of the states that have the worst weight problems also scored poorly in various categories including "the percentage of residents who are physically inactive" and "the percentage of adults eating less than 1 serving of fruits/vegetables per day."
In any case, Americans across the nation have a big weight problem.
Check out the full report on WalletHub.