Fattest State Weighs Its Options

8. Walk the walk.

"Setting an example for people is very important," says McGee, who is an avid cyclist, covering 100-150 miles per week on his bike. But he wasn't always like that. 

"When I started cycling, I was probably 35 pounds over what I am right now," he says. Taking up cycling "helped me to lose weight, and it also taught me that to exercise, I've also got to eat right, and so I've learned to turn down those foods that aren't good for you."

National Obesity Findings

Mississippi is in the least desirable spot on the obesity list. But other states don't have much room to crow.

The report shows rising adult obesity rates in 23 states, and no states with declining adult obesity rates.

That's better than last year's report, which showed rising adult obesity rates in 37 states. "We're still getting fatter but maybe a little more slowly than before," James Marks, MD, MPH, senior vice president of the health group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said today in a news conference.

For perspective, only one state -- Colorado -- has an adult obesity rate of less than 20%. But in 1991, no state had an adult obesity rate over 20%, and in 1980, the national average of obese adults was 15%.

State Adult Obesity Rankings

Here is the average percentage of adults who were obese from 2006 to 2008, according to CDC data cited in the report. States with the same percentage of obese adults are listed together.

1. Mississippi: 32.5%
2. Alabama: 31.2%
3. West Virginia: 31.1%
4. Tennessee: 30.2%
5. South Carolina: 29.7%
6. Oklahoma: 29.5%
7. Kentucky: 29.0%
8. Louisiana: 28.9%
9. Michigan: 28.8%
10. Arkansas and Ohio: 28.6%
11. North Carolina: 28.3%
12. Missouri: 28.1%
13. Georgia and Texas: 27.9%
14. Indiana: 27.4%
15. Delaware: 27.3%
16. Alaska and Kansas: 27.2%
17. Nebraska and South Dakota: 26.9%
18. Iowa, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania: 26.7%
19. Maryland and Wisconsin: 26.0%
20. Illinois: 25.9%
21. Oregon, Virginia, and Washington: 25.4%
22. Minnesota: 25.3%
23. Nevada: 25.1%
24. Arizona and Idaho:24.8%
25. Maine: 24.7%
26. New Mexico: 24.6%
27. New York: 24.5%
28. Wyoming: 24.3%
29. Florida and New Hampshire: 24.1%
30. California: 23.6%
31. New Jersey: 23.4%
32. Montana: 22.7%
33. Utah: 22.5%
34. Washington, D.C.: 22.3%
35. Vermont: 22.1%
36. Hawaii: 21.8%
37. Rhode Island: 21.7%
38. Connecticut: 21.3%
39. Massachusetts: 21.2%
40. Colorado: 18.9%

State Childhood Overweight and Obesity Rankings

Here is the report's list of the percentage of children 10-17 in each state and Washington, D.C., who are overweight or obese. States with the same percentage of overweight or obese children age 10-17 are listed together. 

1. Mississippi: 44.4%
2. Arkansas: 37.5%
3. Georgia: 37.3%
4. Kentucky: 37.1%
5. Tennessee: 36.5%
6. Alabama: 36.1%
7. Louisiana: 35.9%
8. West Virginia: 35.5%
9. Washington, D.C.: 35.4%
10. Illinois: 34.9%
11. Nevada: 34.2%
12. Alaska: 33.9%
13. South Carolina: 33.7%
14. North Carolina: 33.5%
15. Ohio: 33.3%
16. Delaware: 33.2%
17. Florida: 33.1%
18. New York: 32.9%
19. New Mexico: 32.7%
20. Texas: 32.2%
21. Nebraska: 31.5%
22. Kansas: 31.1%
23. Missouri, New Jersey, and Virginia: 31.0%
24. Arizona and Michigan: 30.6%
25. California: 30.5%
26. Rhode Island: 30.1%
27. Massachusetts: 30.0%
28.  Indiana: 29.9%
29. Pennsylvania: 29.7%
30. Oklahoma and Washington: 29.5%
31. New Hampshire: 29.4%
32. Maryland: 28.8%
33. Hawaii: 28.5%
34. South Dakota: 28.4%
35. Maine: 28.2%
36. Wisconsin: 27.9%
37. Idaho: 27.5%
38. Colorado: 27.2%
39. Vermont: 26.7%
40. Iowa: 26.5%
41. Connecticut. North Dakota, and Wyoming: 25.7%
42. Montana: 25.6%
43. Oregon: 24.3%
44. Minnesota and Utah: 23.1% 

Those rankings are based on data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health.