Americans are losing the battle to slim down.
Adult obesity rates rose from 23.9 percent in 2005 to 25.6 in 2007, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey.
"It's the wrong way," said Patti Sunko-Imhof, a registered dietitian at CJW Medical Center who counsels diabetic patients, most of whom are overweight or obese. "I think the biggest piece is, we are a car culture. We drive everywhere. People are very much less active than they used to be."
The data released yesterday is from the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a telephone survey that asks adults about health and health behaviors.
A person with a body mass index greater than 30, based on a weight-height calculation, is considered obese. The rates excluded data on people whose weight was reported at 500 or more pounds or whose height was greater than 7 feet.
Mississippi was the heaviest state, with a 32 percent adult obesity rate, followed by Alabama and Tennessee, both with just more than 30 percent adult obesity rates. Colorado had the lowest rate of adult obesity with 18.7 percent.
Regionally, obesity rates were highest in the South and Midwest and lowest in the Northeast and West.
Obesity was highest among non-Hispanic blacks, followed by Hispanics, non-Hispanic whites, then other groups.
"There is a lot more work that needs to be done," said Lisa Armstrong, a registered dietitian at the Virginia Department of Health who oversees nutrition services.
Virginia's obesity rate in 2007 was 24.3 percent, excluding people taller than 7 feet or more than 500 pounds. With those people included, the Virginia adult obesity rate was 25.3 in 2007, compared with 25.1 in 2005.
"In our defense, there was an obesity report card issued in 2006," Armstrong said. "We got a C in our efforts to control childhood obesity. This is a marked improvement from 2004, when we got an F."
Armstrong said final work is being done on a state health department effort to identify community-based programs that have been successful in reducing obesity. Communities may be able to apply for small grants to implement those programs.
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Losing weight and keeping if off is hard, said Tilwona Outland, 28. Outland, of Glen Allen, put herself and her 6-year-old son on a new eating and activity program after her son's pediatrician expressed concerns about him gaining 16 pounds in one year and about his cholesterol ratio.
"What really motivated me was making sure he has a long and healthy life," Outland said.
Outland said she cut back sharply on fast-food hamburgers and fries, stopped frying foods, and stepped up exercise, among other changes. A program called The Faces of Hope, which provides in-home counseling and personal training, helped her get started.
Outland also joined Weight Watchers and enrolled her son in a martial-arts program. She has dropped 15 pounds. He has dropped 10, two more than the doctor recommended.
"He can read a food label," she said. "He knows what 'calorie' means."
Contact Tammie Smith at or (804) 649-6572. To see more of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesdispatch.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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