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Mississippi's Still the Nation's Fattest State

For the third year a row, Mississippi has been ranked the fattest state in the nation, with 32.6 % of that state's population coming in overweight or ...

For the third year a row, Mississippi has been ranked the fattest state in the nation, with 32.6 % of that state's population coming in overweight or obese, according to CalorieLab.com.

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The rest of the fattest states were also all in the South:

West Virginia and Alabama remained as the second and third fattest states this year. The four states of Mississippi, West Virginia, Alabama, and Louisiana have obese populations that exceed 30 percent over a three-year average and two-thirds of the citizens of Mississippi and West Virginia were either overweight or obese by CDC standards in 2007.

Colorado repeated its ranking as the thinnest state in the union. Interestingly, only one place actually lost weight over the past year: Washington, D.C. Maybe our overtapped Metro system is forcing more people to hoof it?

Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
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