Why do I find it hilarious that Lowell is broken down by zip code? LOL-

Come down to Fitness For You in North Andover on route 114 across from Merrimack College - come down to the club for a free week trial to get yourself started on the path to a healthier lifestyle today. We have 40 group exercise classes on our schedule that are offered for you during your free week. Mention you saw this on patch and we will throw in a free fitness assessment with a personal trainer.

I am moving to Andover so i can be skinny!

That picture made my browser crash.

Another good reason for Tewksbury to spend some money on installing sidewalks for us taxpayers. Let's get this town looking better and our residents healthier by providing them with proper sidewalks throughout the town. Additionally let's require all developers to install granite curbing and sidewalks with each new housing development.

I am never going to Lowell again !!!

Please come to the photowalk this Saturday in North Reading's Historic District from 10 am until 12 pm. This event will provide a fun opportunity to work some physical activity into your schedule while learning about photography. Event kicks off in the Flint Memorial Library Activity room at 147 Park Street.

As a leader of Tops (Take of Pounds Sensibly), we know there is a big epidemic of overweight people in the community. We are a world wide non profit organization.
There are Chapters in almost every community. We have great success stories, at Tops. Tops Chapters are made up of people just like yourself who want to lose weight. I am in agreement with some of the bloggers who have hinted at exercize. It would be nice to have sidewalks thoughout the town. I am not in agreement with the comic relief remarks. Overweight is a heart breaking problem, I see members struggle with it every week, discouragement, happiness, and tears and laughter. Please do not make light of this problem. Lets hope in the future these numbers come down. They are much to high.

These stats don't say much to me - the Massachusetts obesity rate is 22.6 percent (per livescience.com) and the average of all the above percentiles is 22.7. Most of the towns are very close within a range, and the outliers in the above data seem to be the richest and poorest towns, with the richest the thinnest and the poorest the heaviest. Matches the national stats - states with highest % obese are states like West Virginia (34.3%), Mississippi (32.1%), Louisiana (31.2%), whereas "thinnest" states Include Colorado (20.1%), Utah (21.6%), CT (22.1%), MA, etc.

The stats tell me something and it seems quite selfevident.

This chart is pretty fancy, but if if you really want to impress me, you'll tell me the percentages by town of obese people who are divorced with babies and who are licensed to own a firearm near a coffee chain that has a liquor license.

We worry so much about our children being over weight but they only have gym twice a week. In 7th and 8th grade they only have it for half the year. I would like to see it 3 days a week minimal. Clear their minds and give them some energy for their studies.

@Gail, I do find it sad that there are so many obese children. To be honest, I am not even sure how that could happen with all the kids in so many sports these days. I personally do not feel it is the school's responsibility or right to govern or worry what our kids eat or do. Having gym 3 days a week is too much. Teacher's have enough to do to teach core subjects. It is absolutely a parents responsibility to monitor what their children eat and activity level that a parent sees fit. My kids are not overweight. We are not super only eat healthy but I feel we have a healthy balance.... Most importantly it is my choice of their healthy balance!

One in five is obese. Imagine what it is doing to our health care system.

These stats would be more meaningful if they reflected obesity by age. I suspect that the rate among school-aged children is lower in every case. I'm guessing that the older we get, the higher the %'s are, averaging to these above.

You also have to look at what the threshold is for being obese. You would be surprised. Get your BMI done and look at a chart.

BMI is the worst way to measure obesity! Here is what it takes into account... "BMI assesses height and weight; muscle mass is not a part of the equation." Muscle weights more than fat which means a body builder would be more obese in many cases than a "fat" person. Athlete's are some of the most "obese" because of the muscle mass they require to play sports! Insane!

This is how the government works. Convince everyone that the country is obese and they alone have to protect us from the scourge of obesity. Just more uneeded control and increased government programs.

How is this calculated and by what organization. Does the org have a stake (ok, I almost spelled it "steak"-HA) in the obesity business?

Many of these types of statistics come from the CDC or other large studies done by health organizations. I believe the data for this came from a study published in the American Journal of Public Health from data originating from the MA Dept of Public Health.

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/massfacts/snapshot_percent_obese_in_massachusetts_communities/

Push yourself away from the dinner table...

I'm moving to Lowell so I will at least LOOK skinnier

what about charting all the under weight(anorexic ) children in the community and doing something about that!! so much talk about over weigh oand no talk about those who are literally dying to make themselves thin.