When I first skimmed CalorieLab's most recent analysis on state-by-state obesity rankings I was thrilled to see that Wisconsin had fallen out of the top 25 and dropped four spots overall in comparison to 2007. "Sweet," I thought, "I can report to dane101 readers some good news about Wisconsin's reputation as a beer belly state." Alas and alack, after further analyzing the numbers I was disappointed to find that it wasn't that Wisconsinites overall have lost weight, it is just that Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Delaware all put more weight on at a faster rate pushing them past America's dairyland.

We are now ranked 26 overall in comparison to our rank of 22 in 2007. According to CalorieLab, 25.3 percent of Wisconsinites are considered obese and overall 62.3 percent are consider obese or overweight. Since last year our obesity rate has increased by 0.7 percent. Our three-year obesity average is 25.4 percent.

Still credit needs to be given where credit is due. Out of all 50 states, Wisconsin was one of only eight that had a obesity growth rate of 0.7 or less. We share that rate with Utah, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Maine and Indiana had rates of 0.6 percent and Florida and California had a rate of 0.4 percent. From 2006 to 2007 we had a jump of 1.9 percent in obesity rates and from 2005 to 2006 a rate of 0.9 percent.

In comparison, Mississippi continues to be the most obese state in the nation for a third year in a row at 32.6 percent of the population while Colorado is the slimmest with 19.3 percent of the population weighing in as obese. No states saw a drop in the obesity rate since 2007.

According to CalorieLab, "Rankings were computed based on a three-year average of state-by-state statistics for adult obesity percentages from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System database."