Men's Fitness has taken measure of our nation and, once again, growing girth is the trend.
In the March issue, which is on newsstands but not online, the magazine uses fitness industry and CDC stats to compile a list of America's 25 fattest cities. Houston is the fattest, which the magazine partially attributes to stifling heat and a lack of mass-transit to the excess pounds. It also points out that Houston has the most drive-throughs of any city at 1,034, which is just mean.
Dallas ranks 25th and Arlington is 15th. El Paso came in at eighth, apparently because 18.4 percent of its residents are binge drinkers.
Not every Texas city is full of fat-asses. Austin ranks 12th on the mag's fittest list, and 31 percent of Austinites are considered "cardio fanatics." That blows the stifling-heat theory out of the water. According to Weather.com, the average temperature in Austin during June, July and August is 92, 96 and 97 degrees, respectively. Houston is just a mere 90, 92 and 93 degrees during those same months.
Detroit, Cleveland, Memphis and Tampa round out the top five on the fattest list, proving fatness and sadness go hand in hand.