The skinny on our fat

Houston has another statistic to be proud of. According to Men’s Fitness magazine, we have dropped to number five on their annual “Fattest Cities” list this year. Last year, we moved back into the top spot after being dethroned by Detroit for a year. Houstonist thinks it’s time to celebrate by chow-ing down on the best, greasiest cheeseburger in town.

While we find this annual ranking amusing, we question the data. How does the magazine determine a city's fat? They look at such things as: number of fast food outlets, air quality, climate, commute, and geography. Ok, we all know about our less than spectacular air quality, but Houston is so sprawled out, of course we’re going to have more fast food outlets and longer commute. Then there’s climate – we challenge anyone at the magazine to run around Memorial park in the middle of August.

Now we have another more bragging right over Dallas (number four on the list)! As silly as the survey is, we gladly pass the torch on to the new “fattest city” – Chicago. We think it’s time for a spirulina cook-off with Chicagoist.