How Fat Is Your State?

[naut]

Here I believe, (I could be wrong), it's only the rural areas that tends to get a large percentage of the population overweight or obese. In large population centres, (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, hell even Adelaide) I haven't noticed that many obese people. My hypothesis is that in these areas there is greater competition for a partner of the opposite (or same) sex, so people are more aware of their physical condition. Whereas in most rural areas and smaller cities (Newcastle, Canberra), I tend to see a lot more overweight people (both children and adults), now I may be clutching at straws, but since there isn't much competition for partners they don't have to worry nor put effort into their physical condition.

Secondly, the heat might play a role in overweight people here, since the coast gets hot, but being able to swim at the beach or partake in water activities, etc, makes it possible to exercise and bypass this heat. Inland, where the heat is dryer, but a lot harsher in summer and it's cooler in winter, people are thus less inclined to exercise. I even noticed some fat farmers last time I was out west of Newcastle, who you'd think would be exercising heavily, but I guess machinery took away most of their hands-on work.

Also, a lot of people here who have been placed in the obese or overweight category may not actually be either in the traditional sense of having rolls and rolls of fat. But, rather they most likely are older men (Australia has an aging population, with a large amount of 50-70 year olds) who are a bit too fond of their drink and thus have large beer guts.