City Rankings - Mountain West is Fittest, Miami is Fattest

World class trainers like Paola Almerico are working to change Miami's culture one physique at a time.

For the eleventh consecutive year, Men's Fitness magazine has compiled a list of the fittest and fattest cities based on abundance of parks and fitness centers, television viewing, obesity rates and other factors.

January 19, 2009

Miami, home of the South Beach Diet, was this year's fattest city.  With almost three times as many fast food restaurants as the average city and limited participation in outdoor fitness activities, Miami residents are not highly motivated to make healthy choices.  Salt Lake City, on the other hand, was ranked as the most fit place to live. Men's Fitness magazine editor-and-chief Roy Johnson noted that residents of the Utah city are four times more likely to swim for fitness than residents of Miami and are more motivated to keep themselves active. The city also boasts 11 times more public park acreage per capita than Miami. Minneapolis ranked third on the list of fittest cities, not a surprise, to those who saw last years list, on which Minneapolis ranked second.

The entire results will be published in the February issue of Men's Fitness magazine.

Fittest Cities

1. Salt Lake City, Utah
2. Colorado Springs, Colorado
3. Minneapolis, Minnesota
4. Denver, Colorado
5. Albuquerque, New Mexico
6. Portland, Oregon
7. Honolulu, Hawaii
8. Seattle, Washington
9. Omaha, Nebraska
10. Virginia Beach, Va.

Fattest cities

1. Miami, Florida
2. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
3. San Antonio, Texas
4. Las Vegas, Nevada
5. New York, New York
6. Houston, Texas
7. El Paso, Texas
8. Jacksonville, Florida
9. Charlotte, N.C.
10. Louisville-Jefferson, Kentucky

Source:  Minneapolis Fitness-Examiner