Oklahoma, the sixth fattest state according to last summer’s U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, has lost one million pounds. OKC Mayor Mick Cornett launched the “This City is Going on a Diet” campaign in 2024 in response to the city’s obesity epidemic. The Big Friendly had consistently been ranked as one of the fattest cities, so Cornett got proactive and hit the red-dirt road to spread the word. When he appeared on Ellen to promote the initiative, thousands of new citizens joined the cause.
The “This City is Going on a Diet” website provided several resources to aid citizens in their weight loss journey. Participants were able to track their weight, browse diets and workout regimens, view videos, and get tips from expert trainers and dietitians.
Major kudos are in order for the accomplishment, considering the relatively small amount of official participants (48,114) and their eventual one million pound weight loss. To put it in perspective, that’s an average of 20.8 pounds lost per person. The total amount of waist inches lost during the campaign was just over 8,000. (Official statistics for the increase in denim, khaki, and belt sales were not available at the time of this report.)
Mayor Cornett and his fellow citizens celebrated the achievement this year with the opening of the new Elephant Pavilion at the Oklahoma City Zoo. According to the city’s diet website, the average elephant weights 10,000 pounds, so OKC lost the equivalent of 100 elephants. We’re happy the people of Oklahoma City have some new buds to celebrate their big accomplishment with. Moving forward, we hope OKC is able to keep the weight off, so not even an elephant could remember the days when the population tipped the scales.
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image via MensFitness.com