This City Is Going on a Diet!

Mayor challenges porky Oklahoma City residents to lose 1M pounds in 2008
By Emily Thompson
Posted Jan 4, 2008 7:15 PM CST
This City Is Going on a Diet!
Carrie Snyder-Renfro talks with a reporter while working out in Oklahoma City, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008. Mayor Mick Cornett wants residents to shed 1 million pounds in 2008 and end Oklahoma City's dubious distinction as one of America's fattest cities. (AP Photo)   (Associated Press)

Oklahoma City tipped the scales in 2007 as America's 15th fattest city—and Mayor Mike Cornett is bent on tackling his town's porkish propensities. He's challenged residents to lose a million pounds in '08, and includes shedding extra weight among his own New Year's resolutions. His program revolves around a website packed with recipes, a body mass index calculator and planned blogs.

More than 2,600 people have registered, and have already lost 300 pounds, the Associated Press reports. In a state whose official meal includes fried okra and biscuits, Cornett hopes to increase exercise-encouraging bike trails and sidewalks, though he adds, "you're not really going to take on obesity unless you acknowledge that we eat too much and don't eat the right foods." (More Oklahoma City Diet stories.)

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