GovernmentExecutive.com

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the proportion of Americans who admit to being obese increased 2 percent between 2005 and 2007.

The fattest states in the nation are Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, each weighing in -- so to speak -- with more than 30 percent of adults self-reporting as obese. The West is the skinniest region of the country, with a little more than 22 percent of people classified as obese.

These statistics, by the way, were published in what has to be the most uplifting publication regularly produced by the federal government: the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.