This number is the highest obesity rate since Gallup and Healthways began tracking obesity in 2007, the report said, and the increase can likely be attributed to more previously overweight Americans moving into the obese category.
On the other hand, the percentage of Americans who fall into normal weight categories has remained relatively stable at 35 percent since 2013, and the percentage of underweight Americans has stayed at 2 percent.
Gallup and Healthways’ results are based on more than 167,000 interviews conducted in 2013 as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which determines respondents’ body mass index from self-reported height and weight information.
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