Mayor Wants City To Lose 1 Million Pounds

Oklahoma City Mayor Challenges Residents To Shed Weight For City-Wide New Year's Resolution

(AP)  With a button-popping spread of cornbread, sausage and gravy, chicken fried steak and pecan pie designated as Oklahoma's official state meal, it's no surprise that Oklahoma City's mayor wants to put the city on a diet.

Mick Cornett has challenged the city to shed 1 million pounds as its New Year's resolution.

Prompted in part by his own struggle to lose weight, Cornett wants to end Oklahoma City's dubious distinction as one of America's fattest cities.

"The message of this obesity initiative is that we've got to watch what we eat," Cornett said Thursday. "Exercise is part of it and the city is trying to change into a city that is less sprawling, has more density and is more pedestrian friendly, but you're not really going to take on obesity unless you acknowledge that we eat too much and don't eat the right foods."

As part of the initiative, residents can sign up and track their weight loss on a new Web site, www.thiscityisgoingonadiet.com. More than 2,600 people had registered by Thursday. They've lost more than 300 pounds.

Besides a body mass index calculator, the site includes recipes and links to metro-area fitness centers. Plans call for expanding the site to include the opportunity to blog and network with other participants, Cornett said.

"It's always easier if you're doing something hard if you have other people to do it with," he said.

The mayor timed the start of the weight-loss program to the beginning of the New Year, when many people begin exercise programs after holiday feasts.

Oklahoma City ranked 15th in a 2007 survey of America's fattest cities conducted by Men's Fitness magazine. The survey examined lifestyle factors in each city, including fast-food restaurants per capita and availability of city parks, gyms and bike paths.

"I can't tell you exactly where you rank in our 2008 survey, but I can tell you that Oklahoma City is in the top 10," magazine spokeswoman Jennifer Krosche said. "That's not good."

The Oklahoma Legislature designated an official state meal in 1988. The menu also includes fried okra, squash, barbecue pork, biscuits, grits, corn, strawberries and black-eyed peas.

Cornett, 49, stands about 5-foot-10 and weighs 183 pounds. He began a personal fitness initiative eight months ago when he weighed 217 pounds.

"I would like to get down to 175, so I've made a goal to lose 8 pounds over 8 weeks," he said.

Carrie Snyder-Renfro, a 44-year-old teacher working out at a fitness center Thursday, said she made a resolution last month to eat healthier and exercise. While she was unaware of the mayor's Web site, she said she would consider signing up.

"Last year I dieted and lost about 10 pounds a month for three months, but I left out a key component," she said, huffing and puffing on an elliptical machine. "I didn't exercise regularly. I ended up losing muscle mass instead of fat, and I ended up gaining almost all of it back.

"Now I'm making it more of a priority to put everything in balance. I have to get the 'eye of the tiger' back."

Cornett wants to make exercise more attractive to residents by increasing the number of bike trails and sidewalks in the sprawling city, where public transportation is minimal, most people are wedded to their cars, and outdoor activities for some might be limited to watching a football game.

"In Colorado, you ski, you climb, you run ... something," said Karen Massey, community nutrition coordinator at Integris Baptist Medical Center. "In Oklahoma, we're either involved in competitive sports or we do nothing. We're spectators."

[avigil2]

Kudos to Mayor Mike Cornett. Americans are WAY TOO FAT as it is. Get to the gym already you lazy-a$$es!

[mtbiker455]

If we were all allowed to do what we please, as you claim, then our country would not be in such a state of order; on the contrary, it would be in a profound state of disorder, fear, death, and chaos. You claim that its your life and you''ll do what you want. If so, then go live in Antarctica and eat snow so that you will harm no innocent individual. Such people as you believe that freedom is the ability to do what one pleases, when one pleases, and in whatever form one pleases. Basically, if it feels good, then do it. Again, you are wrong and are a threat to the security of any civilized society. Such individuals as yourself, whether you realize it or not, CLAIM TO LOVE FREEDOM, but at the same time, undermine the very freedom that you "oh adore so much." YOU ARE THE "BEHAVIOR NAZI." YOU PERSECUTE PEOPLE FOR ACTING WITH THE CONFINES OF THE LAW, FOR TRYING TO MAKE THEMSELVES BETTER AND SOCIETY AS A WHOLE. Freedom isn''t free and freedom does have its limitations

[mtbiker455]

Incorrect, sir. The mayor is not compelling anyone to lose weight. He didn''t say: "Lose 50lbs by the end of the year or you''ll be prosecuted and will serve a minimum prison sentence of 5 years." He simply is setting a rather honorable goal that would aid in relieving the country''s rather significant problem with obesity. Therefore, your argument is invalid. I could end right here, but I%u2019ll continue. You boldly, or rather barbarously claim that it is none of my or anyone else%u2019s "GD" (very clever) business what you like to inhale, inject, or . . . "injest." Again, you are wrong. The government CLEARLY has a duty to not only protect citizens from coming into conflict with each other, but also to prevent the citizen from hurting himself, whether mentally or physically. This is the exact reason why harmful substances, such as drugs, have been made illegal in this country.