National magazine says Tulsa is 'fat'

A new survey is weighing in on the weight of Tulsa. <br><br>Men's Fitness magazine compared the top 50 cities in the nation and ranked Tulsa number 11 on the fattest list. That's up from number

Friday, January 4th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A new survey is weighing in on the weight of Tulsa.

Men's Fitness magazine compared the top 50 cities in the nation and ranked Tulsa number 11 on the fattest list. That's up from number 23 last year.

The magazine looked at 16 categories including fitness, nutrition, alcohol and smoking. We got our best grades for the low numbers of bars and fast food outlets per capita. Tulsa scored the worst, an F-plus for smoking. But, many Tulsans say they don't put a lot of stock in the survey. Shane Rice, exercise physiologist, "I really don't look at that as a true evaluation of what Tulsa people do. I see a very fit population here in Tulsa."

Health club member, Pat Fox, "Sorta sad, I think. It's a great place to live and we have great facilities for people to use, Riverparks, all those things." Tulsa boasts 120 parks and more than 60 miles of biking and jogging trails. The problem, according to Men's Fitness Magazine, is that we don't use them enough.

Houston topped the list of fattest cities, for the second year in a row. Oklahoma City was number 22 on the list, same as last year.