Isn’t it also harder to exercise without a health club, in those states, ie heat and humidity? Of course, 80+ percent of weight is what a person chooses to eat, not how much they exercise, from what I understand.
Our hot states with high rates of obesity.
My take is that in those hot states people are blowing out their systems by eating heavy diets that are more suitable to a Minnesota farmer or outside laborer of 60 years ago. They get fat, diabetic then obese. They are not working off their intake of heavy foods.
Plus drinking iced tea and iced drinks at meals is awful for digestion of heavy meals.