Obesity is obviously not desirable whether it be from a medical point of view or a general lifestyle point of view.  But I shook my head when hearing on last night's show that information released by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that obesity-related medical expense costs the U.S. $158 billion a year, nearly 17% of total medical costs.  So is the other 83% of medical costs caused by thin people?   The CDC map of obesity trends for 2009 shows every state has an obesity percentage of at least 18.6 (Colorado's) with most in the mid 20 percentage and 9 states in the 30+ percent range. With these high percentages, it's a wonder that obesity-related medical expenses aren't higher.