Shape Up Houston

100 million pounds overweight: Houston's obesity problem attacked in a new Healthy Selfie campaign

Shape Up Houston is hoping to do just what its name states: To shape this city up. The nonprofit organization, founded in 2012 by business executive and civic leader Lan Bentsen, is working to reduce the high level of obesity in the greater Houston area with a Million Pound Challenge and high-tech ways to encourage friendly competition.

In a phone interview, Bentsen noted that Houstonians are 30 percent heavier than New York City residents. "As a city, Houston is 100 million pounds overweight, " he tells CultureMap. Shape Up Houston's health-focused initiatives incorporating social media offer city residents a path to lose those excess pounds.

6,387 Houstonians in the program have logged 22,603 pounds lost in the Million Pound Challenge since late January.

With the help of the Shape Up Houston's new phone app that logs the amount of weight lost and miles traveled by each user, 6,387 Houstonians participating in the program have logged 22,603 pounds lost in the Million Pound Challenge since late January.

In addition to logging weight, the app allows users to track and chart their overall health, including diet, exercise, sleep, body mass index and even blood pressure. The statistics for the challenge — readily available at the top of the organization's website — are constantly growing as more Houstonians choose to participate in the program.

In addition to encouraging individuals to join the Million Pound Challenge, Shape Up Houston is encouraging companies and offices around Houston to join in, too. With the phone app, co-workers can track their progress against each other, helping encourage them even further in their efforts to get in shape.

On Wednesday, Mayor Parker, along with Bentsen and members of Houston City Council, will tout Shape Up Houston's new Healthy Selfie campaign and the new phone app. The Healthy Selfie campaign encourages Houstonians to write down their health goal on one of Shape Up Houston's "small steps toward big results" sheets, take a selfie with it and post it to social media sites with the hashtag #healthyselfie. The campaign aims to increase awareness about how even small lifestyle changes can have a big impact on improving one's health.

Seven months ago, Shape Up Houston launched the Million Pound Challenge, an initiative with the goal of helping 50,000 to 100,000 overweight and obese Houstonians lose a grand total of one million pounds. The challenge features community partners such as the City of Houston, the Greater Houston Partnership and the Houston Food Bank, as well as company partners like H-E-B and Southwestern Energy. The group is also building new partnerships with institutions like the Alief Independent School District and the University of Houston.

You can sign up here.

Shape Up Houston's Healthy Selfie campaign encourages Houstonians to take a selfie showing each individual's health goals.

Shape Up Houston Healthy Selfie campaign

Courtesy photo

Shape Up Houston's Healthy Selfie campaign encourages Houstonians to take a selfie showing each individual's health goals.

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income analysis

Texas families need to make this much money for one parent to stay home

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

As the cost of raising a child balloons in major cities like Houston, many families are weighing the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas — not just Houston — that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support a stay-at-home partner and a child, the report found. If two parents worked in the household, necessitating some additional costs like childcare and transportation, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in Houston, however, is somewhat more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $21,868 to raise a child in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts, where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report acknowledges ways families are working to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family

Shape Up Houston

100 million pounds overweight: Houston's obesity problem attacked in a new Healthy Selfie campaign

Shape Up Houston's Healthy Selfie campaign encourages Houstonians to take a selfie showing each individual's health goals.

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