It is the hefty title no-one wants, with the city of Mackay named as hosting Queensland's heaviest adults.

A new report ranks the north Queensland city as unhealthiest in the state in terms of weight, with overweight or obese adults comprising 83.4 per cent of its population.

The north represents the best and worst in the Progress in Australian Regions data, with Cairns named the lightest community with 51.5 per cent of adults listed as overweight or obese.

The Townsville region received a dishonourable mention as the city with the fastest-growing obesity rate over an eight-year period, while in greater Brisbane 62.9 per cent of the greater population is overweight or obese.

The Cancer Council Queensland released the figures after analysing a national report into regional areas.

Ms McKenzie and Mr Christensen at the Mackay Surf Life Saving Club. ( ABC Tropical North: Sophie Meixner )

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Personal battle

For the local Federal Member in Mackay the battle against obesity has been personal.

The National Party's George Christensen last year underwent gastric sleeve surgery in Malaysia after he reached 176 kilograms at his heaviest.

Since May, Mr Christensen has steadily lost over 40kg, including 4.2kg over the Christmas break.

He said he could not explain why his region featured as the state's heaviest, but in his experience, maintaining a healthy weight was a matter of "personal choice".

"I was someone who made bad personal choices in regards to eating and exercising," he said.

"As a young adult I was 75kg, but I blew-out to more than double that.

"It got to that point because in my 20s I was making bad decisions that I didn't realise where it would lead to in my 30s.

"I was nudging 176kg, that leads to an early grave, that leads to death, and if people are wanting government to come in and fix those problems it simply won't get fixed because it comes down to personal attitude and personal choices."

Call for sugar tax

AMA Queensland President Bill Boyd, who is based in Mackay, renewed the association's calls for the Federal Government to impose a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks.

"It worked on cigarettes," he said.

"We know sugary items … are right there in the supermarkets and people are putting them into their shopping baskets and consuming way too much.

"The AMA is hoping that if the Federal Government will put a tax on sugar it will discourage them from eating too much."

AMA Queensland President Bill Boyd says a sugar tax will discourage shoppers from consuming sugary products. ( ABC Tropical North: Rachel Riga )

But Minister for Rural Health Bridget McKenzie echoed Minister for Health Greg Hunt's earlier statement ruling out a tax on sugar.

"Obesity is a complex condition with many interplaying factors determining whether an individual becomes obese or not, but at the end of the day it's about calorie intake being balanced against calorie output," she said.

"Putting a sugar tax on junk food is not something as Rural Health Minister that I will be considering to address as an obesity issue."

She said individual motivation to lose weight was more effective than government intervention.

Regional obesity statistics: Region Adults overweight/obese Queensland 64.3pc Cairns 51.5pc Townsville 64.6pc Mackay 83.4pc Fitzroy 73.1pc Wide Bay 70.1pc Sunshine Coast 60.3pc Darling Downs 59pc Toowoomba 63.3pc Greater Brisbane 62.9pc Gold Coast 61.6pc Source: Yearbook 2017, Progress in Australian Regions, Australian Government, Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development, and Cities

"There's lots of ways we can assist with the obesity epidemic without just throwing money at it," Ms McKenzie said.

"We can always say we need to throw more money at a problem, but what we need to ensure is that we're targeting specific at-risk cohorts and make sure they're getting the assistance they need, not just throwing money at a problem we know that doesn't work.

"We need targeted funds at the right places at the right times."

Complex issue

Mr Boyd said the Federal Government's reluctance to impose a tax was motivated more by politics than evidence.

"The AMA will continue to push for a sugar tax," he said.

"Clearly it's politically difficult and I suspect the politicians understand the AMA standpoint, but they won't do it because its dangerous to them.

"It does mean that sugar products will remain very accessible for the population and the problem will continue."

He said he was not shocked to hear his region topped the state but was concerned at the flow-on health impacts of obesity.

"This opens [people] right up to the degenerative diseases that we're constantly fighting like heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure, and also damage to joints, hips and knees," Mr Boyd said.

The research data revealed one region was bucking the national trend in making a favourable dent in the obesity figures.

Greater Toowoomba was named as Australia's only region maintaining a statistically-significant decrease, down 22 per cent from a decade ago.

Minister for Rural Health Bridget McKenzie and Member for Dawson George Christensen do not support a tax on sugar. ( ABC Tropical North: Sophie Meixner )

Can't outwork a bad diet

Mackay gym owner Kay Nyenuh said the statistics did not surprise him.

"It's something that has been around and we are aware of," he said.

"As a gym owner, that's why we are in business doing our best to try and bring the obesity rate down."

He said the main difficulty people experienced in maintaining weight loss was related to diet rather than exercise.

"There's no shortage of fitness in Mackay, there's lots of gyms around [but] the issue is education around what people should eat," he said.

"You cannot outwork a bad diet.

"It doesn't matter how many times you're exercising per week. If you're not eating right, the weight is not going to come off.

"When it comes to weight loss, it is 80 per cent what you put in your body, 20 per cent what you do physically."