Gallup poll results released Wednesday show fewer Americans were obese in 2011 than the year prior, albeit by a slim margin.

Of more than 300,000 adults surveyed, 26.1 percent reported that they were obese in 2011, down half a percentage point from 2010 (26.6 percent).

Furthermore, obesity levels were lower in every quarter of 2011 compared with the corresponding quarter in 2010.

“The cost of obesity is so high that even this small improvement has the potential to save the American economy a significant amount of money,” wrote Gallup.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index uses respondents' self-reports of their height and weight to calculate body mass index (BMI) scores.

The results of the poll are based on telephone interviews conducted from Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2011 with a random sample of 335,050 adults, aged 18 and older living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.