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Most of us are being impacted by rising gas prices. It has definitely made a difference in our monthly budgets and we all want to know how to save money at the pumps. A 2010 Consumer Report showed that the weight of a driver impacts how much gas is consumed. Allstate cited this report, recently and it actually makes sense. Data from the U.S. Department of Energy found "that for every additional 100 pounds placed in a car, the vehicle's fuel efficiency is decreased by up to 2 percent."

According to the report:

• Researchers estimated that over 39 million gallons of fuel is used annually for every pound gained in average passenger weight.
• Almost 1 billion gallons of gasoline per year can be attributed to passenger weight gain in non-commercial vehicles between 1960 and 2002--this translates to .7 percent of the total fuel used by passenger vehicles annually.
• A 2009 study by the non-profit company Resources for the Future looked at the link between obesity and vehicle demand and found that from 1999 to 2005, a 10-percent increase in overweight and obese drivers reduced fuel economy of new vehicle demand by 2.5 percent.