28
votes
Obesity rate declining in US. Use of GLP-1 injectables for weight loss has more than doubled since early 2024.
Link information
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- Title
- Obesity Rate Declining in U.S.
- Authors
- Gallup, Inc.
- Published
- Oct 28 2025
- Word count
- 1347 words
Last year it was widely publicized that obesity rates in the U.S. dropped for the first time in a decade. It was by a percentage point (or less than a percentage point), and this year has continued that trend.
I swear I just saw an article saying something like "Obesity rates have never been higher in the US" or something similar, I was so confused because I also remember that being big news last year.
Edit: Ok I found it, apparently its because there's a new definition for Obesity that isn't just based on BMI https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en/about/newsroom/press-releases/dramatic-increase-in-adults-who-meet-new-definition-of-obesity
Oh yeah two years ago there was a study that said BMI underestimates obesity, the updated definition is meant to include a lot of skinny fat people.
I don’t think that’s standard yet though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that statistic goes down anyway the same way the normal BMI one is going down
I'm in this picture and I don't like it.
Oh for sure, I think as long as GLPs continue to become more available for people it will be a huge net positive in the long term.
I think it might be more helpful to standardize a "muscle mass" number the same way we have standardized BMI. It just gets very confusing when we try to "fix" BMI to include it. The majority of people have so little muscle as to be problematic, and it can mask the fat to a certain extent,especially when calculating BMI. Having minimum strength guidelines get the same notice as BMI scores could also probably fix it from a different angle (something along the lines of be able to squat 25% of your body weight), but that would unfortunately require specialized equipment to test at a doctor's office.
Interesting thought, makes a lot sense! Do you happen to know of any further criteria for this style of testing (that could potentially also be executed at home), like squatting? Is there an “official” name for this way of measuring strength vs. health/obesity?
Oh man, I'm not a doctor nor am I a coach. I'm just a novice weight lifter who started lifted ~10 years ago, and never progressed past novice due to numerous breaks. Unfortunately, I don't have any actual criteria you could use. What I am thinking is that an organization like the WHO, AHA, CDC should set those standards based on medical research.
Right now, I don't think there is any sort of strength or muscle mass standard recognized by any health agency. The sports fitness world certain has a ton of recommendations, and when I start researching online most of what I find is from that arena. So it's muddled at best, and the numbers are all over the place. Organizations like the AHA have recommendations for amount of time spend training but they don't have guidelines for what that looks like. So you could meet that by lifting 5 lb dumbells, or be lifting 200 lb barbells. I imagine they're worried about scarring people off, because weight training requires specialized equipment. Also, many people know they can't do a single push up so they would get discouraged. The sad part is, barbells are far quicker and easier than bodyweight exercises, can more easily be performed by people with disabilities or injuries under proper guidance, and are far easier to progressively track. Not everyone can do push up. If you do 1 pushup today, you're not likely to be able to do 2 the next time. But almost everyone could bench press an empty barbell x number of times today, then add ~5lbs to that bar in 2 days and do the same number of reps. If we had medical guidelines showing the baseline figures or range needed for BMI to be accurate, then it would be fairly straightforward to tell people how to solve the problem. The way doctors have no problem telling you to drop 30 lbs to be in a healthy BMI.
IIRC grip strength is apparently a decent indicator of overall muscle strength (and correlates with other health related measures).
This is great news! One caveat to note is that we measure obesity with BMI currently, which is an imperfect metric that doesn’t take body composition into account. GLP-1 agonists are know to cause muscle wasting in select patients and since muscle weighs more than fat, BMI results can be skewed. That said, I’ve personally prescribed many of these medications and seen great results not only on a cosmetic but on a function level and on the whole am very excited for their future!
This is fantastic! I'm really hopeful that we'll see broad public health benefits. I haven't seen much data from other countries, but GLP-1 agonists should even help reduce government spending in countries with more socialised healthcare systems.
Great news, everyone!