Americans weigh more this decade than they did last decade, but fewer adults say they want to lose weight.
28% of Americans said they weighed 200 pounds or more between 2010 and 2019 – a four-point jump from a 2001 to 2009, according to a new Gallup poll. Still, fewer Americans now consider themselves overweight or obese.
That might reflect changing attitudes toward weight, but the pollsters said it doesn’t bode well for health. Local and state programs to address obesity haven’t been enough to stall its spread across the United States, despite the increased risk of deadly diseases that accompany excessive weight gain.
Participants self-reported their weight and their desire (or lack thereof) to lose it. Fewer US adults want to lose weight compared to last decade: 54%. Almost 40% of men and women are content with their current weight.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, 60% of women said they still want to lose weight, even though men are more likely to weigh 200 pounds or more – 42% of male respondents compared to just 14% of women.
The average American’s self-reported weight has jumped up 4 pounds to 178 pounds. In the previous decade, more than half of adults surveyed weighed within or beneath that range.