this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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On Wednesday, a new study published in JAMA by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle projected that by 2035, nearly half of all American adults, about 126 million individuals, will be living with obesity.

The study draws on data from more than 11 million participants via the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and from the independent Gallup Daily Survey.

The projections show a striking increase in the prevalence of obesity over the past few decades in the U.S. In 1990, only 19.3% of U.S. adults were obese, according to the study. That figure more than doubled to 42.5% by 2022, and is forecast to reach 46.9% by 2035.

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[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

All of the farms are going bankrupt and the people who work the farms are being kidnapped and possibly mass murdered so I don’t know seems like anything could happen. In a famine they might actually be better off

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 1 points 2 hours ago

If you doubt BMI (like many of the replies I got to my other comment), you can probably ignore this study:

Design, Setting, and Participants Analysis of measured body mass index data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and bias-corrected body mass index values calculated from self-reported height and weight data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and Gallup Daily Survey using spatiotemporal gaussian process regression and an ensemble of annualized rate of change and meta-regression bayesian spline models. Surveys for input data were conducted using population-based sampling by state and by race and ethnicity group with a total of 11 315 421 US participants.

Main Outcomes and Measures Obesity prevalence (BMI ≥30).

So, one reason I'm concerned about my BMI (39.5 kg/m^2^) is because I'm making my country look bad. Tho, with Trump at the helm, my contributions to that effort are overshadowed.

[–] Kaz@lemmy.org 3 points 4 hours ago

America measures obesity very differently to the rest of the world, way past the 50% mark for the rest of the worlds medical measurements.

[–] anakin78z@lemmy.world 7 points 7 hours ago

I'm doing my part!

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 18 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Not if we can’t afford groceries anymore.

[–] anakin78z@lemmy.world 17 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

The cheapest foods are the worst for you, unfortunately.

[–] RaoulDuke25@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 hours ago

Unless they are grains and legumes.

[–] AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

We're already eating other metaphorically, we can just start doing it literally too

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Can't you just add Ozempik to drinking water? Or even better to diet Coke.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 26 points 14 hours ago

We have an extremely fucked food supply.

[–] rayyy@piefed.social 10 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Low quality, high carb food is profitable. Our western diet is built around a carb diet. While approximately half the population does fairly well, weight wise, the other half does not because their bodies preferentially store carb calories as fat. That said I struggled with my weight although I was very active. Due to health issues I switched to a low carb diet more like the one I grew up with - mostly protein, high fat ( good fats like fatty fish, nuts, butter, olive oil and coconut oil), and reasonable amounts of complex carbohydrates. Weigh came off without exercise or any other effort. BTW, the calories in, the calories out approach is just plain wrong. Carbs MAKE you hungry.
You only have one shot at this life so why would you burden yourself lugging around 50 pounds, 100 pounds or more everywhere you go.

[–] Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

By what criteria are you classifying coconut oil as a good fat? The way I understand it fats going from worst to best go something like trans fat, saturated fat, unsaturated fat, omega 3. Coconut oil is nearly 100% saturated fat, moreso than butter which is around 80%. So if coconut oil is good then so is butter.

I will say it's somewhat marginal on the health benefits of unsaturated vs saturated though, so I will continue to use coconut oil but not sure it's any better than other fats.

[–] WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Your understanding is the one I was taught throughout university but there is a competing vision where saturated fats aren't bad. The people who talk about the evils of seed oils tend to believe this. I haven't looked into it in a few years but there are lots of internet doctors/health influencers who can walk you through the reasoning if you are interested. I didn't find the arguments too compelling but I've also been bored of extreme diets for a bit so I may be biased.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 6 points 11 hours ago

And that's after US MDs successfully petitioned to re define the threshold of obesity and morbid obesity.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 6 points 12 hours ago (6 children)

I used to be 330; I'm 5'8". I got down to 220 through diet and exercise. That's still obese. I did 10k on the Nordictrack this morning, can run a 7 minute mile, and routinely do full-body weight lifting including 10x140 chest presses and 10x300 leg presses. I'm now up to 260, which is even worse obese.

I don't know how to get to a healthy BMI and I know I'm routinely failing to get there, but I'm trying.

[–] RaoulDuke25@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Lose weight with cardio first, then try to gain muscle.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 2 points 2 hours ago

I did. I didn't start lifting until I had my cardio doing much better. IIRC, I started lifting after I is a sub-30min 5km for 28 days in a row. But, I might have did some lifting before then.

Cardio is more my priority because the NIH recommendations are primarily about cardio, with weight/resistance training being secondary. I need to get my running / treadmill 10km to under an hour -- the Nordictrack^tm^ lets me do a sub-hour 10km, but I'm not sure it's getting my HR up quite as much as treadmill time. I find it easier to keep myself in "zone 2" on a treadmill with HR sensors in some hand grip.

[–] johnefrancis@cosocial.ca 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

@bss03 @MicroWave BMI isn't everything. It sounds like you are in great fitness. What does your Dr. say? How's the bloodwork? It's going to say more about health risks than only BMI

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 1 points 5 hours ago

Cholesterol was high last time, but normal the time before that. Magnesium was normal this time, but high the time before. Dr. seems to think things are fine (or at least hasn't called me out on anything), with the exception of my BP, which is fine with my current prescription, but will baseline to 150+ if I go off it. BP isn't sodium sensitive; still goes to 150+ on a very low (near minimum) sodium diet.

Definitely a lot better than when I was 330 and didn't have my prescription.

[–] homura1650@lemmy.world 4 points 10 hours ago

Talk to your doctor. BMI is a crude metric that doesn't distinguish between fat and muscle. For understanding population level statistics, this is good enough. But for individuals it can be highly misleading; particularly those that do strength training.

If you wanted to lower your BMI, there is a good chance that stopping all weight lifting would do that for you. But that would probably make you less healthy, despite "improving" your BMI.

[–] dil@lemmy.zip 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

If you want to be toned, don't do max weight low reps, do high reps lower weight and stop trying to get stronger. I lost weight but was just getting physically bigger and not looking more muscular, only my belly and double chin went away but I stayed basically the same size. I felt a lot healthier tho, just generally good and had no issues being active at edm festivals, I quit working out and I looked skinnier after a while, but feel weaker now that it's been two years.

I preferred being bigger and feeling strong over now where I can fit large instead of xl but can't be active for as long without pain. I personally only enjoy the gym when I'm going for a new max weight for every set every week. Ik logically that gaining muscle and lifting heavier should lead to more calories burned naturally and should lead to losing weight and looking less big, but id just gain muscle under my fat layer and look bigger.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not trying to get bigger. I'm following the NIH guidelines to do 1 set of 10 reps and move weight up if/when you can do 2 sets.

I was at 10x280 on the leg press for over a year, but I noticed it getting "too easy" a few weeks ago. Bicep curls still kill my left arm, and I can only do about 60 on those.

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

dude curling 60 is huge. most people can't do 30. you're not gonna be a small guy when you're curling 60

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 1 points 2 hours ago

I think most people give their single-arm / free-weight curl weight. I can only do about 25 on my left arm with that. (My right arm does more and doesn't hurt in the same way.)

The curl machine I use has both hands on the same bar, and that's how I can do 60. I don't mean to be confusing, but I often have trouble talking about lifting because I'm entirely self-taught and didn't start paying attention to what I was doing until I was like 40. (I avoided exercise for most of my life.)

That said, I'm doing more weight than many people in the gym, so I'm not small. On the hip extension and the rotary abdominal / oblique machines, I do the whole stack 170 lbs. and then +20 lbs.

No shade to people no matter what they can lift. Honestly, I'm more proud of what my 93-year-old grandma does, and it is understandably much less. Health the goal, not weight. You just move the weight up to make sure you are continuing to exert.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

why are you talking about weight when you should be measuring body fat?

Weight lifters weigh more because muscle is heavy.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 1 points 10 hours ago

Yeah, I should get an 8-contact machine for home to get good BF% numbers.

That said, it's not hard to find the excess fat on my body, so while I don't have good measurements, I know my BF% is also still too high. I have promised myself that if I can get a visible "6-pack", I'll stop worrying about weight so much, but I doubt that will happen soon.

Weight and BMI are easier for most people (including myself) to habitually track, especially individually. But I agree that BF% is the better metric.

[–] PlantJam@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago

Unfortunately what works for one person might not work for the next. I tried to lose and keep weight off for years without much success, but for me finally getting on thyroid medicine helped get it off for good. Turns out I was snacking because I was so fatigued all the time. It's a frustrating process to try and find what works for you, especially when everyone just says it's all calories in vs calories out.

[–] danc4498@lemmy.world 16 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

“Living with obesity” is a funny way of putting it. I’m living with 3 cats and obesity.

[–] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

We named the skinny one: Obesity. It made a bit more sense when he was younger.

[–] Carnelian@lemmy.world 12 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Oh weird? Wasn’t there a huge headline recently that obesity rates had declined slightly for the first time in history?

[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 19 points 15 hours ago

Maybe that was due to the die-off from COVID.