Average weight has climbed by 20 pounds since 1990, remaking Americans’ idea of the ‘ideal’<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Deanna Neff HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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WEDNESDAY, Jan. 7, 2026 (HealthDay News) \u2014 As the New Year\u2019s resolutions take center stage, a new nationwide poll shows that while a majority of American adults want to be thinner, only a fraction are doing anything about it.<\/p>\n
In all, 52% of Americans want to lose weight but just 26% are making a serious effort to do so, the new West Health-Gallup poll<\/a> found.<\/p>\n This struggle between “wanting” and “doing” has remained remarkably steady for nearly 30 years, pollsters said.<\/p>\n For the eighth straight year, at least 40% of respondents said they were “very or somewhat” overweight (41%). About half considered their weight to be about right, and the rest described themselves as underweight.<\/p>\n The poll underscores a long-term shift in how Americans view their bodies.<\/p>\n Since 1990, average self-reported weight for U.S. men and women rose by 20 pounds to 181. Average weights were 163 for women and 198 for men.<\/p>\n Interestingly, as Americans have gotten heavier, their “target” weights have crept up \u2014 from 149 pounds in 1990 to 165 today.<\/p>\n “As Americans have gained weight,” Gallup said in a news release, “they have adjusted their expectations of what their ideal body weight is.”<\/p>\n Year after year, more women than men have described themselves as overweight \u2014 43% to 37%. (One in 10 Americans polled said they’d like to put on some pounds.)<\/p>\n There was an even bigger gender gap \u2014 12 percentage points \u2014 in desire to do something about the excess pounds. In all, 58% of women said they want to lose weight, compared to 46% of men, a consistent difference since the early 1950s.<\/p>\n The poll underscored ongoing generational differences, as well.<\/p>\n In all, 30% of 18- to 34-year-olds polled described themselves as overweight, compared to 44% of those between 35 and 54, and 45% of respondents over 55.<\/p>\n Despite the proliferation of new weight-loss drugs, the way Americans perceive their bodies hasn’t changed much over the years, pollsters said.<\/p>\n “While the recent rise in use of GLP-1 drugs is linked to a notable decrease in obesity in the U.S., a steady 4 in 10 Americans still report being at least somewhat overweight, and more than half continue to say they would like to lose weight,” they said in a news release. “Yet only half of those who want to lose weight are actively trying to do so.”<\/p>\n The telephone poll was conducted Nov. 3 to 25 among a random sample of 1,321 adults in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n It was conducted by a joint initiative called the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America<\/a>.<\/p>\n More information<\/strong> <\/p>\n The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers tools and tips for weight management<\/a>.<\/p>\n