US teen obesity climbed to 16% over a decade - while fewer adolescents even tried to lose weight

Two trend lines are moving in opposite directions, and both are concerning. Among US high school students, obesity rates have climbed steadily over the past decade. At the same time, fewer teenagers report trying to lose weight. The combination suggests a generation increasingly at risk for lifelong metabolic disease - and decreasingly motivated to do anything about it.

Those are the central findings from a Florida Atlantic University analysis of CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey data spanning 2013 to 2023, published in the Ochsner Journal. The study tracked 85,588 students in grades nine through twelve.

The numbers, broken down

Overall obesity among US high schoolers rose from 13.7% in 2013 to 15.9% in 2023, with a peak of 16.3% in 2021. The overweight category - a step below obesity but still associated with elevated health risks - actually declined over the same period, from 16.6% to 14.7%. That drop was driven largely by decreases among male students.

The racial and ethnic breakdown is stark. Black and Hispanic adolescents consistently had the highest obesity rates, peaking at 21.2% and 20.2% respectively. Asian teens had the lowest rates overall, but their prevalence nearly doubled from 5.6% to 11% - the sharpest relative increase of any group.

Male obesity rates climbed steadily to 18.9% in 2019 before dipping slightly to 18.2% in 2023. Female rates fluctuated between 10.8% and 13.7% across the decade. Among grade levels, 11th graders had the highest obesity prevalence in 2023 at 17.3%.

Trying less, weighing more

Perhaps more alarming than the obesity increase is what is happening with weight-loss attempts. In 2013, 47.7% of high schoolers reported trying to lose weight. By 2023, that had dropped to 44.5%. Female students still reported more weight-loss efforts than males, but the decline was notable in both sexes. The sharpest drops occurred among 10th and 12th graders.

This pattern defies simple explanation. Body positivity movements, which have gained enormous traction on social media over the past decade, may have reduced the stigma around larger body sizes - a positive development in many ways, but one that could also reduce motivation for health-driven weight management. The researchers note that adolescent girls historically experience greater body dissatisfaction, pressures likely amplified by social media comparisons, yet even their weight-loss efforts have fallen.

Charles H. Hennekens, the study's senior author and the First Sir Richard Doll Professor of Medicine at FAU, described the divergence between rising obesity and declining weight-loss attempts as highlighting urgent clinical and public health challenges.

What the data cannot tell us

The study relies on self-reported data from the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which means both the weight classifications and the weight-loss attempts are subject to reporting bias. Teenagers may over- or under-report their weight and their efforts to change it. The survey also does not capture the quality or appropriateness of weight-loss methods, meaning a student who reports "trying to lose weight" could be exercising regularly, skipping meals, or doing something else entirely.

The cross-sectional design means the study tracks population trends, not individual trajectories. It cannot say whether the same students who are gaining weight are also the ones who have stopped trying to lose it.

Obesity was defined using BMI percentiles, which is standard for pediatric populations but imperfect. BMI does not distinguish between muscle and fat mass, and its thresholds may not capture metabolic risk equally across all racial and ethnic groups.

Interventions the researchers recommend

The team argues for school-based programs that build nutrition knowledge, promote positive body image, and support mental health - a combination designed to encourage healthy habits without triggering the eating disorders and body image crises that have historically accompanied weight-focused messaging in schools.

Public health policies, they suggest, should be tailored. Males have higher obesity rates but lower motivation to lose weight. Females are seeing the sharpest declines in weight-loss efforts despite historically higher body dissatisfaction. Different messaging and different interventions may be needed for each group.

The data paint a picture of a generation where higher body weight is becoming normalized at the same time that adolescent engagement with weight management is fading. Whether that normalization reflects a healthy rejection of unrealistic body standards or a dangerous complacency toward metabolic risk is a question the numbers alone cannot answer.