Eric Reed always thought of himself as a “little heavy.” But he really started to gain weight around 2018, after a back injury in Army training and a messy divorce left him struggling emotionally. The pain made it difficult to exercise, and within two years of leaving the military, he put on another 50 pounds.
“I just drank all the time, at least a 12 to 24-pack a week. I was constantly ordering pizza, eating way too much food,” said Mr. Reed, now a 41-year-old medical imaging specialist living in Fairmont, W.Va. At his heaviest, he weighed 358 pounds.
Mr. Reed had been a wrestler in high school but could no longer finish a round of golf with his father. His new wife, Kathleen, loved exploring state parks and kayaking. “I would try to do those things with her,” Mr. Reed said, “and I couldn’t.”
Still, he never thought about seeing a doctor. He was just big, like a lot of his friends, and weight loss felt more like a woman’s concern; in his circles, bringing obesity up was like saying you’re a “vegan at a steakhouse,” he said.
But in 2023, his wife took him to the doctor’s office, where he was prescribed GLP-1 drugs for his Type 2 diabetes and obesity. “If it hadn’t been for her pushing me, I probably wouldn’t have done anything,” Mr. Reed said.
Recent data suggests that around 40 percent of adults in the United States have obesity, which sets the stage for high blood pressure, various forms of cancer and some 200 other complications. Men have similar rates of obesity as women, but they are less likely to seek medical care, making up only about 20 percent of bariatric surgery patients and around 22 percent of people on anti-obesity drugs. If men do take GLP-1 medications, a recent study suggests that they are also more likely to stop using them.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The post Why Obesity Is Killing American Men appeared first on New York Times.
