Less than half of U.S. adults met federal guidelines for aerobic physical activity in 2024, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Health. Providers said the trend reflects broader challenges around weight, chronic disease and access to preventive care.
The report found 47.2% of adults met weekly aerobic activity recommendations: either 150 minutes or more of moderate intensity activity such as biking or swimming, 75 minutes of vigorous activity such as running, or a combination of both levels.
The rate of people who met the recommended activity was lower among those with obesity, at about 38%.
Adults in the South, including Virginia, were less likely to meet federal aerobic activity guidelines than those in the West and Northeast, according to the data.
Liz Morgan, a nurse practitioner at a CVS MinuteClinic in Richmond, said the finding reflects what she sees among patients trying to manage their weight while balancing work, daily responsibilities and limited access to routine care.
“Weight loss is a really hard thing,” Morgan said. “But obesity increases your risk of hypertension, which is high blood pressure, increased cholesterol, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and those certain cancers.”
Though MinuteClinic expanded its weight loss program, including medications like GLP 1 drugs for some patients, the program is not offered at a local physical MinuteClinic location in Hampton Roads.
Instead, patients can access services virtually, which Morgan said can help people who face long waits for in-person weight management primary care or have trouble traveling for in-person appointments.
During treatments, patients receive a personalized plan that includes nutrition guidance, lifestyle coaching, physical activity goals and medication when clinically appropriate.
Morgan said people should consider weight loss if they have a body mass index over 30, or a BMI over 27 in addition to other chronic conditions.
“So losing about five to 10% of your total body weight can help to improve your blood sugar, your cholesterol, your blood pressure, and all of those things are chronic conditions that are linked to obesity,” Morgan said.
But getting support for weight management can be difficult for patients who do not have regular access to in-person weight management.
Morgan said some patients she sees have waited seven or eight months, and sometimes up to a year, to get into in-person care for weight management.
The challenge comes as local health leaders are looking at how nutrition and lifestyle can play a larger role in preventing chronic disease.
Old Dominion University recently launched a Nutrition Science and Lifestyle Medicine Institute focused on training future health care workers to address nutrition, physical activity and chronic disease prevention as part of patient care.
A WHRO interview with university leaders found chronic disease weighs heavily on Hampton Roads, where roughly 13% of adults have diabetes and nearly 38% are obese, both above the state average.
Alfred Abuhamad, ODU’s executive vice president for health sciences, said lifestyle medicine looks beyond a patient’s immediate symptoms.
“The concept is to focus not only on the symptom that the patient is coming with, but also what is causing the symptom and what’s causing the disease,” Abuhamad told WHRO in December.
