I've been posting on this subject for about a year. I work in healthcare and I'm very familiar with gastric bypass, diabetes, weight-loss strategies and fitness. I'm not making a judgment for or against Ozempic-like drugs for weight-loss, but I contend that they are going to change society quite a bit AND that way more people are using them than you think.

https://www.ft.com/content/70633f93-fb82-41e3-9aca-6644334a587b?sharetype=blocked

This article is behind a paywall, but TLDR:
GLP-1s, among other factors, seems to be driving a shift among gym user preferences from cardio to strength machines
GLP-1s, among other factors, don't seem to reducing foot traffic growth among commercial fitness centers: Foot traffic to popular US gym chains Crunch Fitness and EoS Fitness is up by double-digits year on year. Planet Fitness has added 2.7mn members since the start of 2023 and improved its profit margins.

One of my theories a year ago was that it is NOT a good time to be a personal trainer or in the fitness business, because instead of everyone signing up for a gym and personal trainer on January 1st, they are just going to take Ozempic instead. I was half right:) MORE people are going to the gym now, however, they are not doing cardio they are doing strength.

I also used to be a group fitness instructor and avid Orange Theory Fitness member and advocate. Orange Theory is hemorrhaging members and closing up everywhere. Why? No one wants to do cardio anymore (OTF is mostly cardio even though they claim it's weights too, it's really 80% cardio because even the weights are low weight/high reps). Why spend a miserable 50 minutes burning 400 calories on the treadmill and rower (and yes it's miserable even when the music is good) when you can just take ozempic instead? On the other hand, if you just take ozempic but do not lift weights the stats are alarming in terms of losing muscle mass and you look terrible... so the future appears to be Ozempic for weight loss combined with heavy weights for the perfect body.

Some other thoughts....
There exists a large segment of society who just doesn't go to big box gyms because they are overweight and feel self conscious and don't like feeling "judged". Now, with Ozempic they lose some weight and feel better about themselves and are signing up for gyms. I think we should agree this is a positive thing. The more the merrier plus these people being active and lifting weights will be great for their long term health down the line vs. living a sedentary lifestyle.

Ozempic is like plastic surgery... When done right you don't even notice it. I live in Florida which inspired the TV show "Cougartown." So many people here are on Ozempic. But it is rarely who you think, it isn't people who are morbidly obese and need to lose 80 pounds, but rather to lose those last 10 pounds of stubborn fat. My wife's friend posts IG picks of how she is working so hard with a personal trainer to finally get under 10% bodyfat for the first time in her life, but she is just taking Ozempic. My wife did the same thing before our trip to Tahiti. You can get these drugs from Brazil or compound pharmacies for $100 for a month. There are so many 40 year old women around here with visible abs for the first time in their lives. There's a funny episode of South Park about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLFvTg11kdQ

Which brings me to the last trend... I think that having an amazing physique is no longer going to be a competitive advantage, it is going to be table stakes. It's just easier nowadays to look great. You don't have to be a super model who starves herself on 700 calories a day or be a guy who is a bodybuilder and lives in the gym and eats special macro meals. "Average Joes" can look amazing with a combo of occasional ozempic (one or two months a year) plus strength training. So if you were gliding by on having a sexy body maybe it's time to get a personality because everyone else will have a sexy body too.