Hello, welcome to Roundtable where we serve up piping hot debates on the issues that sizzle in China and beyond.
I'm Niu Honglin.
If body weight management was once a private struggle, 2025 has made it a public dialogue.
A social shift among young Chinese are quietly happening.
The majority of Gen Zers still want to manage their weight, but motivations have evolved from the gaze of others to self-discipline and better health.
Exercise dominates, social media provides accountability, and AI even lends emotional companionship.
It's no longer about fitness.
It's now about the psychology of modern youth.
What does it mean when losing weight becomes a metaphor for regaining control in an unpredictable world?
Let's go to the bottom of it in today's roundtable.
For today's show, I'm joined by Yang Yang and Steve Hallerly.
So Yang Yang, this is your first time on the show.
Excited, our new friend.
Hello, welcome to the show.
So tell us what you usually do when you're not on Roundtable.
Well, you might not see me in the Roundtable show before, but I'm actually in the Roundtable team doing lots of other stuff.
For example, running my social media accounts on Facebook and other platforms.
And also I've done some interviews, doing some short videos.
Basically busy, but not in a radio form.
Not on the mic, yeah.
Not just, yeah, but... Yeah, but starting today.
His first time.
Yeah, for our audience, Yang Yang is one of the essential members of our team and he's with us every single day, helping us out with our stories and uh, he's always been there, but now you're meeting him for the first time.
This is cool.
This is cool, and if you have been a follower for not only our podcast shows but also the social media accounts, you must have seen him already.
He's provided us with some really cool content, videos and stuff.
Yeah, and you've done interviews.
In fact, you and i did a segment together where you had gone to a movie festival, i think, and that segment appeared on roundtable too as well.
Yeah yeah, but this is your first time officially here, so welcome, very excited, thanks for having me, though i do not think it could be a topic that you can personally relate to.
For those of you who want to know Yang Yang,
Oh, thanks.
Well, you have life experience for too long.
You must have periods, because I have periods in my life that I've been working with this issue, but we'll talk about it.
So, for our dear listeners, now grab your virtual compass and follow us to the heart of the discussion.
It's 10 p.m.
The gym, lights are dimming and a young woman is still running earphones in sweat dripping and no sign of stopping.
She is not training for a race or chasing someone's approval.
She is simply reclaiming her rhythm.
Across China, millions of young people are doing the same, turning weight loss from a battle against calories into a declaration of self-control.
According to a latest online report, it's no longer about fitting a number on the scale, but about feeling in charge again.
When young people talk about slimming down today, what they're really talking about is how to live better lighter, both in body and in mind.
And I have to ask, is this true?
And what's driving this trend here in China?
Yeah, we're going to get into it.
And I guess the focus of our conversation today is going to be on Gen Z.
But in my experience over the last year and a bit going to the gym and Number one, I've seen them become busier month after month after month after month.
There are more and more people.
So I've seen firsthand this wellness trend, at least in terms of the number of people in the gym.
But I also wanted to say that it's not exclusively young people.
I'm seeing grandmas and grandpas in the gym doing what they can to keep their health up to snuff, if you will.
And you said 10 p.m. and the gym lights are dimming.
Not these days.
No, I'm a member of a 24-hour gym now.
And, you know, I tried to strategize.
I don't like being at the gym when it's extra busy.
So I tried to strategize by going, maybe at 10 pm, 1030 pm thinking oh, we're going to be the only people there.
Uh-uh.
No.
It's busy at that time too.
Yeah, but let's get into it.
You said it is a wellness trend amongst the youth here in the country.
There was a report that came out from a popular social media app here in the country.
It's called Soul.
And what they did was they talked to over 2,200 respondents, young respondents.
Most of these respondents were Gen Z users.
And this is what they found.
Nearly 80% of young people, they want to lose weight.
That is on their list of things to do.
But more than half of those respondents Gen Z respondents have already started doing something about that.
But the reason is not because someone told them to, or the media told them to, or social media told them to.
It's not about that.
They're doing it for themselves.
And the motivation, it's gone from external judgment to internal motivation.
I think in the past few years 10 years or We could have found reasons from surveys that suggested young people wanted to lose weight because they felt pressure.
They have a certain goal or aim on the scale.
Not just that, more than that.
External pressures, like social media.
You know, looking at different celebrities or different influencers and seeing them pushing their beauty on other people in the sense that oh, I should look like that too.
I should feel like that, too.
I feel pressured to look like that.
But that's not what it's about these days.
It's coming from the inside.
60, almost 60 of young people.
They see it as a way to manage themselves and take control of their life.
A couple of more statistics here.
48%, almost 50% see it as a necessary part of maintaining their health.
31.
This is interesting.
They treat it as a ritual to kind of reset, hit the reset button on their lifestyle.
And a very small percentage only 16 feel that they are being influenced by societal beauty standards.
So this is a change in attitude.
The desire to take care of yourself and look good is still there, but the reasons for that are now a little different, Especially for girls, because just a few years ago, you may find some really popular ideas online.
Like, girls should weigh under 50 kilograms.
Oh, I remember that, yes.
What was that?
When was that?
That was in the media?
That was a very common expression, because Chinese people use a different way of weighing weight.
For example, 50 kilograms in Chinese, jin would be 100.
It's a round number, it looks...
Yeah, it looks neat.
And people say, yes, it's easier to remember.
And people say that that is the benchmark, regardless of how tall you are, of the kind of body structure you have, whether or not you're curvy, which is why it's really not the kind of healthy standards or, let's say, scientific standards that people should hold.
But that is fading.
It's no longer the situation in your generation.
Yeah, it's no longer the common belief.
The new attitude is like, I'm doing this for me, just like what Steve has said, not for the mirror.
And the data really backs it up.
The report shows that averaged ideal weight for women is about 102 jing, that is about 51 kilograms, and for men it's about 133 jing, which is about 60 around like 67 kilograms.
Yeah, so women are still more self-critical, but the confidence is rising, especially among those born after 2005.
And I think, speaking of the common belief about their weight, I think before we don't have really that kind of a critical angle for men.
So it's basically women or girls are doing the losing weight stuff, but men they never talk about how much they should weight.
But right now, I think men are gradually grabbing up the trend.
They want to be muscular as well.
Good.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's a good point.
I guess there's never, and I'm trying to think of Western media too, or things from Western social media.
Has there been a number of.
You know I have to weigh a certain amount of pounds or kilograms or something like that.
No, I don't think so.
But the idea of still looking muscular and being on the on the bigger side, rather on the thinner side, I think that's been a concept in Western media, Western social media advertisements, for a long time.
I want to ask, do both of you hit the gym regularly?
Yes, recently, yes.
How many days a week?
My ideal, my ideal state is like four to five times a week.
Well, my ideal is I would live at the gym, but...
How often?
24 hour gym is definitely for you.
Yeah, no, I wish.
Yeah, I have an on again, off again relationship with the gym.
I'll go every single day almost for a period of time, but then I just feel a little tired of it.
So I'll stop for a few weeks and then I'll go back after that.
But generally speaking, yeah, what I'd like is like four to five days a week.
What are your motivations then?
Well, for me, one of the big motivations is mental health.
It makes me feel good.
It makes me feel alert, makes me feel alive, makes me feel confident about myself.
My clothes fit a little bit better.
And also, I mean this is a deeply personal thing and I hope no one's offended by this, because it's only my opinion.
But I'm married and I believe that it is part of my responsibility to look good.
Try to look good for my wife.
I wish all the men can be like you.
Circumstances are totally different, right?
And it depends on the personal situation.
That's just a personal belief.
The reason I'm saying that is because that's the mentality of a lot of women.
But I don't think enough men are feeling that way.
Women would in general want to look good for your significant other.
And that is why I wish more percentage of men can have that mentality at least, or having it as a motivation.
Yeah, but you know, that being said, it's different when people have four kids and a job and family responsibilities and all these types of things.
Of course, you can just occasionally wash your face more carefully.
That would do for us as well.
One step at a time.
How about you, Yangyang?
Well, at first, this may be a little bit shallow.
I just want myself to look good.
It's good.
It's a good reason.
Yeah, especially I was a slim guy, if not skinny before.
When I tried on the different clothes, I wouldn't always fit.
So I just want me to be like bigger in size.
Ah, building a little bit muscle.
Yes, yes.
To be more like in good shape.
Yeah, but after hitting the gym a little while, I started to feel what Steve has said.
Those like... inner motivation.
I feel confident and I feel alive and also I feel energetic after hitting the gym.
Yeah.
Ironically, the gym gives you more energy.
That's why I'm asking these questions to both of you.
Because previously I think two or three years ago we've had the discussion about hitting the gym, running marathon, picking up a new language, buying a new car.
That is some signs for mid age crisis.
Because people around that period started to feel like when I'm working and working so hard and I need a little more energy to feel that I am capable of doing what I used to do,
And also they are very pressured and they feel like life is a lot and learning a language or running marathon or exercising makes them feel like there is a little reset button in their lifestyle.
So they're regaining control in their life.
And we're looking at this trend in young people.
Of course, young people are very energetic already and they do not really need the way that mid-age people need, the kind of motivation.
But it's good to see that people are picking up a healthier lifestyle and are being a bit more control freak in a good way about their lives, especially when China talks about being more aware of our health and taking care of one's health management individually as a national initiative.
Yes, and that was launched in 2024 by China's National Health Commission and other 15 other departments.
The National Level Weight Management Initiative aims to promote healthy lifestyles over a three-year period.
Goals include raising public awareness and skills for weight management, creating a supportive environment and gradually improving the weight status of certain populations.
And speaking of those certain populations, this is a little bit surprising to me because, as of 2021, China had 402 million adults aged 25 and above who were overweight or obese, which is the highest numbered in the world.
Yeah, you have to take those numbers with a grain of salt, because China's population is 14 billion people.
So it does make sense that you're going to have a higher number.
But even with that being said, sure, it does make sense to have some plans in place.
I found a report from this year, McKinsey.
They put out their fourth future of wellness research report.
And what that does is it focuses on six dimensions of wellness.
There's health, there's sleep, nutrition, fitness, appearance, and mindfulness.
And what they did was they surveyed more than 9000 consumers across Germany and the UK and the US, and in China too.
And there were two big ideas that stood out from this year's research.
Younger consumers are now conceptualizing wellness in new and different ways.
And wellness is also showing up in new places.
84% of the US consumers they talked to said that wellness is a top or important priority.
In the UK, that figure was 79%.
And in China, that went up to 94%.
So for Gen Z, wellness is almost priority number one.
Yes, and we've seen this trend or this phenomenon in different topics on Roundtable, when we talk about controlling your body weight so that you go away or you avoid chronic diseases.
We've talked about this and also healthier lifestyle, healthier food and snack choices.
Labeling up our snacks that you see in the supermarket with a degree of sometimes sugar containing in the snack or calories in the snack that has jumped up.
So definitely this trend is happening here.
And one other topic we mentioned earlier roundtable is more people are taking part in different types of sports, sometimes even extreme sports, where rock climbing has been one of the things that people are doing, but in general, i think men and women have different, uh preferences in exercising or allowing this one item of sports in their everyday life.
Both of you hit the gym, so are there any of these trends happening as well?
Well, i think there are plenty of um overlapping trends too.
For example and we can see this every single night outside of our studios here Cycling has to be.
I don't know of any statistics about cycling, but at nighttime, with the roads separated between the cars and the cycles of bicycles, it's a massive hobby for people, men and women alike, and people of all ages too.
So that has to be one, but another would be running.
46% in terms of the respondents to the survey said that running was their go-to choice for exercise.
And this makes sense because this is really easy to start.
I mean, you could do it immediately.
You don't need a gym for this.
When you say 46%, you're talking about 46% of men.
This is guys.
Yes.
But I don't know if we'd find massive statistical differences for men and women when it comes to running, because it's a shared hobby, it sees.
But yeah, you're right.
That statistic is for men.
There was a report from gmw.cn.
And according to their consumer research from a major sports brand here in China, a lot of young people are embracing urban night, running alongside the cyclists, I suppose.
And this has a lot to do, I think, with the really convenient infrastructure.
There are places within Beijing, and I'm sure other major cities too, that are just so convenient for people to go for a run or or a cycle at night.
And a lot of parks.
Public parks here in Beijing and around China are open to public, start with free of charge and also 24 hours.
So a lot of people would like to run in a park.
And in those parks there are tracks telling you how many meters you've already covered in different labs.
And the lighting would be better in the parks.
And of course, the air would be better.
So yeah, the condition is quite good.
Yeah, I think there's a lot of running events held in China, too.
Yes, well, infrastructure is one thing, but I think the whole running atmosphere is good as well.
For example, according to 36KR, in 2024, China held 749 road running events across the country.
The total participation reached approximately 7.01 million people.
This reflects the growing popularity of running as a mainstream fitness activity and social activity among the public as well.
Yep.
The gym, we talked about that a little bit.
There was a report that said by 2025, China is now the world's largest fitness population.
Going back a few years, this trend had already really started.
In 2022, almost 375 million people in China were exercising at least Twice a week.
There was another report from another media outlet that said in 2025, there were 160000 fitness venues nationwide, filled up with 87 million members.
That's over 25% growth from a year before.
More gyms, more places to exercise, longer hours available to exercise, even within our neighborhood, where we are.
I can think of two 24-hour gyms that are within walking distance.
We can use an entire segment of Roundtable to talk about the new trends in the gyms.
On top of 24 hour gyms there are different, very customized and personal kind of training sessions you can get.
Not only the session you can pick.
They can design sessions for you with the help of artificial intelligence, and also short term memberships and companion with different apps, and your online friends you have never met yet are exercising with you and sometimes even comparing notes.
These are all happening in the in the four walls of the gym that you sign up for.
But there are other ones as well.
For example, I heard that men are into hiking.
Yes well, hiking.
Well, this is like an outdoor sea adventures, especially weekend trips, combining fitness with nature, escape and socializing activities.
Those are very popular among Gen Z, especially for men.
According to a CCTV report in 2024, that over 20 million registered users in all kinds of mobile apps in china.
Among the top five apps with the most new users, four are related to hiking or just simply walking.
That's a trend.
That's a trend in america as well.
I was reading about that.
They said that um, one of the reasons for the increase in the popularity of hiking is related to work, because people are able to work remotely more now than they could in the past, which means they can live where they want to, which means they can live near areas that are friendly for hiking.
So more and more young people are taking it up in America as well.
Anyway, those are all the stats from the guys' side.
Let's see what the ladies are into.
Dance fitness.
I do that.
I have two left feet, so I can't really dance.
Hold on now, because the last fitness update we got from you, you were exercising at home, right?
You said you had started.
Boxing machine, yes.
But that wasn't the dance fitness.
That's not the dance fitness.
But for me, running is not really the best option because I find it a little bit boring.
I think it's the mentality of many people.
That is, we want something that is fun that you can play with.
And dancing is one of it for sure, because with the music, with the rhythm and everything just clicks at that time.
The boxing one is also with music.
So it's a boxing machine I hang up on the wall.
And with certain music, you hit the designated areas on the machine.
So technically speaking, also has something to do with music.
And this one I do at home and light home-based exercises is also favored by female.
Previously we were talking about it and we thought maybe it has something to do with Sometimes girls are a bit too shy and sometimes they do not want to hit the gyms because the machine is too heavy and it's not an entry level kind of exercise as well.
That's not true for a lot of female exercises.
They exercisers, they are quite shy. enthusiastic and quite professional.
But one thing I realized these days is that when I'm at home after exercising, I can hit the bathroom immediately.
It's more comfortable.
But still, we see more women hitting the gym as well.
Yeah.
And we gave the stat about dance fitness 31%.
The places that I've exercised at two different gyms so far here in beijing, and both offer dance classes, and those classes are often filled with young and and old, older people um, so it's obviously really popular because you've got different programs right, you've got zumba, you've got your tiktok dances, and then you've got your your um, maybe k-pop dances or whatever idol dances are hot at the at that particular moment.
It's not just dancing, though.
There are classes for Pilates and yoga and body weight routines.
Calisthenics for flexibility and convenience.
Have you ever done a yoga class before, Yang Yang?
Well, actually, no.
It's a lot harder than you think it is.
Yes.
Well, that's what I heard.
But my simple priority is to gain muscle.
Yeah.
Oh, you can get muscles from doing yoga.
Trust me.
Yeah.
But I brought that up.
Because that was mixed with men and women as well.
And also younger and older people as well.
There was another report.
There's so many media reports to talk about.
When it comes to fitness, because it's covered almost every single day, it feels like
But there was one from this year that said that women's participation in gyms, it is on the rise.
Maybe you were right when you said in your homeland that you know for women.
For many people the gym can be an intimidating place, especially if you're not familiar with the equipment inside or how to use it or things like that.
But I think that that fear may be going away, particularly among female members, because it's one of the major statistics on the rise these days.
One of the big gyms here in terms of female membership grew 20% year on year.
And the age distribution among those new members shows that both young 18 to 25 there was 174 increase in members there.
But also older women, 36 to 40, made up 10%.
And then over 40 also made up 10%, actually almost 11%.
So more and more people are getting into the gym.
More and more women are getting inside that gym.
Yes, and among that group of people, a lot of young people.
What are young people doing differently compared to the professional gym hitters?
Well, there are a lot of trends and a lot of things that Gen Z are doing differently from traditional losing weight routines.
For Gen Z, starting a fitness journey isn't just about goals.
It's about personal statement and lifestyle choices.
Wow, big words.
Yeah.
Well, for example, a report shows about 30 dive into spontaneous workouts, showing a preference for flexibility and immediacy over rigid schedules.
And over 20 and about 20 take before photos, turning progress tracking into a visual, almost social ritual.
Do you do that?
Yes, often.
Wait, you take pictures of yourself at the gym?
Before and after?
Yes, before and after.
And that is a suggestion from my coaches as well.
It's kind of like saying to the world, I'm doing this.
And if one day I didn't do this, I have this problem feeling that people who have been following me would know i didn't go to the gym so i better go.
Is that the mentality?
For me personally, the mentality is like i just want to see the difference.
The photos is the most direct way to like show whether, if my muscle grow bigger or not, i use a scale.
I don't take pictures.
Yeah scale, i have a scale.
Yeah, that's more scientific.
It sounds scientific in my house and i weigh myself, like i don't know, once every day no, once a week about um, just to see if there's any difference in anything there, and then about once every three, Four or five months I'll use it.
What do you call that machine at the gym?
If you get a trainer, it's like one of the first things you do.
You take your shoes off and you step on it and then you hold the handles and it measures your BMI and things like that.
Yeah, I do that maybe once every six months, just kind of a check-in thing see how I'm doing or how bad.
Yours is like responsible, scientific and a little bit boring.
So I'm going to go to Yangyang.
Once you take your picture, do you also post them online?
No, no.
Because they're not big enough to show.
The muscles aren't there yet.
Yeah, yeah.
It's on the way.
It's on the road.
But it's not just about and we talked about this in the beginning it's not just about looking hot these days anymore.
The 30 that are doing these spontaneous workouts and the 20 that are taking before and after workouts and the 9 that are sharing online challenges are.
They're doing that for different reasons for accountability, but they're also doing it for social engagement, which I think this is an interesting kind of side trend to this, because there's a couple of different benefits.
If you're a member of a group chat or a group. that has similar exercise goals.
Yep.
You can make friends there, but it also helps to keep yourself accountable or hold yourself accountable, because that's one of the most challenging things when we're talking about exercise or self-improvement in general.
It's just if you have goals and you're you're on the path to reaching them.
Consistency is a difficult thing to maintain because you're the only person in charge of that.
But if you have other people in a group who are holding you accountable for what you're doing, that's another side benefit of this too.
Any challenges though, because we know trend comes and go and we want this trend to stay a bit longer because it's healthy.
It's nice.
It's good for individual and the society.
So any challenges that young people currently face if they want to continue this trend and maybe make it a continuity in their life instead of just a trend.
Well, I think the biggest challenge is just inconsistent motivation.
According to the report, the first three months are the make or break period.
About 60% give up within that window.
Only 26% stay consistent.
And only 4.5% manage to keep going for over a year.
Yeah, I started like 10 times and failed like 11, so.
But you also started again 10 times.
Yeah, I think that's the hard thing.
Continuity.
Because it's such a challenge, isn't it?
Because people are busy with their schedule study or work schedules.
And after you finish work, or even when you wake up in the morning, if it's super early before you go to work.
I mean that takes a large amount of motivation to get yourself into that gym.
But I think another major challenge when it comes to this type of thing is not just the continuity, but also keeping the motivation after you've achieved a certain level.
When you make a goal for yourself, then if you achieve that, there's two things.
Number one, you can achieve that goal.
And if you feel like you've achieved it, then you feel like, oh, okay, I'm done.
I did it.
And then you can stop.
Or if you didn't achieve it, then you feel like, oh, I failed.
This is a waste of time.
So I think the main point there and this is something that I struggle with too is And this is what a trainer taught me
You have to make exercise or self-improvement not just something you're doing but a part of who you are.
You see the difference there?
If it's just something you're doing, then it's just like I'm going to read 10 books by the end of the year.
And if you do it, then it's done and it's not a part of you as a person.
But if you keep it going... then it becomes a part of your lifestyle as a whole.
But that is not easy to do.
That is not easy.
And I've heard similar advices.
They say you have to trick yourself into doing it.
Every morning you say, I am a person who would hit the gym for one hour every day.
I'm just that person.
And you do it for a certain period of time and becomes part of you.
Is there any trick that you do so that you can stay exercising or keeping exercising your life Yangyang?
Well, currently, I haven't reached those bottleneck yet.
You just enjoy doing it.
Yeah, my motivations are still there.
Yeah, keeps motivating me to the gym.
What's your favorite and least favorite exercise in the gym?
My least favorite exercise in the gym is running because it's so boring.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I think my favorite gym sport will be any strength training.
I think they're all fun.
Nice.
Especially with machines.
I think the machines are fixed.
They're easy.
You just have to use your power to...
Repeat the same movement for hundreds of times?
Yeah.
Yeah, it'll do.
Okay, the reason I'm asking this is because I think, at the end of the day, the final or the ultimate motivation is that you enjoy doing it.
It's no longer something that you force yourself to do.
It's becoming something that you look forward to.
You look forward to hit the gym after work and you work even harder because you want to finish it and then go to the gym.
It's like...
Watching your favorite sitcom.
It's like sitting in the couch.
Enjoy your favorite fruit bowl.
It's something that you enjoy doing.
And hopefully that can be the new trend for not only the young generation here in China, but everybody.
So that you get to have more control of your life, of your energy, and enjoy it even more.
100% agree.
