Chrissy Metz’s Weight Loss: What to Know About the Actress’ Health Journey

Chrissy Metz, who debuted her 100 lb. weight loss in May 2025, announced on Aug. 10 that she is now taking a GLP-1

NEED TO KNOW

• Chrissy Metz began her weight loss journey following a health scare on her 30th birthday
• The This Is Us actress shared in May 2025 that she had lost 100 lbs.

• Metz is using a GLP-1 to manage food cravings and improve mobility and joint pain

Chrissy Metz has been open about struggles with her weight over the years.

“I’ve been chubby all my life,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in January 2017. “I was born chubby, and as I got older, at different times in my life, I was thinner or more active or playing sports, but I was definitely always a chubbier kid.”

The This Is Us star began prioritizing her health after suffering a panic attack on her 30th birthday in 2010. Fifteen years later, Metz told the Daily Mail in April 2025 that she had lost 100 lbs. through changes to her diet and regular exercise.

“I have always enjoyed strength training. I’ve always enjoyed lifting weights … I don’t want to run unless I’m being chased,” Metz told the outlet. “I want to age the best way that I can, and I want to be strong. And that’s really the impetus behind any of it.”

More recently, Metz shared in August 2026 that she decided to try a GLP-1 and became a brand ambassador for Ro — a direct-to-patient digital health company that offers GLP-1 medications, among other treatments.

“I’m not getting any younger,” Metz told PEOPLE of her decision in August 2026. “I’m in perimenopause, and there were obesity issues within my family and with my father, and I felt like I’ve tried so many modalities, whether it was diets or therapy, and none of it really worked for me.”

Here’s everything Chrissy Metz has said about her health journey and weight loss.

Metz has struggled with her weight her entire life

Metz has struggled with her weight for as long as she can remember. As a child, she “would totally gain weight” if she ate the same things as her classmates, the American Horror Story actress told The Hollywood Reporter.

“I had to be really cognizant of what I ate,” she told the outlet. “I don’t necessarily remember being told what not to eat, but I know that it was an issue and it was something that was kind of whispered about because not everybody wanted to really hurt my feelings.”

When she was 11 years old, Metz went to a Weight Watchers program and was “the youngest person” in the room.

In addition to having her own insecurities, Metz has claimed that she dealt with physical and emotional abuse from her stepfather, who allegedly criticized her weight.

“My body seemed to offend him, but he couldn’t help but stare, especially when I was eating,” she wrote in her 2018 memoir, This Is Me. “He joked about putting a lock on the refrigerator. We had lived with a lack of food for so long that when it was there, I felt like I had to eat it before it disappeared. Food was my only happiness.”

Metz’s stepfather’s alleged actions led her to “hide my eating” and eat in the “middle of the night.”

“I’d sneak food to eat in the bathroom,” she wrote. “Cookies, chips. Things I could eat as fast as possible to avoid detection. Things that would give me the brief bliss of numbness.”

Metz claimed that her stepfather’s alleged abuse escalated to the point where he would “hit” parts of her body that “offended him.”

Years later, Metz said that she and her stepfather are now in a good place. “We have a relationship now,” she said. “I do love him, and I do care about him.”

The actress also believes “everything that happened to me, happened for me,” adding, “[I’ve learned] some beautiful lessons.”

She was motivated to lose 100 lbs. after she was hospitalized on her 30th birthday

Metz started her acting career when she was a size 12 and would “always see the same small group of girls,” in audition rooms, as she told PEOPLE in February 2017. Metz then dropped 50 lbs. at the recommendation of her then-manager.

After struggling to secure acting roles, she started working as a junior casting agent, but according to Metz, that worsened her depression. She began “eating my feelings” and gained 100 lbs. during that time period.

In an August 2025 interview with PEOPLE, Metz said she used to turn to food when she needed comfort. “It was my crutch, the love to fill in the holes,” she said. “Food was my thing.”

On her 30th birthday, Metz was about to attend her party when she began feeling heart palpitations and checked herself into the hospital.

“I’m like, ‘What is this? Am I dying? What’s happening?’ “ she said. “It was really scary — really, really, really scary.”

Doctors informed her that she had a panic attack, warning her, “You can’t continue on this path.” The incident caused Metz to prioritize her health.

“I was so gung ho, I lost 100 lbs. in less than five months,” she said. “All I did was eat a 2,000-calorie diet and walk 20 minutes a day.”

Metz has been open about the ups and downs of her weight loss journey

In the midst of her health journey, Metz’s career began to take off.

In 2014, she landed a role on American Horror Story: Freak Show where she played a “fat lady” and wore a fat suit. She said the part was “sobering,” because she did “not want” to end up like her character.

Five years later, Metz starred in the hit NBC drama, This Is Us. In the show, Metz played Kate, a woman who struggled with issues of body image and weight loss.

“You have to use what you have, and I wouldn’t have this role if I had already lost weight,” she told PEOPLE in 2017. “Now it’s about telling a story of a woman struggling with her weight, just as I have and still am.”

In the series, Kate underwent gastric bypass surgery with the goal of losing weight. Metz clarified to PEOPLE at the time that she was never mandated to lose weight for the role, but expressed that she felt motivated to do so.

“Why not have a motivation beyond me to get to a healthy weight?” she said in December 2016. “Every actor does that. We’re chameleons. We change, we grow as an actor … you lose weight, you gain weight, you change your hair or whatever.”

She doesn’t “worry about numbers” on the scale

Metz has tried to focus more on getting healthy than reaching a certain weight.

“I don’t worry about numbers,” she told Marie Claire in March 2017. “It just messes with my mind.”

Metz reiterated her approach at the WrapWomen’s Power Women Summit in October 2019, saying, “Whether I lose weight or I don’t, I don’t really hold onto like a number. I don’t think that’s important.”

In January 2020, Metz told Good Housekeeping that she was prioritizing “progress, not perfection.”

“I’ve battled weight issues, but I realize that I don’t have to beat myself up if I have XYZ food,” she told the publication. “Instead, I change my perspective and think, ‘What is it that I’m angry about?’ since we tend to want crunchy foods when we’re angry or ice cream when we soothe ourselves. All these things I’m just trying to be cognizant of.”

After beginning her health journey, which includes meal prepping and strength training, she told PEOPLE in August 2025 that her goal is now “to live the longest life possible.”

“I know skinniness doesn’t equal happiness. I just want to be health-positive,” Metz continued. “I never said I wanted to be the face of body-positivity. It’s not that I condone morbid obesity or heroin chic. I condone a healthy body.”

She found an exercise routine that worked for her

In April 2025, Metz told the Daily Mail that she’s been enjoying weight lifting.

Her workout sessions vary, but Metz has been “consistent” with lifting weights and tries to “chip away just a little bit every day.” In addition to hitting the gym, Metz also enlisted the help of a personal trainer.

“We have things in common where it’s not just like, ‘Why are you doing this?’ Like I don’t want to be yelled at,” she said. “I want to be lovingly supported in whatever it is that I’m doing.”

Metz explained that she’s exercising because she “want[s] to age the best way that I can.”

“I’m literally doing it because I am nervous about aging, about osteoporosis or arthritis, you know, and because they are now discovering so much about health overall [and] it’s really about being and staying strong and flexible,” she said.

She is taking a GLP-1 after years of skepticism

For years, Metz avoided taking a GLP-1 because she was concerned about potential side effects. But while speaking to PEOPLE in August 2026, she said her experience with the medication has been positive.

“It’s so nice not to be obsessing about what I’m going to have every minute, even as I’m still consuming the meal,” she said. “I just vilified food for so long because I was taught that it was bad, and you shouldn’t eat this or that. And it’s been helping me be more mobile and have less joint pain and inflammation.”

While Metz is optimistic about the results, she isn’t focused on reaching a specific number on the scale.

“I know it’s not a magic wand, and I need to change other things, so I’ve been working with a trainer, and I’m lifting and putting on muscle,” she said. “I just want to feel strong and not have my morning ruined because I stepped on a scale and I’m several pounds above what I think I should be.”

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