“Obesities”: Experiences and perspectives across weight trajectories

Abstract

Fatness or weight deemed excessive is pathologised as “obesity.” “Obese” individuals are subject to stigma and exhorted to lose weight to improve health. Coping with supposedly excess weight, whether one prioritises self-acceptance or weight loss, is often a lifelong struggle; its effects on identity may persist regardless of (often transient) weight changes. This ethnographic study used participant-observation and repeated in-depth interviews (4) to explore health perceptions, lifestyles, and lived experiences of individuals self-identifying as obese or formerly obese (n = 15), over time and across different weight trajectories. A typology was constructed to categorise different types of “obesities” that emerged in the study: The Hopeful, the Despairing, the Resigned, and the Accepting. These types demonstrated characteristic approaches to weight loss, fears, hopes, and stigma experiences, but they were not static categories, and participants remained highly ambivalent regarding size and health. Based on alterations in circumstances and weight trajectories, individuals’ subjectivities altered to best cope with changed weight and health statuses, life circumstances, and on-going, damaging stigma. Overall, participants were dedicated to health and wellbeing and had developed multifaceted coping mechanisms for dealing with stigma and societal misunderstandings of their lifestyles and priorities.

Keywords:

• obesity
• weight change
• weight trajectories
• health perceptions
• ethnography
• lived experience

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to the study participants and for commentary from Drs. Sharon Bruce, Moss Norman, Deborah McPhail, Lawrence Elliot, and Megan Warin. The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Manitoba Health Research Council (MHRC) (2010–2012), Western Regional Training Centre for Health Services Research (WRTC) (2010–2011), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Doctoral Research Award (2012–2014).