Most participants made a clear delineation between the terms
healthy weight, overweight, and obese. Being at a healthy weight was defined as “when your jeans fit right” and “not
feeling sluggish.” Overweight was considered to be “just a few
pounds over where you want to be.” “When you are overweight
you can lose weight if you want to.” A few women
expressed extreme views of obesity. “Obesity is when you’re
like 300 pounds and even 600 pounds.” “You can’t take a
shower or tie your shoelaces.” One woman pointed out that
obese people had the “jiggly” kind of fat rather than the “solid”
kind of fat when one is overweight