ABSTRACT
Across the world, the relationship between weight and health is often reduced to a number, such as body mass index (BMI), and measures of rising obesity. This chapter presents a more holistic approach. It describes how higher body weight and greater waist circumference are associated with greater illness and early death. It examines the physical and psychosocial consequences of being overweight and having excess body fat as well as being underweight to the point of starvation. The UK promotes weight gain through an obesogenic environment and weight loss through weight stigma and the idealised images of fashion, media and culture. Obesity sits beside eating disorders; food abundance beside food insecurity. The chapter reports some people’s experiences of weight and shows how weight, and perceptions of weight, challenge their quality of life. It concludes by reflecting on what a healthy weight means.
