Since the early 1950s, obesity has been claimed by some to be America’s foremost health problem (Bennett and Gurin 1982). Considerable research has been conducted on many of the issues relating to matters of obesity and overweight: its prevalence and distribution, its putative causes, the attendant discrimination, the economic and health costs involved in treating obesity, its role in mortality and morbidity, as well as its psychological goals and meanings (Allon 1982; Bouchard 1990; Kuczmarski, Flegal, Campbell, and Johnson 1994; Manson et al. 1995; Orbach 1978; Stunkard 1988; Wolf and Colditz 1994). And, of course, the remedies and solutions to excess weight have also engrossed the lay public’s mind. By the turn of the century, it is estimated Americans will have spent $77 billion on the pursuit of weight loss (Rodin 1992:166).