First Published in 2017. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an Informa company.

Many people consider their weight to be a personal problem; when, then, does body weight become a social problem? Until recently, the major public concern was whether enough food was consistently available. As food systems began to provide ample and stable amounts of food, questions about food availability were replaced with concerns about "ideal" weights and appearance. These interests were aggregated into public concerns about defining people as "too fat" and "too thin." Social constructionist perspectives can contribute to the understanding of weight problems because they focus attention on how these problems are created, maintained, and promoted within various social environments. While there is much objectivist research concerning weight problems, few studies address the socially constructed aspects of fatness and thinness. This book however draws from and contributes to social constructionist perspectives. The chapters in this volume offer several perspectives that can be used to understand the way society deals with fatness and thinness. The contributors consider historical foundations, medical models, gendered dimensions, institutional components, and collective perspectives. These different perspectives illustrate the multifaceted nature of obesity and eating disorders, providing examples of how a variety of social groups construct weight as a social problem. Jeffery Sobal is Professor, Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University. He is on the board of directors of the Association for the Study of Food and Society and he has Cornell University Graduate Field Membership in the areas of Nutrition, Development Sociology and Epidemiology. Donna Maurer is John S. Knight Postdoctoral Fellow in the Writing Program, Cornell University. She also serves on the board of directors of the Association for the Study of Food and Society and is an adjunct professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland University College. Drs. Sobal and Maurer are coeditors of a companion volume, Interpreting Weight: The Social Management of Fatness and Thinness, and Eating Agendas: Food and Nutrition as Social Problems

By investigating how contemporary cultural discourses of childhood obesity are experienced by children, Laura Backstrom illustrates how deeply fat stigma is internalized during the early socialization experiences of children. Weighty Problems finds that embodied inequality is constructed and negotiated through a number of interactional processes including resocialization, stigma management, social comparisons, and attribution.

Solution to the Country’s Weighty Problems: The Body Mass Index Reduction Program, (BMIRP) is a tongue in cheek book with hilarious illustrations suggesting the enactment of a federally mandated weight -reduction program to address the obesity epidemic in the U.S. The author presented in 2012 components of the program which have since been implemented by various governmental agencies and airlines, including charging fees based upon weight and Body Mass .and restrictions on access to facilities to those with excessive Body Mass He brings to the forefront problems, such as: debt and budget crisis, threatening national bankruptcy; trade deficit; reliance upon foreign oil, and its economic and national security threats; global warming, environmental pollution, energy conservation; out of control health care costs and declining health; corpulence and enhanced weight epidemic; and deteriorating national infrastructure. For less than the cost of a trip to the Golden Corral or other comparable “all- you- can- eat” buffet restaurant, or the cost of a “Big Mac” or “Whopper” with fries, the reader is exposed to a pragmatic, innovative, comprehensive, non-political, non-idealogical program to address the nation’s monumental problems.

Sociologists, psychologists, and nutritionists explore how people construct fatness and thinness. They examine different strategies used to interpret body weight, such as negotiating weight identities, reinterpreting weight, and becoming involved in weight-related organizations. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Weight of Images explores the ways in which media images can train their viewers’ bodies. Proposing a shift away from an understanding of spectatorship as being constituted by acts of the mind, this book favours a theorization of relations between bodies and images as visceral, affective engagements that shape our body image - with close attention to one particularly charged bodily characteristic in contemporary western culture: fat. The first mapping of the ways in which fat, gendered bodies are represented across a variety of media forms and genres, from reality television to Hollywood movies, from TV sitcoms to documentaries, from print magazine and news media to online pornography, The Weight of Images contends that media images of fat bodies are never only about fat; rather, they are about our relation to corporeal vulnerability overall. A ground-breaking volume, engaging with a rich variety of media and cultural texts, whilst examining the possibilities of critical auto-ethnography to unravel how body images take shape affectively between bodies and images, this book will appeal to scholars and students of sociology, media, cultural and gender studies, with interests in embodiment and affect.

Created by registered dietician, Kathy Keenan Isoldi, and the editors of Woman's Day, this is an expanded version of the most popular and successful weight-loss plan that Woman's Day has ever published. The 10 easy steps will give you all the knowledge and tools you need to achieve your weight-loss goals, and maintain them!Women face unique challenges while trying to achieve a healthier weight and lifestyle. Whether you're trying to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight or shed those pesky last 10 pounds, you'll find support and guidance within the pages of this book. The Woman's Day Guide to Lasting Weight Loss offers a friendly plan that you can incorporate into your busy life. Practical tips and trouble-shooting charts will help you navigate around the many obstacles women face while trying to eat healthier, increase physical activity and improve health.Nutrient-packed, easy-to-prepare recipes, daily menu plans, worksheets and best food choice lists will help you set yourself up for success. Follow the 10 steps outlined in the book and explore how wonderful it feels to eat well, lose weight, improve your energy level, and feel great everyday.