Extreme Weight Loss: Life Before and After Bariatric Surgery

Review\n"While this accessible and empathic ethnography of a cohort of bariatric surgery patients describes the extremes of obesity and of body transformation, it speaks to our wider struggle with weight control and disordered eating. The authors present a sophisticated anthropological analysis of the social, economic, political, and psychological consequences of being “fat” in the US, yet they never lose sight of the voices of the patient-participants and their hopes and challenges through their bariatric surgery journey. Extreme Weight Loss is a must-read for anyone concerned with the body, stigma, and surveillance in the 21st century." -- Tina Moffat, co-editor of Human Diet and Nutrition in Biocultural Perspective: Past Meets Present\n"Extreme Weight Loss is that rare book that tells us not only about its subject, but also serves as a prism through which to view some of the cultural patterns that characterize a society. For anyone interested in women undergoing bariatric surgery and the clinical settings in which this takes place, this ethnographic study is jam-packed with rich, nuanced detail. The authors take us on a journey into a culture where, despite contemporary rhetoric on valuing all bodies, thinness ideals remain intractable, fat bodies continue to be pathologized, and the ability to lose weight – or not – is a moral status. The bariatric patients described here are not victims: they are deeply aware of the ways in which they are circumscribed by cultural ideals that render them unwell and unworthy. The real power of this book is in what we learn about why these women submit to the judgement, surveillance, and intervention that our society imposes on those deemed unfit. This is a story not just about body weight, but about the ways in which we weigh down those who don’t fit." -- Jodi O'Brien, editor of Encyclopedia of Gender and Society\n"Trainer, Brewis, and Wutich offer an effective and affecting ethnographic account of what it means to undergo extreme weight loss. The analysis is presented thematically, describing the medicalization of obesity, the stigmatization of fat bodies, and the restrictions on daily life that surgery imposes on patients." ― Medical Anthropology Quarterly\n"Extreme Weight Loss is a good read, providing important ethnographic insight into the world of a US bariatric surgery clinic and people's experience of passing through it. Readers from many backgrounds will learn about the material realities of fatness and weight loss surgery, as well as the reconfiguration of identity that is involved in the process of trying to conform to societal norms." ― Sociology of Health and Illness\n"The book is a valuable addition to the rich body of writing on the complex status of body weight in human societies. The study features as a part of the authors Sarah Trainer’s, Alexandra Brewis’ and Amber Wutich’s sustained research engagement with the themes of social inequality, obesity, and stigma in the context of global public health." ― Anthropology Book Forum\nA study that explores patients’ perspectives on a life-altering surgery\nBariatric surgery rates around the world have increased exponentially over the past decade. In Extreme Weight Loss, anthropologists Sarah Trainer, Alexandra Brewis, and Amber Wutich provide us with an inside look at how patients experience this medical procedure, as well as its far-reaching and complex personal implications.\nDrawing on patient interviews, survey data, and more, Trainer, Brewis, and Wutich explore why people decide to undergo bariatric surgery, and how that decision transforms their lives. They show, in painstaking detail, how the journey to weight loss is can be at once painful and liberating, dispiriting and self-affirming.\nExtreme Weight Loss explores questions about which bodies are treated as though they belong in modern societies, and which bodies are treated as unwanted. It considers how people challenge and manage these unfair sta

Politics & Social Sciences

Brewis, Alexandra

Trainer, Sarah

Wutich, Amber

Anthropology

NYU Press

A study that explores patients' perspectives on a life-altering surgery Bariatric surgery rates around the world have increased exponentially over the past decade. In Extreme Weight Loss, anthropologists Sarah Trainer, Alexandra Brewis, and Amber Wutich provide us with an inside look at how patients experience this medical procedure, as well as its far-reaching and complex personal implications. Drawing on patient interviews, survey data, and more, Trainer, Brewis, and Wutich explore why people decide to undergo bariatric surgery, and how that decision transforms their lives. They show, in painstaking detail, how the journey to weight loss is can be at once painful and liberating, dispiriting and self-affirming. Extreme Weight Loss explores questions about which bodies are treated as though they belong in modern societies, and which bodies are treated as unwanted. It considers how people challenge and manage these unfair standards, illuminating what it means to be large-bodied in America's diet-obsessed culture.

Fat in Four Cultures: A Global Ethnography of Weight (Teaching Culture: UTP Ethnographies for the Classroom)

Review\n"This book makes two important contributions – one to scholarship and one to pedagogy. On scholarship, this excellent comparative ethnography examines the avoirdupois pandemic at the ground level – real people, making decisions about what to eat and how that's causing the world to get fatter. On pedagogy, the authors’ discussion of the methods they used for collecting and analyzing their ethnographic data is the best I’ve seen. Every student of ethnography should read this book." -- H. Russell Bernard, Arizona State University and University of Florida\n"Fat in Four Cultures is an extraordinary work of coordinated cross-cultural comparative ethnographic research about a common health issue in the contemporary world. This talented group of medical anthropologists show that fat is not an individual medical risk factor, but rather an entanglement of complex social, economic, psychological, and health-related issues. This is a landmark contribution to the anthropological study of obesity as well as a detailed guide of how team-based anthropological research should be organized." -- Peter J. Brown, Emory University\nTraits that signal belonging dictate our daily routines, including how we eat, move, and connect to others. In recent years, "fat" has emerged as a shared anchor in defining who belongs and is valued versus who does not and is not. The stigma surrounding weight transcends many social, cultural, political, and economic divides. The concern over body image shapes not only how we see ourselves, but also how we talk, interact, and fit into our social networks, communities, and broader society. 
Fat in Four Cultures is a co-authored comparative ethnography that reveals the shared struggles and local distinctions of how people across the globe are coping with a bombardment of anti-fat messages. Highlighting important differences in how people experience "being fat," the cases in this book are based on fieldwork by five anthropologists working together simultaneously in four different sites across the globe: Japan, the United States, Paraguay, and Samoa. 
Through these cases, Fat in Four Cultures considers what insights can be gained through systematic, cross-cultural comparison. Written in an eye-opening and narrative-driven style, with clearly defined and consistently used key terms, this book effectively explores a series of fundamental questions about the present and future of fat and obesity.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

SturtzSreetharan, Cindi

Hardin, Jessica

Diets & Weight Loss

University of Toronto Press

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