. 2012 May 31;9:E107. doi: 10.5888/pcd9.110284

Table 3. Representative Comments on Perceptions of the Personal and General Effects of Weight on Health, Qualitative Study on Overweight and Health Among South Asians, Chicago, Illinois, 2006–2007.

Domain	Comment
Physical problem related to one’s own weight	“I think my lower back pain is because of that [my weight]. I can’t stand for long time because ankle and feet is bearing the entire weight” (woman, aged 29 years, overweight^a).
	“I feel dullness because of weight, I feel tiredness in my movement, a little activeness what they call it is not there” (man, aged 57, obese^a).
	“Well when you gain more weight, you get more lazy, you get more sleepy, you get tired early, like you have to you know carry the whole weight with you all the time, it makes you tired” (man, aged 26, overweight^a).

Chronic disease problem related to one’s own weight	“I never had any problem ‘til now, but it has started happening now because my weight has increased. I could get diabetes . . . [my doctor] said that I am borderline . . . If my weight^b keeps on increasing like this and if cholesterol keeps on increasing then heart attack will surely happen” (man, aged 33, obese^a).
Chronic disease problem related to one’s own weight	“I did have the cholesterol last year and . . . I figure out that doctor want to put me on . . . medicines and I didn’t took medicines so I did exercise lose my weight so I get better so after that it was fine but the triglycerides go up a little bit here and there if I watch myself I go okay” (man, aged 44, overweight^a).

Chronic disease problems related to weight in general	“[My father had a heart attack because] he smoked a lot, he was very smart and active body, but . . . he was kind of fat” (woman, aged 60, overweight^a).
Chronic disease problems related to weight in general	“Yeah, because if your weight is in excess then obviously it will cause harm to you from inside. If grease increases then it affects your heart” (woman, aged 39, overweight^a).

^a The weight category listed refers to body mass index categories defined by the World Health Organization for the general population.

^b Italics denote words for which a participant switched to a different language during the interview.