Table 5.

Exemplars of perceptions related to weight.

“I feel like [the disease] that’s part of the reason I’ve gained weight. I was much slimmer because I was so active. I used to go out dancing and it’s just hard to do those kinds of things anymore because not so much the pain anymore because the medication alleviates that, but I just don’t have the kind of stamina that I used to have, and I think that is definitely the rheumatoid arthritis…I’ve put on probably 35 pounds since I got the rheumatoid arthritis.” (White RA)

“I used to do some modeling. I was very, very fit, very good posture, and it's okay now. But it's not as it used to be in terms of weight. It’s just so much more than I wish it was.” (Black-FM-RA).

“I think you know that I could look so much better, if I would lose weight. Posture, my posture could be better but I never think about my posture. …But my body as far as it goes I feel like I could look so much better, as a result I think I would look younger and that that’s how I feel about it…It’s just in my own head where I feel like I would like to be considered more normal. I don’t want to know that I have a problem or disease or…well, that’s sounds severe doesn’t it. I wouldn’t say I’m not normal simply because I’m not crippled but I wouldn’t say not normal I would say it makes me feel like I have a flaw. That works probably better to describe it.” (White RA)