‘If I were thirteen stone I’d be happier’: A narrative analysis of one woman’s story of decades of weight-cycling and dieting

Women are disproportionately associated with the body and interpellated into discourses around the ‘slender ideal’. Many spend years ‘dieting’ to attain and maintain this ideal. Using a feminist-informed narrative psychological approach, this study explores how one woman makes sense of her weight-watching experiences within her life story and how she constructs and negotiates identities. The participant, recruited through a word-of-mouth strategy, is a British white, working-class 64-year-old woman, who shared her lifelong dieting journey through an unstructured interview. Narrative analysis revealed themes of fluctuating control over body weight, mirroring particular events in her life and the tension between chasing the weight loss dream versus embracing bodily acceptance. Findings are discussed in relation to broader discourses and power structures, emphasising their intersection with the specificities of one woman’s life and the psychological toll of sustained weight consciousness. Merits of a life story and narrative approach are also highlighted.