Objective:

To analyze the social meanings of excess body fat in workers with overweight, obesity and normal weight, employed in two tourism-oriented microenterprises of services at the downtown of Mérida, Yucatán.

Methodology:

In a structural sample, testimonies were collected by unstructured interviews. Testimonies were analyzed as narratives, based on Roland Barthes proposal.

Results:

In rural migrants of first and second generation, it was identified a mythical representation of the stoutness, which is designated as Fatness and equals to Health; however, they also use the term Obesity and link it to disease; but they classify their own stoutness as Fatness and therefore they declare themselves healthy. In people without a non-rural background, body volume does not have priority as an attribute of health or disease.

Limitations:

Comparative analyzes are required between groups differentiated according to their degree of acculturation to modernity, beyond the urban-rural opposition.

Conclusions:

Transgenerational social mobility from rural to urban settings, is may be related to a social mystified representation of stoutness idealized as a favorable attribute associated with social classes with the possibility of over-feeding in past settings of food insecurity and poverty.

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