The objective of the study was to explore the influence of socio-economic status (SES), as a structural social determinant of health, in the construction of the meaning and value attached to obesity. To do so, we conducted semi-structured interviews with obesity care users from two health centres, targeting socio-economic differences amongst participants. Using thematic content analysis, the findings were organised into four inductively constructed categories, labelled as: 1) the meaning attached to suffering from obesity; 2) awareness of the impact of obesity on one's health; 3) the search for alternatives while being obese; 4) attributed origin of obesity. Obesity was understood as a medical category, varied in meaning as well as in the way it was problematized depending on SES, acquiring contradictory meanings. Healthism is incorporated in a heterogeneous way among different socioeconomic groups, reproduced via specific lifestyles. Thus, SES, intertwined with other structural social determinants of health, was not only a 'cause' of the outcome but also contextually in the mechanisms through which health status and the value of health were defined. Considering this differential effect of social determinants of health would be important in designing appropriate health interventions.