In this article, we challenge dominant health and fitness discourses which stress individual responsibility in the attainment of these statuses. We examine the results of an empirical study exploring how a group of 15 Canadian immigrant youth, aged 12-17, discursively construct notions of health and fitness. Qualitative data were collected through focus groups and journaling and analyses were formed using feminist post-structuralist perspectives to examine how the youth's ideas of health and fitness are influenced by cultural and institutional discourses. Through our analysis of their ideas regarding barriers to health and fitness, we argue that while current dominant discourses emphasize individual responsibility for health and fitness; these concepts are linked to a variety of political, social and economic influences.