Group Says Fat Folks Can Be Healthy

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Group Says Fat Folks Can Be Healthy

Fri Aug 9, 2:15 PM ET

By JUSTIN BACHMAN, Associated Press Writer

When people see Phyllis Warr, a short, stout woman who tips the scales at

more than 250 pounds they assume she's out of shape ‹ until she starts

getting down on the dance floor.

AP Photo

Pannone weighs more than 300 pounds, but in the swimming pool

she glides along with a grace that justifies her nickname ‹ cat.

The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance has a new message to sell

at its annual convention this week: Being fat doesn't mean you can't be fit.

" We're large, we're in charge, we're out and we're proud, " said Warr, a

Chicago high school teacher who is among about 200 people attending the

convention that runs through Sunday.

" You have to show the world. You can't change the world unless you show

them, " Warr said.

By throwing their weight around at yoga and water aerobics classes, dance

parties and fashion shows, NAAFA members are hoping to wean the national

debate on health away from its obsession with weight.

" What we're being told now is that fat causes every (medical) problem, " said

Barbara Altman Bruno, a counselor and former NAAFA board member. " It's much

too simplistic. "

Jeanette DePatie, a certified fitness instructor who proudly advertises her

girth by calling herself " The Fat Chick " in her exercise video, said she's

living proof that health and weight equate: she ran a marathon last year.

" Take care of yourself the way you are, " she says.

Bruno advises overweight people to avoid expensive health clubs ‹ which tend

to have thinner members ‹ and instead look to community gyms. While working

out, she says, skip times that attract teenage boys.

" They're the worst harassers, " she said.

Sandy Schaffer, a certified fitness instructor from New York, said doctors

are stunned at how healthy she is.

" They can look at my (test) numbers until they're blue in the face and they

won't be convinced, " she said.

So call them fat, a word members use freely to help remove its stigma. Just

don't call them couch potatoes.

" We really need the medical community to focus on ways of making us healthy

and not on making us thin, " said Frances White, a San Francisco public

television consultant and NAAFA board member.

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On the Net:

http://www.naafa.org