Welcome!

This group is for self-accepting fat or large people who are interested in the principles of Health at Every Size and who want to join others in their pursuit of pleasurable movement!

Tackling the biases of our culture in gyms, pools, bike paths, hiking trails, and dance classes can be daunting or even traumatic for big people who want to be comfortable in the skin we have.

Let's make it easier and more fun by joining forces! This group welcomes people at all fitness and ability levels and provides a friendly and supportive environment for self-accepting big people to get our move on.

Fair Warning: it's likely that not all activities or meetups will be accessible to everyone. I especially welcome co-organizers who will help lead events that are geared toward people with mobility issues! We will strive to provide something for everyone, though we certainly won't please all of the people all of the time.

Also: no diet talk! We're not about weight loss, but about pleasurable activity and self-acceptance. Anyone can join, but please save the diet and body dissatisfaction talk for another venue.

Whereas Amanda, the organizer, will regularly be scheduling events in Oakland/Berkeley, everyone is encouraged to suggest and lead his or her own meetup in his or her own area. For example, if you happen to regularly go on a walk or go swimming in San Francisco, or Pleasanton, or San Jose and want company, please just email Amanda the details and she'll put it up as a meetup. This way, more geographical and activity areas will be covered, and more members' needs will be met.

Here is a brief description of Health at Every Size (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_at_Every_Size):

The major components of HAES, as described by Jon Robison, are:

1. Self-Acceptance: Affirmation and reinforcement of human beauty and worth irrespective of differences in weight, physical size and shape.
2. Physical Activity: Support for increasing social, pleasure-based movement for enjoyment and enhanced quality of life.
3. Normalized Eating: Support for discarding externally-imposed rules and regimens for eating and attaining a more peaceful relationship with food by relearning to eat in response to physiological hunger and fullness cues.

An increasing number of health professionals are adopting a HAES perspective. HAES advocates generally do not believe that the same narrow weight range (or BMI range) is maximally healthy for every individual. Rather, the HAES approach is that as individuals include physical activity in their lives, and eat in response to physical cues rather than emotional cues, they will settle towards their own, personal ideal weights. These weights, however, can be higher or lower than those described by standard medical guidelines.

Welcome, again!