Club Round: A Clubhouse For Round People

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Those of us with just a few extra pounds know the insecurities.

We’re watching nimble-bodied women in leotards at the gym, glad that our T-shirts cover our not-so-toned waistlines. We’re wondering whether the waitress is thinking “Who are you kidding?” when we order Diet Cokes with our pizza with extra cheese.

It’s harder to put ourselves in the shoes of 300-pound-plus women who couldn’t fit into chairs with arms on them at a recent Chicago-area social event. And the further insult that evening was that the event was put on by a group that advocates “size acceptance.” The aim of the 30-year-old grass-roots size-acceptance movement is to change the perceived prejudice and discrimination toward overweight people.

“It was humiliating,” said Dawn Chopin of Barrington, who attended the event. Chopin, who had weight-loss surgery four years ago but still is plus-size, has joined Club Round in Loves Park.

Club Round, which might be the only place with a permanent address for activities for plus-size people in the Chicago area, is a safe haven for Chopin, her daughter, “Cori,” who is 5-foot-3 and 170 pounds, and others.

Lisa Breisch, a plus-size clinical psychotherapist, opened Club Round in December.

It’s in the same building as her counseling office, just east of the U.S. post office on Windsor Road. The clubhouse contains folding chairs without arms and couches to sit on, lightweight round tables that can easily be moved depending on the activity, a room that overlooks a lake where club members can sing and dance to karaoke or do yoga, and books to look at with titles such as “Bountiful Women.” Snack packs that contain 100 calories’ worth of Ritz cheese crackers and Oreo thin crisps sit on an entryway table.

Risks and emotions
Chopin, other Club Round members and size-acceptance advocates say everyone should be accepted at whatever size they are.

“Self-esteem and body image are strongly linked,” Breisch writes in a Club Round pamphlet. “Helping people feel good about their bodies and about who they are can help motivate and maintain healthy behaviors.”

Health professionals agree with those statements, but they stop short of endorsing size-acceptance wholeheartedly. Critics say accepting fatness may make people less likely to achieve their healthy weight.

“It is good to be comfortable in your own skin, hopefully with the goal of becoming a healthy weight to prevent possible health complications,” said Dawn Zielke, a registered dietitian for SwedishAmerican Health System, Rockford.

Being overweight or obese, with obesity usually defined as someone who weighs 30 percent more than their target weight, can contribute to hypertension, elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels, heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and certain cancers, such as of the breast and colon.

“To be a positive advocate for people, we need to tell them the truth and not overshadow the possible health consequences,” Zielke said.

One reason overweight people aren’t as accepted is that their weight is something “they should be able to do something about,” said Lynn Bartholome, chairwoman of the Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association, based at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. “Our society believes it is changeable.”

But Bartholome, a formerly large woman, said she doesn’t think size matters as much as having an attitude toward pursuing health.

Lifelong issue
Club Round member Chopin suffered from arthritis and used a wheelchair when she underwent weight-loss surgery four years ago at age 45 after years of trying a variety of diets. She lost 300 pounds. Today, she said, she walks miles and only has problems with her knees when gardening.

But at age 20, Chopin weighed 500 pounds. She had led an inactive life involving much TV watching with her overweight mom and three sisters, two of whom also have had weight-loss surgery. One now has trouble keeping weight on.

Chopin said her plus-size daughter is in good health because she swims, ice skates and climbs rocks. Chopin said her daughter’s confidence has been boosted by attending size-acceptance activities in the Chicago area for years with her and her dad, John, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound machinery millwright.

“When I was a teen, I thought I was being punished by God, that I was a piece of garbage,” Chopin said. “Size acceptance changed all that for me. It builds your self-esteem.”

Ask Geo runs Thursdays in GO. Contact columnist Georgette Braun at 815-987-1331 or gbraun@rrstar.com.

Quick stats
More than a third of U.S. adults, more than 72 million people, were obese in 2005-06, including 33.3 percent of men and 35.3 percent of women.

Non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American women were more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white women.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics

On the Web
National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance: naafa.org
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on overweight and obesity definitions, trends, contributing factors, health consequences, economic consequences and recommendations: cdc.gov/overweight/
Height and weight charts, healthchecksystems.com/heightweightchart.htm

Club Round Clubhouse

For Round People - Big Beautiful Women (BBW), Big Handsome Men (BHM), and Admirers.

Club Round encourages healthy attitudes, 'size acceptance'

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