Emerging 'fat studies' conference challenges supersize stereotypes

This explains Pause's aversion to “overweight,” which she says implies she is above her perfect weight. She says she has not weighed herself for years and last time she did she tipped the scales at about 130 kilograms (237 pounds).

Similarly, she says “obesity” is a term “used by the medical community to pathologize fat bodies, making it a disease.”

'Exploiting insecurities'

Massey University lecturer Andrew Dickson said the weight-loss industry was built around exploiting the insecurities of fat people.

“We know 95 percent of people who attempt to lose weight will fail to do so, therefore, there is not a weight-loss industry, what they do is sell solutions to weight anxiety,” he said.

“We're getting this horrible, obsessive anxiety about weight issues.”

Dickson himself said he had never been as stressed as when he reduced his weight from 130 kilograms to 86, obsessively completing endurance runs, dieting constantly and taking prescription medicines to slim down.

Now weighing 100 kilograms, Dickson says he is healthy even though conventional weight charts would classify him as obese, still running about 60 kilometers (37 miles) a week and referring to himself as “the fat athlete.”

“I don't do them fast and I'm never going to win ... (but) it's not all about looking like Usain Bolt,” he said.

Critics say asserting that obesity is not necessarily a major health problem flies in the face of medical evidence about diseases such as diabetes and other issues, a claim disputed by fat activists.

“It's not just how much you weigh for your height, it's where it (fat) is in the liver, pancreas, and places that you can't see,” Auckland University of Technology nutritionist Elaine Rush told TVNZ this week.

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