In 1903, in a cheery local tavern tucked away in Wells River, Vermont, the Fat Men’s Club was launched. “We’re fat and we’re making the most of it!” was their mantra. “I’ve got to be good-natured; I can’t fight and I can’t run,” was their motto. Members had to weigh at least 200 pounds, pay a fee of $1 to enter, and learn a secret handshake and password. Twice a year, members gathered, with meetings announced in advance to allow the men to bulk up in order to meet the minimum weight requirement. The Fat Men’s Clubs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were spectacular celebrations of the wealth and chubbiness of a bygone era. Weigh-ins were a competitive event, and local newspapers jumped at the chance to cover them. While women were not permitted in the Fat Men’s Club, female versions did exist. At a club in Hazleton, Penn., that was just for fat women, members weighed 236 pounds on average. However, fat women’s reduction clubs were far more common. While the Fat Men’s Club existed for a good many years, the Industrial Revolution began to change the way we worked and ate, and views about fat and health also began to shift. Membership at Fat Men’s Clubs began to dwindle, as did waistlines. While it's unlikely that Fat Men's Clubs will ever catch on again, current trends toward body acceptance might yet nudge us toward that Goldilocks level of body image: not too fat, not too thin, just plain healthy.
