On Wednesday, Abby Ellin and I wrote about the increasing animosity towards fat people in America. One of the researchers quoted, Marlene Schwartz, said something in our interview that stuck with me, but that didn't make it in the article. Fat, she said, is so personal - it's something we can see right away, from a distance. There's no hiding it. Unlike HIV or mental illness or other stigmatized conditions, she said (or for that matter, bad breath, a nasty personality, split ends, the propensity to tell off-color jokes) fat makes itself known right away. And therefore, all the assumptions we have about fat people - that they're lazy, nonathletic, slow, lethargic - come to mind before that person has even opened her mouth.

Part of the problem with the war on fat is that it denies healthy fat people their agency: if you're fat, you must be unfit. And yes: there are absolutely some very fat, very unfit people out there. But there are also just fat people who live pretty healthy lives. We tried to point that out in our article, to which one reader scoffed, "Show me one highly overweight person that runs marathons."

Well...ok. I know some 5k-running, triathlon-competing, marathon-running fat people, and I know I'm not alone. Which is why we're calling for photos of healthy, heavy people: if you have a picture of your hefty self on top of Mount Everest, or crossing the finish line after a century ride, or working up a good sweat in your garden, please submit it to Newsweek's tumblr page

 We'll collect photos for the next few weeks, and then post them online when we revisit this topic after Labor Day. 

 A few ground rules:

1. Keep your clothes on.

2.  Let us know what's going on in the photo (finishing my first half marathon, on the top of Pike's Peak) and your first name. If you feel comfortable, say how much you weigh.

3. By submitting the photo, you're giving me the OK to post it on the site in some capacity. 

If you're heavy, and healthy, we want to see it. Post your photo today. 

Updated question: should I turn off the comments when the photos eventually run? Let me know your thoughts below.