PHILADELPHIA — The City of Brotherly Love, which two years ago earned the distinction of being America's fattest city, is trying to shed the lard.
Led by Mayor John F. Street, a fitness fanatic, and Pat Croce, owner of the NBA's 76ers and a former fitness trainer, the city is trying to get residents to lose a combined 76 tons in 76 days.
In 1999, Men's Fitness magazine named Philadelphia the least fit city in the country after a survey showed nearly 30 percent of its residents were obese and only 16 percent exercised regularly.
Street, a now-trim 57-year-old who once weighed nearly 300 pounds, makes regular use of the gym he had installed in his City Hall suite after taking office last year. He even has a full-time fitness czar.
"He knew that if other citizens became more disciplined with their health, they'd be more disciplined with their lives," said Gwen Foster, a childhood friend of the mayor and the city's "health and fitness czar."
Paul Moore, a 43-year-old garbage truck driver who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 245 pounds, blames his bulk on his wife's fried chicken and lasagna.
"That's it. I have to tell her to stop cooking," the former boxer said Thursday outside City Hall, where he weighed in for the city-sponsored "76 Tons of Fun" program.
Dropping a combined 76 tons in a city the size of Philadelphia is hardly an impossible task. The city has about 1.5 million people, and 76 tons amounts to 152,000 pounds.
Many large employers in the city, including the Internal Revenue Service and the PECO Energy Co., are joining the weight-loss drive.
"This time of year is really bad. I went home on vacation and put on 10 pounds," Keith Higgins, 29, a native of Dublin, Ireland, said Thursday as he enjoyed two hefty pizza slices. "All that Guinness."