The caramel lollipops at registration; the black thong bikini that Marilyn Wann, a proud 270 pounds, wore at the pool party; the very pool party itself, for people who are usually pool pariahs: All these were political statements of defiance here at the convention of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, as political as the T-shirts that read, ''Fat!So?''

Most of the year the association lobbies on behalf of fat people (''fat'' is the preferred adjective, members said, a simple description they want to reclaim; ''overweight'' and especially ''morbidly obese'' are despised). With about 4,000 members, the association helps fat people cope in a society that hates their girth; it fights the diet industry, pointing out its overwhelming long-term failure rate, and it combats discrimination.

But once a year, it takes the added step of bringing together hundreds of members -- nearly 500 this year -- to create a place where ''people of size'' are just people, where everyone has a story of an airplane-seat nightmare or gibes in a job interview, and where no one suggests a new diet.

''This particular one week a year when, in one particular hotel, everyone who's larger than average looks normal, is like a Brigadoon,'' Ms. Wann, a writer from San Francisco, said, referring to the Scottish village that comes to life for a day every 100 years. ''It's odd to be in a place where you look like everyone else.''