TREASURE COAST MEDICAL REPORT
138 FITNESS
The co-host of ABC’s ‘Fat March,’ now a Vero
Beach personal trainer, knows firsthand
the struggles of losing weight
BY JANIE GOULD
PHOTOS BY PORFIRIO SOLORZANO
You’d never know it now, but Vero Beach fitness guru
Steve Pfiester, co-host of the ABC reality show “Fat
March,” says he was a chunky kid. His Midwestern
parents were into “old school cooking” that was heavy on
chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy.
“I had two older sisters, so I always made sure I got my
share,” he says with a chuckle. “My parents called me
husky.”
Then, in high school, he started wrestling and lifting
weights, which improved his mind as well as his body, he
says. He gained self-confidence, his grades went up, and by
the time he was 19 he was teaching aerobics and working as
a personal trainer in Tallahassee.
These days, Pfiester, 36, and his wife, Bonnie, operate
Longevity Fitness Club and Spa in Vero. Earlier this year,
Bonnie saw on the Internet that ABC was looking for a fitness
expert to appear in the new reality show. Steve submitted
a casting video and quickly heard from ABC producers,
who asked him to meet them for an interview in West Palm
Beach. Steve was selected for the job and flew to Boston in
April. Taping had already started, right in the middle of a
fierce snowstorm.
The participants, six men and six women, were to walk 570
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FAT
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The original 12 members of ‘The Fat March’ began their journey in Boston,with the intention of walking to Washington, D.C.