Tag Archives: Fun

PADS Saturday–Kid Rocks Out to Cuba Pete at Local Swimming Pool

Not gonna lie, it’s been a tough week. So I think it’s time for a PADS Saturday? What’s a PADS Saturday you ask? It’s a blog featuring a

Public

Act of

Dancing

Spontaneously

Frankly, I love this kid. I love him even more than this guy (and that’s sayin’ something)

He is clearly talented and having a blast. And a big thumbs up to the people in this kid’s life who allows him to feel supported and loved. And that’s my message to you today–who do you know who needs to be supported and loved? How can you help somebody out there to live their purpose, be their full and true selves and shake their groove thing? What can we all do to help make the world a little better? Because, I’m telling you, this week I’m feeling the need to make a better world.

Love,

Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)

P.S. Want me to bring my speaking and bust a move with you at your school or business or school? Click HERE to learn more and to BOOK ME!

Feel Like Your Fitness Efforts Have Flopped? (Corgi Inspiration Porn)

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We’ve all been there. You put on your best fitness gear, you lace up your sneakers or pump up your bike tires or struggle into your swimsuit (a workout in itself) and head out with trepidation to try something new. Like the little corgie in the video above, we watch our lab buddy get a running start and leap gracefully and effortlessly into exercise. But when we try it, well, we don’t look quite so graceful. Sometimes even well-meaning people we love at us laugh a little bit. And it makes us shy. It makes us hesitant to hop in again.

Sometime after a time we will look more graceful as we attempt that form of fitness. And sometimes, like our little corgi buddy, we just aren’t built to sail gracefully into the sea. It just isn’t in the genes. Does that mean we stay dry on the dock? Do we decide to spend our lives watching the labs get all the tennis balls from our safe spot on the sand? That depends?

Do you like tennis balls? Do you like getting wet? Do you have somebody who can fish you out of the water if you get over your head. Is jumping in the water in any way at all fun?

If so, I say do as our corgi pal does and just jump in again. Who cares if somebody laughs. You got the dang tennis ball, right. So you just tell the one in the bikini to stop giggling and just throw the bloody ball already, lady!

If tennis balls are not your thing, and you’d rather stay dry that is also cool. But whatever you choose, I strongly encourage you to not compare yourself to the lab who would look equally silly trying to herd sheep. And if you want to jump in and get the tennis ball, then do it. Run down that dock, ignore all the giggling and just leap.

It’s up to you.

Love,

Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)

P.S. Want to hear my speak to your group about Corgi Fitness? Click HERE to learn more.

On the tenth day of Christmas–Ten Jumpers Jumping

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Dear readers. Please excuse me as I interrupt your regularly scheduled reading for this DANCE break! I ran across this great video yesterday and I just needed to share it with you. But before I do, let me share with you that “Jumpers” is a word that folks in Britain commonly use to describe what us Americans commonly call “sweaters”. And second, let me state that I can indeed count, but 5 Jumpers Jumping just doesn’t scan right with the song. (Think FIIIIIIIIIVE Golden RIIIIIIIIIIIIINGS!) Anywho, enjoy:

And I ask you. Was that not a hoot? Dads are gettin’ DOWN! Even with my busy schedule, I manged to watch this an embarrassing number of times. AND I downloaded the full track of the music. AND I even checked out the place you could buy those fabulous sweaters, I mean jumpers. Oh, and by the way, if you just can’t bring yourself to buy a sweater you only wear to one hipster party per year, you can always buy a DIY Holiday Sweater Kit.

I love to watch people dancing. But I love to watch people who don’t look like stereotypical dancers even more.

That’s why I was so excited yesterday, when I ALSO ran across this new project being launched down under called “Nothing to Lose”.

It’s a dance production featuring amazingly talented fat dancers. You can hear about it here:

And get a little tiny taste of the upcoming awesomeness right here:

So I hope you enjoyed today’s unscheduled dance break featuring deliciously wonderful dancers who have inspired me to shake my groove thing today. Remember, whatever is going on in your life, and whatever else you have scheduled today, I hope you get a minute to get up offa that thing!

I now return you to your regularly scheduled reading. Well if you can sit still that is.

Lots of love!
Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)
P.S. Share the love and subscribe today!

Making Fitness About Fun, Not About Weight Stigma

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Today, I’d like to direct you to the blog I wrote for Weight Stigma Awareness Week. BEDA is doing absolutely amazing work in this space, and I am very proud to be called to participate. You can read the blog post here.

Thanks so much for your support!

Love,

Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)

P.S. Want me to speak at your school, organization or group? Click HERE to book me!

P.S.S. Want to get free stuff, click HERE to join my list!

Exercise and the Brain: Tricks, Treats and Truth

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So I came across yet another study last week about exercise and the brain. I’m frankly more than a little annoyed about the premise of this one, but I think it still has much to teach us about the way we perceive and experience exercise.

The study indicates, that when people think about exercise as “exercise”–an activity that they “should” do, they are more likely to consume a dessert after lunch, than if they think about exercise as a fun and and enjoyable activity. Here’s how the study worked. The women were split into two groups. One group was told they were going out to exercise and were given a card with a 1 mile walking route they were to follow. This group had six stopping points marked on the walk where they were to rate their energy level. The other group was given the same route but were told the purpose of their walk was “fun”, and they were to listen to an MP3 player and evaluate the sound quality at six different points along the walk. Both groups were told that a lunch would be served after the walk.

After the walk (and before the lunch) the participants were given questionnaires rating their experience as fun and as a form of exercise. Then the participants went off to eat. The scientists weighed how much food each participant ate and whether they chose the “hedonistic” option of drink (cola vs. water) or dessert (chocolate pudding vs. applesauce).

Here’s what I found really interesting about the study. The researchers were determined to find a difference in eating patterns among these exercisers. They did, but it was really, really small. If I understand the table correctly the differences among the fun exercisers and the utility exercisers was mostly a difference in how much chocolate pudding they ate. And from what I see we’re talking about a very small difference in calories. This finding got the scientists all excited, as they postulated that those who perceived their exercise as exercise (work) felt that they needed to “reward” themselves with food. Now best I can tell we’re talking about less than 50 calories more of chocolate pudding, which is like an extra spoonful or two. This is hardly what I would call hedonistic binging, but I digress.

More interesting to me were the results of the surveys that the participants filled out. These results were sort of buried within the paper, but seemed the most significant to me. The surveys indicated that those participants who perceived the exercise as work were more tired than those who perceived it as fun. And the “fun” group ended the activity in a better mood than the “work” group. Now, I feel, we’re getting somewhere. Saying that the “work” group enjoyed two extra spoonfuls of chocolate pudding than the “fun” group and were thus rewarding their 1 mile trek with gluttonous behavior undoubtedly makes better headlines than saying that exercisers who have fun are less tired and in a better mood than those who don’t. But I’m not sure I’m really all that worked up about 20 calories worth of chocolate pudding. I am very interested in how people feel after they exercise because I’m pretty sure, based on my years of experience, that if they feel energized and uplifted after their Tuesday workout, they are a lot more likely to return for the Thursday class.

Because this is part of a growing group of studies that indicate that how people think about exercise has a significant effect on what they get out of it. A walk is not just a walk and a sit up is not just a sit up. The way people feel as they exercise has a significant effect on what they get out of it. This brings to mind another important study conducted with hotel staff. The hotel workers all clearly met or exceeded the Surgeon General’s recommendation for weekly exercise. However, some of the workers perceived that work as exercise and some didn’t. Even though both groups got the same amount of exercise, those who thought of themselves as exercisers were considerably healthier than those who didn’t. And as the study progressed and those who thought their work didn’t “count” as exercise started to see their daily work as fitness, these participants began to experience significant health improvements.

So what do we take from this? Those who think of themselves as “fit” are likely to have better outcomes than those who don’t. But thinking of your work as exercise might make you more tired and in a more lousy mood than those who think of their activity as fun? In the end, my hypothesis is that you should tell people they are exercising and that it has value, while at the same time making it as much fun as humanly possible. That’s where I aim my classes. And I think, that’s why students come back year after year.

But however you slice it, I think it’s important to remember that one of your most important fitness tools is the one you carry between your ears.

Love, Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)

Want to learn more about the fun types of exercise I have to offer? Join my mailing list!

Stuff That Weighs More Than Me: Russian MiG

Resolve to have More Creative Resolutions

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It’s the time of year when all of us size acceptance and HAES (R) folks start talking about why you shouldn’t diet as your New Year’s Resolution. And I’m sure you’ll hear plenty of good reasons like: it doesn’t work, it makes you crabby, it messes up your metabolism, it will probably make you fatter, it fills your life with shame, it messes up your self esteem and it doesn’t work. (I know I said “it doesn’t work” twice, but I think it’s important enough to bear repeating, um, again apparently.) But you know what? I’d like to add another reason for not making dieting your New Year’s Resolution to the pile. And that reason is: it’s a really boring resolution. I mean, is that seriously the best resolution you can come up with? “I’m going to go on a diet,” is just not original and it’s not fun.

I strongly believe that if you can inject a little more fun into the New Year’s Resolution process, you’ve got a much better chance for success. I’ve often said the same about exercise in general. Fun makes everything better. And into every person’s life comes the moment where you need to decide if you are going to put time and energy into your resolution or if you’re going to sit on the sofa, eat some cheesy poofs and watch that Saturday marathon of Project Runway reruns. If your resolution doesn’t have any fun in it, if it’s not sort of enjoyable in some way, which do you think you’re gonna pick? Let’s get real here.

Bored kitteh finds New Year’s Resolutions boring…

That is why I am SUPER excited about a few things we’ve got coming down the pike here! For one, I’m still collecting photos and videos for our New New Years Resolution project. I’d like to make a new video like the one last year, but this time, I’d like to feature YOU. But in order for this to work, I need your photos by midnight on January 31st. So PLEASE send your photos to projects@thefatchick.com ASAP!

Next I want to tell you about a little debauchery that Ragen and I are cooking up on the Fit Fatties Forum. This year we are hosting a Fit Fatty Decathlon as part of our Fit Fatty Virtual Events series. What is that? So glad you asked! The Fit Fatty Decathlon is a series of lots of events that you can choose and complete on your own or with friends. Register for the events, complete 10 of them, submit photographic evidence, post on Facebook (‘cuz otherwise it never happened) and you my friend are a Fit Fatty Decathlon Finisher! Some of the events are pretty typical (walk/run/roll a 5K). But some of these events include sustained temper tantrums, playing with dogs, hula hooping and running after toddlers! (Extra points if you do all of these at the same time.) You can learn all about it HERE.

By the way, I should mention that prices for the Fit Fatty Decathlon are scheduled to go up significantly (like I mean a lot) after January 1. There’s even a contest for submitting the wackiest idea for your own event. I mean come on. How much fun is that? So stop your darn procrastinating and SIGN UP RIGHT NOW! Here for your clicking convenience is that LINK AGAIN.

Whatever your new year brings to you, I hope you find a way to approach it with fun. Life is full of challenges. And sometimes life just sucks! Having a little fun can help get you through. Here’s to a year full of love and light and laughing until your belly hurts!

Love, Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)

P.S. Want a gift to help you learn how to feel good about your body? This month I’m giving away “5 Things That can Help You Love Your Body Right Now! for free to members of my clique. Just opt in RIGHT HERE!

The True Virtue of the Turkey Trot and Other Tips for Holiday Fitness

The Terror of a New Exercise Class

Exercise Discovery–Finding Your Fun

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Naturally a lot of people ask me what I do. And very often when I tell them, they say, “Oh I hate to exercise.” And if they seem happy with the idea that they hate exercise, I leave it at that. People are allowed to love exercise or hate exercise or do exercise despite the fact they hate it or start a small hat shop. It’s not my job to tell them what to do. But sometimes people ask me how they can stop hating exercise, and that’s what this blog post is about.

Because as the graphic says above, exercise is like sex, if you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right. And if you flipped that slide over, you would come to the second part of that statement which is, “sometimes you’ve got to kiss a few exercise toads before you find your exercise prince or princess.”

Cuteness aside, I think a lot of people try one kind of exercise one or two times and decide that they hate exercise altogether. And I’d like to gently suggest that maybe you need to try “dating” a few other kinds of exercise in a few other places with a few different people before you decide to give up on exercise forever. That’s not to say that some people don’t simply hate all forms of exercise. I’m sure that’s true for some people, and that’s totally okay. But if you haven’t tried any form of exercise since elementary school dodge ball tournaments or Jane Fonda leg warmer exercise videos, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try something new.

We started out this week with a day dedicated to discovery (at least in the United States). And whether you choose to call it Columbus Day or Bartolome Day or just that extra day off in October, we can choose to let that day encourage us to be adventurers. Let’s choose to be exercise explorers together.

One way to begin is to evaluate your last dreadful exercise experience. What did you hate about it? Was it the sweating? Was it being outside? Was it in a class where you felt you couldn’t keep up? Was it somewhere that made you feel embarrassed or inadequate? Did the exercise hurt? Were you too hot or too cold? Did you get injured? See if you can pinpoint the specific thing or things you hated most about your experience.

Once we’ve got that figured out, we can work to expand our exercise minds. ANY kind of movement can be considered exercise of one sort or another. Even if it seems too “easy”. Even if it doesn’t seem like exercise at all. It could be gardening or playing racquetball. It could be walking around the mall or roller skating or having magnificent tantric sex with movie stars.

Next, we can work to evaluate a the items on our expanded exercise list based on a few criteria:

1. Does it help us avoid the stuff we hated about exercise last time? If we hated walking outside was it the walking part we hated or the outside part we hated or both? If it was the outside part, will walking on a treadmill or walking inside at the mall be better? If we hated walking will cycling or roller skating outside be better? You get the idea.

2. Is this form of exercise something I have a reasonable chance of actually getting to try? I imagine that wild, frantic, fabulous sex with James Bond would be high on my list of exercises I’d like to try. There are just a few problems with that: A) I’m married, B) I don’t know where to find James Bond, and C) James Bond doesn’t exist. I don’t want to pee in your pool here, but if you live in Iowa, maybe surfing is not the sport for you. If you want to go to California on your next trip and try it out, by all means please do. But in the meantime, maybe you’d like to try something a little closer to home.

3. Does it seem like fun? Surfing and secret movie star sex aside, there is probably some sort of activity that will sound at least a little bit fun to you. Maybe it’s salsa dancing or hula dancing lessons. Maybe it’s Japanese drumming. Maybe it’s running around with a DV camera and recording stuff or swimming or scuba diving or canoeing. There are so many activities out there that can increase your strength, flexibility or stamina. Get some magazines! Surf the net! Roll some different kinds of exercise around in your mouth until something tastes delicious and you are eager to try it.

4. Accept that you will have to kiss some more exercise toads. In our search for Mr. or Ms. right, I think most of us understand that we won’t necessarily find our perfect match on the first date. Or the twentieth date. Or even the one hundredth date. But you know what? There’s a lot of fish in that exercise sea. And sometimes, ya just gotta pick yourself up, dust that spandex off and try again.

5. Evaluate, rate and keep trying. Each exercise “date” deserves a little post mortem. Ask yourself, what did I love about this? What did I hate? What parts were just okay? Is there a way to make this exercise more fun or am I just dressing up a toad here? Is it possible for the Fat Chick to even get one more silly mixed metaphor into a single blog post? After you’ve done your evaluation, you can decide if you’d like to try another date with that exercise, if you’re done dating that exercise or if you never want to see another exercise remotely like that EVER AGAIN. It’s up to you.

By the way, I’d like to add one more tip. Given the fact that we’re “dating” exercise forms here, can I humbly suggest that you don’t offer to marry that exercise before you’ve even gone out on your first date? Please, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t sign up for $8,000 worth of courses or sign up for an 18-year non-refundable gym contract before you know if you even like a form of exercise or a place to do it? I myself have subscribed to the, “If I pay $3,000 for it, I know I’ll do it, because I don’t want to waste the money” school of thought. And I’ve spent many years hanging my lingerie on the treadmill while I learned the folly of that thinking, hopefully for good.

So my dear readers, I hope you feel encouraged to go out there and try something new. And once you find your exercise bliss, I’d love to encourage you to take photos and share them with Ragen and I on the Fit Fatties Forum. And don’t forget to have fun!

Love,

Jeanette (AKA The Fat Chick)

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