Tag Archives: hot flash mob

I’m Back! (With a New Video)

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Maybe we all need to do a little more dancing...

Maybe we all need to do a little more dancing…

Okay kids, I’m a little bit tardy (2 days) but I am back with a renewed desire to offer you juicy blogging goodness.  And I’m back with a brand new video showing just a little bit of what I’ve been up to for the past few weeks.

On September 18, we held our second annual Hot Flash Mob in Justin Herman Plaza on the Embarcadero in San Francisco.  The weather was GLORIOUS!  Our initial turnout was small, but after some rapid recruiting among those enjoying the fabulous San Francisco sunshine we got a crowd together and did our dance…

This crowd was a great mix!  There were men and women.  There were older people, younger people and in-betweenies.  There were thin people and fat people and people with amazing hair and even a cameo from one of San Francisco’s street population.  We all had a wonderful time.

And all of this makes me more determined THAN EVER to get groups of people together and get them dancing.  Because dancing is sort of like a magic catalyst.  It crosses line of age, shape, gender, class, language, economic status and more.  And even if you can’t do the moves just like I do, we can all find and share the beat together and boogie down.

It this time of serious strife and division, where I almost can’t bear to look at the news and hear the latest details about the complete breakdown of civility and communications, I think it is more important than ever to just dance.

Maybe that’s what we need to do.  Just get all the politicians in the world together to dance:

Then again, maybe not…

Love,

Jeanette

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ROUND numbers–the 500th Post!

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post500.001-001Well hello there!  Welcome to the 500th post on Fat Chick Sings!  It’s always great when we reach a ROUND number.  A 10-K, a 25th or 50th wedding anniversary, a 100 mile bike ride.  The goal of meeting ROUND numbers help fuel us, keep us going and move us forward.  The joy of reaching round numbers give us an opportunity to pause, celebrate, reflect and take stock.

In the final chapter of my book, The Fat Chick Works Out!, I encourage you to enjoy meeting your exercise goal and then to go ahead and schedule a little rest.  And then I go on to define “schedule a little rest”.  Schedule, means that you decide when you are going to rest, and for how long.  Little means that the rest is long enough to feel like a rest, but not so long as to cause you to lose all the muscles and momentum that you gained.  And rest means to actually take a real break from the thing  you were doing.

So I’m going to take my own advice and schedule a little 2 week vacation from blogging.  Don’t worry, I’ll be back October 1.  And during this time, I’m going to reflect on the blog and take stock.  The blog may come back looking a little different.  Maybe it will have  slightly different focus.  While I’m reflecting, I’d love to hear from you.  What do you like best about the blog?  What posts make you say, “meh.”?  You can leave me messages in the comments, or write me privately at jeanette at the fat chick dot com.

And it’s not like I’m dropping off the planet entirely.

Remember, if you live in the Bay area, come join us for a Hot Flash Mob in downtown San Francisco THIS Wednesday, September 18.  We’ll be meeting at a secret location in the Financial District at 12:15 PM and dancing at 12:30.  You can get access to the secret location when you RSVP either on the meetup group, or on the new Facebook event page.  I hope to see you there!

And it’s not too late to join me at the Size Diversity Task Force retreat in Las Vegas coming up October 11-13.  I’ll be hosting some super fun activities there and we are going to have a BLAST!

Thanks for hanging out with me.  See  you in two weeks!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Like my posts?  You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

Buy my DVD: The Fat Chick Works Out! (A Safe, Easy and Fun Workout for Klutzes, Wimps and Absolute Beginners!)

Buy a book or a DVD for a friend and save $5!  Just enter FRIENDBLFT in the discount code box!

Check out my Training Programs–both in person and via Skype (Starting at just $25!)

or

Book me to speak at your special event!

Sharing Some Boogie Time

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Folks of all ages whoop it up at Summerfest!

As you may or may not know, I grew up near Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  I grew up in a state known for cows and cheese.  And as much as I dearly love, well, cheese anyways, I have to confess that one of the things I miss most about Wisconsin is the dancing.

I don’t know how it is in other parts of the country, but it seems like folks here in California don’t get together and shake their groove things in the same way as I remember from my childhood.  There are many clubs, and they are tray sheek* and stuff.  And you can get dressed up and stand in a line for the opportunity to spend 4 hours pay on an inch of wine in the bottom of an enormous glass.  Or you can go to burning man and smear on mud and body paint and dance in the bloody desert.  But I’m talking about a different kind of dancing.

In Wisconsin we had a party for virtually everybody down by the lake.  We had Summerfest and Polish Fest and Irish Fest and October Fest and Festa Italiana, and Greek Fest and Afro Fest and Indian Summer and the Lakefront Festival of the Arts and so on, and so on.  And what we did was get plastic cups full of beer, listen to amazing music and dance our little hearts out.  We danced on blankets.  We danced on picnic tables.  We danced with our girlfriends and our boyfriends.  We danced with folks we didn’t even know.

I miss it.

But I do get to enjoy dancing with the students in my classes several times a week.  And I do dearly love trying out new forms of music.  And I am so excited to be dancing in the street again for our upcoming Hot Flash Mob in San Francisco on September 18 at around noon.  I hope any of you who are near the Bay Area will join us.  Just RSVP with the meetup and we’ll make sure you get all the latest details about where and when.  Or just send me an email at jeanette at the fat chick dot com and I’ll make sure to mail  you the deets personally.  And I’d love it if you would share this info with anybody else you know who might be interested.

Because, frankly, I can’t WAIT to dance with you again.

Oh and stay tuned for a very special surprise in my next blog post!

Love,

The Fat Chick

*Fronsch for verreh, verreh sexy.

Like my posts?  You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

Buy my DVD: The Fat Chick Works Out! (A Safe, Easy and Fun Workout for Klutzes, Wimps and Absolute Beginners!)

Buy a book or a DVD for a friend and save $5!  Just enter FRIENDBLFT in the discount code box!

Check out my Training Programs–both in person and via Skype (Starting at just $25!)

or

Book me to speak at your special event!

Hater Plate

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LicensePlateThe other day, I was waiting in the drive-thru for an iced tea to quench my thirst.  Delirious with the 100+ degree heat, I had to look twice when I saw the license plate on the car directly in front of me.  I even took a picture (see below).  I won’t give you the exact spelling or lettering on the plate, but I will tell you that the basic meaning of the letters on the plate was unmistakeably “You Are Ugly.”

plate copyI have to admit, this gave me pause.  I mean, clearly there was no reason for me to take this personally.  Everyone who gazed upon this license plate saw the same message.  Even supermodels would see the message that they are ugly.  This message was broadcast to men and women, and even children.  And I had to wonder–what kind of person orders a vanity plate that puts down everybody in the world who looks at it?

I’m sure the woman driving the car thought she was pretty cool and pretty funny behind her mirrored sunglasses.  I suppose it is possible that she was simply borrowing somebody else’s car, and was feeling humiliated.  But somehow, I don’t think that was the case here.  I imagine that she thought she was being ironic.  But I really wonder if it made her feel any better.  Did it make her feel superior?  Did it make her feel important?  Did it make her feel a little bit more pretty?

Or was she acting out of some sort of deep pain?

And I really started thinking about how many of us are sending and receiving messages like this every day?  Is putting everybody else in the world down the only way we feel able to lift ourselves up?  Are we so injured by the daily barrage of messages telling us that we are unworthy, that we feel the need to lash out at the world?  Have we been so indoctrinated by the world of haters that we feel like we need to become one of them simply to survive?

I don’t know.  I do know it put my right off my unsweetened iced-tea (xtra ice).  I felt more than a little sick to my stomach.  But in the end, I think we each have to make a choice.  We can continue the anger and dish back the hate.   Or, as Harry Belafonte put it, we can turn the world around.

So in response to the H8tr plate, I’d like to offer this:

happyplateYou and me and everyone we see, we’re ALL hot!  And speaking of hot, I’d like to remind you that the second annual Hot Flash Mob is just one week away in San Francisco.  Interested in joining the fun?  Of course you are!  So CLICK HERE!

In the meantime, don’t be a h8tr, be a “hot plater”.

Love,

TFC

 

Like my posts?  You’ll love my stuff!

Buy my book: The Fat Chick Works Out! (Fitness that is Fun and Feasible for Folks of All Ages, Shapes Sizes and Abilities)–available in softcover and e-book versions

Buy my DVD: The Fat Chick Works Out! (A Safe, Easy and Fun Workout for Klutzes, Wimps and Absolute Beginners!)

Buy a book or a DVD for a friend and save $5!  Just enter FRIENDBLFT in the discount code box!

Check out my Training Programs–both in person and via Skype (Starting at just $25!)

or

Book me to speak at your special event!

Come dance with us in the Bay Area!

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Hello my dears!  It’s September of 2013, and do you know what that means?  It means it’s time for some Hot Flash Mobs!  This is the second annual installment of Hot Flash Mob Movement, a worldwide, synchronized dance flash mob movement held to honor perimenopausal and menopausal women everywhere.  We’ll be kicking things off in San Francisco on September 18 in honor of Menopause Awareness Month.  Last year we held several hot flash mobs in the Bay Area, and  Arkansas, and New York City and Huntington Beach, CA.

This movement was the brainchild of  me: (certified fitness professional, Jeanette DePatie AKA The Fat Chick) and menopause expert dear friend Dr. Eve Agee.

Frustrated by the negative and fear-mongering approach to menopause in our society we asked this question:

“What if instead of fearing menopause, we threw a great big party to celebrate it?”

That’s why we dreamed up the notion of The Hot Flash Mob Movement, a series of spontaneous, hot, group dance experiences allowing women from around the world to get together, have a big laugh and shake their collective groove things.  Our first 2013 hot flash mob is scheduled for September 18 in downtown San Francisco.  Interested?  Check out our meet up!  Remember, dance makes EVERYTHING better!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Right Now Show Episode 012–Fit-lanthropy: Making the World Better for EveryBODY!

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In this episode of the Right Now Show, we talk about “fit-lanthropy”–my term for combining fitness with raising money or otherwise helping other people.  I also unveil a brand new video highlighting some of the fit-lanthropy programs available.

As promised, here’s some more links to get you started.

To get $5 off my book, “The Fat Chick Works Out!” simply follow this link, and enter “fit-lanthropy” in the discount code box.

To learn about how to join the Hot Flash Mobs for Menopause Awareness Month, follow this link.

And here are some great charity fitness training programs:

Joints in Motion (The Arthritis Foundation)

Team in Training The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)

Relay for Life (The American Cancer Society)

The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

Fight for Air Walk (The American Lung Association)

Step Out Walk to Stop Diabetes (The American Diabetes Association)

Tour de Cure (The American Diabetes Association)

Out of the Darkness Walks to Prevent Suicide (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)

Women’s Wednesday: Exercise as Medicine for Perimenopause

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The Fat Chick leads a group of laughing and dancing menopausal and perimenopausal women in a Hot Flash Mob in Manhattan.

Are you perimenopausal?  Many of us have come to think of menopause as something that happens to “older women”.  Many of us don’t believe that we are old enough to be experiencing perimenopausal symptoms.  But denial ain’t just a river in Egypt, ladies.  As my Mom once told me, “I had been talking about ‘those old ladies’ as if it was a group that didn’t include me.  I had kind of a rough day when I realized I needed to start saying ‘we old ladies’!”  But denial aside, this condition can begin long before the moniker of old lady could reasonably apply.  Perimenopause is the segment in your life between when your periods start to change and up to a year after they have ended completely.  This process typically begins in your 40s, but may begin in your thirties.  It typically lasts five to fifteen years.  Some women have significant symptoms and some women have no symptoms at all.

Some typical symptoms of perimenopause include:

  • Vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats and simply sweating more.
  • Psychosocial symptoms like anxiety, impatience, poor memory and depression.
  • And physical symptoms like body aches, fatigue, and insomnia.

There is a lot of debate about treatment for menopausal and perimenopausal symptoms.  While some doctors suggest hormone replacement therapy (HRT), there may be significant risks associated with that approach.  Some studies indicate that HRT is effective for treating the vasomotor symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats. However, other studies indicate that HRT may increase risk for breast cancer and cardiovascular disease.  And HRT hasn’t proved very effective at coping with psychosocial or physical symptoms like body aches, fatigue, weight gain or insomnia.

But do not despair.  There is significant and growing evidence that regular, moderate exercise can be extremely effective in improving Quality of Life (QOL) and relieving perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms.  Regular fitness activities have been show to increase brain function and offer relief from depression and anxiety.  Exercise can improve overall mood even 24 hours after the original exercise session.  A recent study indicates that women who engaged in moderate physical activity had significantly reduced hot flashes, sweating, weight gain, bloating and issues with intimacy.

Menopause and perimenopause can be a difficult time in a woman’s life, but it doesn’t have to be.  This time can also be a time of great creativity, strength and power.  And, as the women who have participated in The Hot Flash Mob Movement (created with partner Dr. Eve Agee) have learned, it can also be a lot of fun.  And whether you are pre-menopausal, perimenopausal, menopausal or post-menopausal, exercise is a safe, effective, inexpensive and fun way to have a better quality of life.  So ladies, why not gather up some girlfriends, lace up your sneakers and get to it!  You’ll be so glad you did!
Love,

The Fat Chick

Beach taken Back by Cool Kids in Bikinis (News at Eleven)

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This last weekend I participated in an activism event at Huntington Beach called Take Back the Beach.  The event was a coming together of a number of size acceptance groups including the newly formed Size Diversity Task Force.  The event was full of fun for people of all shapes and sizes including a Hot Flash Mob for Menopause Awareness Month (video coming soon), a Flesh Mob (pictured above and led by national dance champion Ragen Chastain), a weenie roast, body surfing, sand, s’mores and well, more.  The weather was perfect, and I think we all had a wonderful time.

The event was fun and wonderful and powerful.  I have to admit however, that the event didn’t match the picture in my mind for a “stereotypical activism event”.  We didn’t march.  We didn’t chant or shout.  We didn’t camp out in tents or form human chains.  We simply put on our swimsuits and sunglasses, grabbed our “Know Fat Chicks” towels, slathered on sunscreen and relaxed.

But in a quiet and gentle way, activism happened.  People saw how much fun we were having and asked what we were up to.  Some people came by to say that they loved our energy.  Some little kids adopted us for a while and asked questions and spent time with us.  We danced in our swimsuits on the sand and on the boardwalk.  We smiled.  We laughed.  And we didn’t apologize.

Sure, there were stares.  For the most part, we met those stares with smiles and openness.  And by just getting together and relaxing and sharing our joy and baring some skin we made the beach a brighter and warmer place.

And it made me think of how we are activists when we are fully and deeply ourselves. Feeling comfortable in our skins and sharing our joy is an act of quiet and peaceful rebellion that ripples out and radiates like a big round stone dropped in a quiet pond.  Being open and inviting to those who stare at us is a shot across the bow for those who would categorize and stigmatize.  And just being there created a precedent for others who have been too afraid to feel the sun on their skin.

So my dear Chicklettes, I’d like to invite you to be an activist.  Whether it’s joining the new task force or putting on a swimsuit and dancing at the beach or marching with a sign or simply returning a stare with a smile, I invite you to reach out.  Stretch.  Shine.  The world is better with you in it.  So fully inhabit the planet with all of your awesomeness!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Stuff that Weighs More than Me: A Bicoastal Hot Flash Mob

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Well y’all have been hearing about that bi-coastal Hot Flash Mob we did earlier this month and we finally have the video up for your to share in all it’s awesomeness.  But October has just been designated International Menopause Awareness Month so we’re still right on time, right!?

Special thanks go out to my partner Dr. Eve Agee, to my San Francisco dance leader the always fabulous Ragen Chastain and to my other West Coast Dancers Julianne Wotasik and Deb Burgard. Thanks from the bottom of my heart for coming out and being awesome.  And of course, thanks to all my New York City dancers as well.

Also, I wanted to let all you Southern California girls know that we’re going to be doing ANOTHER Hot Flash Mob at Huntington Beach as part of our Take Back The Beach celebrations this Saturday (tomorrow). Click HERE for more info.

As to the weight of the bi-coastal Hot Flash Mob, I had no scale (Yay! or otherwise) at the event and so some back-of-the-envelope calculations are in order. There were collectively quite a lot of us. I think I can safely say that together, we accumulated over one ton of fun.

Conclusion: A bicoastal Hot Flash Mob weighs more than me. (And it’s too much fun to be contained in one place!)

Love,

The Fat Chick

When Life Gives You Lemons–Work Out!

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The Fat Chick now appearing in the fall issue of Volup2 in English and French. C’est chic, non?

Hello my little Chicklettes or mes petits poussins as the case may be. I’m so excited to share with you my first fashion magazine appearance in the ever so very awesome VOL.UP.2 with Velvet D’Amour! Truthfully this was so much fun. First, shopping for props with my super awesome husband. Next the photo shoot with the incredibly talented Kelly Varner.  And finally the final product. I’m so excited to share this with you!

I’m also pleased that this spread captures what I really believe. I do think that you can work out anywhere without fancy equipment. I think exercise should be fun. I don’t think you should take yourself too seriously. And I think when life hands you lemons, you should make a workout!  And never miss an opportunity to go to the beach.

Speaking of the beach, if you’re in the LA area, you’re in for a real treat this coming weekend.  On Saturday, September 29, local size-diversity activists are hosting Take Back the Beach in Huntington Beach.  Join us for this free, fun, joyful event including a “flesh mob” led by the amazing Ragen Chastain and an LA beach version of a Hot Flash Mob with the Menopause Mambo.  Click here to learn the dance!  I hope you can come.  But those of you who are far away (even in Paris) can always join in vicariously via the photos and videos I’ll surely be posting!

So my little chicklettes, in closing I’d like to state, life is a beach!  So you might as well don your swimsuits, grab a towel and soak up a little sun.

Love,

The Fat Chick