Tag Archives: the fat chick

The Fat Chick on TV: Talking About Body Snarking

Hello my friends! I am excited to share with you this interview from CBS news in LA about “body snarking”. This is a relatively new term that refers to feeling the need to comment on the bodies of other people, usually in a nasty, negative or sarcastic way. Seems like this has really come to the forefront after Lady Gaga started speaking out about her weight. Don’t be stressed out by the sad stuff in the beginning of the story. I think it ends in my happy place! And I’m pleased to be included in story about body snarking that suggests learning to deal with the “snarkers” rather than suggesting that the “snarkees” simply need to lose weight. It’s surprising now to have two major news outlets here in LA, the home of the plastic people, do relatively positive stories on body acceptance. Along with the other major worldwide coverage we’ve been seeing, I’m hopeful that the tide is turning.

What do you think? Is it getting harder or easier to talk about size acceptance and HAES these days? I’d love to hear from you!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Stuff that Weighs More than Me: World’s Heaviest Limo

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Okay kids, this ride goes way beyond your average stretch limo and even puts those stretch Hummers to shame. This bad boy is HUGE. Towed by a 440 horsepower semi, the trailer rides smoothly on 22 wheels. The Midnight Rider boasts a bar, three separate lounges and sports a crew of five including a driver, a co-driver, a hostess and two bartenders. You’ll never get bored on this thing as each of the lounges is equipped with a large screen television and high isolation entertainment system, with satellite television, movies, music, & live feed capabilities. Going to the prom? You could probably carry half your graduating class! This rolling wonder can comfortably host you and 39 of your closest friends. Heck, I’m ready to grab my cell phone and move in to this thing!

Here’s the stats:

Width: 8 ft., 5 in.

Height: 13 ft., 8 in.

Length: 70 ft.

Turning Radius: 48 ft.

Area: 460 square ft.

Weight: 25.5 tons

Check out the video here:

Conclusion: The world’s largest limo weighs more than me.

And, party on Wayne, party on!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Thursday Theater: The Fat Chick Talks About Bullies

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My response to Jennifer Livingston’s amazing video and my entry for Ragen Chastain’s Amazing New Project.

:o)

Jeanette

PS: We. Will. Win.

Booty-shakin’ Good Time in The Big Apple!

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Hey Chicklettes! Just thought you might like to check out some raw footage of our Hot Flash Mob in Manhattan! Our Bi-coastal booty-shaking menopause-mamboing selves had a wonderfully good time. I’ll be happy to share the edited version including fabulous footage from our Bay Area Hot Flash Mobsters as soon as I have it. But in the meantime, I felt this was just too good not to share. Have fun!

Love,

The Fat Chick

The Hot Flash Mob is Comin’ to Town!

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Well we’ve been working feverishly behind the scenes and I’m so excited to reveal our new 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 the month of September in honor of Menopause Awareness Month.

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 annual Hot Flash Mobs will be starting very soon. So hop on over to the website to learn all about it.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Haters Gonna Hate

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When you’re THIS awesome, some people just can’t handle it!

Yesterday, in our talk about stepping out, we discussed the notion that often you don’t know what’s in a person’s head, so you might as well imagine they are thinking well of you. But what happens when you think somebody is mean spirited and nasty and then they open their big mouths and remove all doubt?

In our not so genteel society, sometimes people are going to say nasty things. If they don’t say them to you in person, they will certainly say them online in comments or on Facebook. They may moo as you walk past or yell something like, “Just put down the cheeseburger!” At some point in life it happens to all of us.

And that’s really the first step to recognizing that it happens to all of us. Short, tall, round, thin–everybody gets something nasty yelled at them at some point. Heck you can’t even be the president without worrying about somebody throwing a shoe at you. The amazing Ragen Chastain gets so much nastiness thrown at her, she created a separate blog to contain some of the more ridiculous comments. And even if you were model thin, and rich, and drove a fancy car, people would find reasons to hate on you. Maybe they would find even more.

That’s because, believe it or not, the actions of haters really have nothing to do with you. It’s about them. It’s about them feeling jealous or inadequate or lonely or insecure. It’s about them desperately trying to recapture their lost mojo by peeing in your pool. And since you can’t fix the whole world, sometimes you just gotta accept that haters are gonna hate. Bless them, and move on. Sometimes I talk to them and give them a piece of my mind first if I’m feeling feisty. But ultimately, after I’ve had my talk with them, I say, “Bless their hearts” and then move on.

Is it easy? Oh my goodness, no. It’s really hard. And I know sometimes all I want to do is curl up in a ball and cry. But then, from a practical standpoint, I really don’t want to let that hater win. I don’t want to reenforce that crappy behavior, and I don’t want to give that creep that kind of power over me. So when I feel down, I go read Ragen’s hate mail and realize I’m not alone. I call a good friend, get dressed up and go have coffee or an adult beverage somewhere fabulous. I pull out my positive artwork and read some of the great things my friends have recently said online.

Because at the end of the day, my little chicklettes, you can only control your reaction to the world. You can only focus on being fiercely and completely yourself. Because at the end of the day, haters are gonna hate.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Stepping Out: Sharing Your Hotness with the World

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The Fat Chick and her fabulous husband on the red carpet at the New Media Vault Event at the W Hotel at Hollywood and Vine.

Last week my hubby and I went camping. We got really dirty and had to boil hot water for dishes. Then we came home, took baths and went to glitzy red carpet event at the W Hotel in Hollywood. Such is the life in LA LA Land. Last week we addressed the joys of camping and getting back to nature. This week we’re going to address the other half of our crazy week and talk about stepping out.

I think many of us have learned to hide our big fat lights under a bushel barrel. Many of us were taunted and teased as children. As adults, some of us are still taunted and teased. And just recently the situation of NY School Bus Monitor Karen Huff Klein demonstrated that it can be tough out there for people of size. (At least the school imposed a harsh penalty on those boys for their awful behavior.) When you have spent your life being singled out and taunted and teased and harassed and called awful names it’s human nature to want to make yourself less noticeable. It’s easy to see why we would try to make ourselves small and fade into the background.

While this sort of blending in is perfectly understandable, it’s also a little bit sad. We are big, bright, beautiful shining stars and we are meant to SHINE baby! It’s hard and it’s scary, but it just needs to happen. So this week we’re going to be talking about moving out of the shadows and into the light–starting with my appearance at the event pictured above.

I’ve been working in the film and media industry in Hollywood for over a decade now and have been in the public eye for even longer than that, but let me tell you a little secret. I still get nervous every time I go to a public event. I still wonder if people will judge me. I keep waiting to be “found out” and hear some body shout, “Hey, who let that short, chubby chick from Wisconsin in here?” You know it’s never happened, but I’m always aware that it might.

When I get nervous, I play a little game. As I’ve said before, I don’t really know what most people are thinking about me. So I begin the evening by imagining they think I’m awesome. It’s all in my head anyways so I might as well imagine good things, right? So I grab my husband’s arm and a bracing (and ridiculously overpriced) glass of pinot grigio and jump right in. And most of the time, I have a lot of fun. But in order to have that fun and to shine in the light, I first have to overcome that moment of existential angst in my bathroom at home, gather my courage, put on my big girl Hollywood “playah” panties and get out there.

So my little chicklettes, this week we’re going to talk about donning some sequins and rhinestones and hopping out of the nest of your little comfort zone. Because to deprive the world of your basic awesomeness for even one more day would be a terrible, terrible crime.

Love,

The Fat Chick

Is Exercise Sexy?

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The Shake Weight demonstrates the sex/fitness connection, sort of, well not really…

I saw one of those ads for athletic shoes the other day. You know, one of those ads where a perfectly shaped pert little body, glistening just so with perspiration shows a sexy godess of fitness–and I burst out laughing. I was giggling because I thought about how different that particular view of fitness is from fitness in my actual, real life. First of all there is no low mood lighting with special spotlights to highlight the shape of my rear end. I don’t, as a rule, casually drape a perfectly white fluffy towel over my shoulders. There’s no semi-pornographic, oom-chicka-mow-mow music playing where I work out. And there’s nothing that glistens, glows, or gently shines, because girlfriend, I SWEAT. And I think it’s pretty unrealistic that any amount of exercise is gonna make me look like that chick in the advertisement (even if I had the ARMY of stylists and digital re-touchers she’s working with). So I asked myself, given the huge yawning gulf between the advertising view of fitness and what exercise looks like in my world, is exercise sexy?

Well, I think exercise can be really sexy, but not usually in the way depicted on television. I think it can be sexy when it’s a kind and wonderful thing that I do for myself. I don’t think exercise as punishment is particularly sexy (even in a S&M sorta way). But I think the way that exercise makes me feel, is sexy. For example:

Improved Self Esteem–Feels Sexy

Stronger Body–Feels Sexy

Better Sleep/Better Rested–Feels Sexy (and more likely to be awake for sex)

Better Stress Management–Feels Sexy (and a lot more in the mood for sex)

And when you come right down to it. Research indicates that people who exercise regularly have better sex lives. So is exercise sexy? Yes, YES, OH GOD YES!!!!! Just don’t expect it to look like it does on TV.

Love,

The Fat Chick

What we Said BEFORE Meme came on…

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Hi everybody. There’s been a lot of talk about Meme’s hate speech approach to people of size on Dr. Drew’s show yesterday. And I want to especially thank Ragen for standing up for Julianne and I. I DO think it represents a minimal step forward that hosts feel the need to have people like Ms. Roth on the show. In the past, the host would have simply belittled and mocked us directly. So I think the fact that hosts are bringing in a proxy to do the fat bashing represents a small but significant shift in public opinion. (YAY!) But before the clip that’s currently highlighted on the HLN site, Julianne and I did get to say quite a lot and I want to share it here.

Thanks so much to everybody for all your support and cheering. It’s hard to be up there in the lights being attacked. But I know we can bear it because we have such a strong, POSITIVE, SUPPORTIVE community behind us.

Now it’s time to share a little of that love. I suspect that HLN chose that clip to highlight on their site because they thought it was the most outrageous and would solicit the most comments. So I’d like to ask you to go to that comments page and share some positive thoughts about size acceptance and HAES. Here’s the link. I think saying negative things about Ms. Roth will only encourage them to have her on again as she “solicits a strong response”. So I’m going to suggest that you refrain from bashing her in the comments. If you need moral support, please see Ragen’s excellent and wonderful post here.

I think it would be more helpful to shift the focus somewhat and say something positive about size acceptance or how something said about size acceptance resonated with you or was helpful to you. Sorry to give you MORE HOMEWORK, my little chicklettes but we still got a long row to hoe. But before you leave here’s how Julianne most beautifully and eloquently got in the last word: