What's Your FCA?

From one fat chick to another, there is no reason for you to go around looking frumpy, dumpy, or schlumpy everyday. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with big, comfy clothes you can hide in. I have them too.

Just don’t leave the house in them.

If you look dumpy, over time, you start to feel dumpy or worse. I’m not just talking in generalities. I’ve been there. If you look good, you’ll feel good. Or at least you’ll feel better.

We’ll talk about the good and the bad of being a fat chick, find out what your FCA (Fat Chick Attitude) is, how to make clothes and accessories work for you, how to do your hair and makeup to emphasize your assets, and what you need to know about health concerns.

This is not about dieting or losing weight. It’s a realistic look at your situation size-wise, It’s not so much about fat acceptance as it is about self-acceptance.

Before we can move forward, we have to know your FCA, or your fat chick attitude.

Read the following descriptions and see which attitude most closely resembles you.

I’m sorry, just pretend I’m not here. The fat chick with this attitude tries to make herself look as small as possible. She’s quiet. She apologizes for everything. She dresses in oversized clothes and does her best to blend in with the background.

Don’t mess with me. Perhaps to compensate for her timid counterpart, this fat chick can be overly aggressive. She makes no apologies for who or what she is. She is proud of her size. She may even dress provocatively.

I really don’t care. This one can be the most difficult to spot. In extreme cases, she’s the one who dresses in clingy material or muumuus. Her clothes show she doesn’t care and her attitude mirrors it.

I know who I am and I like me. This fat chick would be confident and aware of her size without being overly self-conscious about it. I allow that qualifier because even the best of us have moments of self-doubt and self-consciousness, whether we admit them or not.

There is no right or wring answer. You are simply who you are. Some attitudes are healthier than others in the long run, but they all serve a purpose. People rarely stay in one attitude and only one. What your attitude is at any given moment is a pendulum varying between degrees of attitude.

Problems can crop up, however, if you take it to extremes or if you get stuck on one attitude and let it become unhealthy for you.

As for me, I’m currently on the border between the “I don’t care” and “I know who I am and I like me” attitudes. I do know who I am and I’m working on liking me. Some days I do. Some days I don’t.

It’s been a long process getting here. I went through a very long phase of “I’m sorry, just pretend I’m not here,” particularly in high school and part of college.

Now that you know your FCA, you have a better idea of where you stand and which area(s) you want to focus on.  We'll talk more about those in later posts.