IUPUI grad turns weight-loss experience into humorous book and blog
Author, blogger and "cynical optimist" Jennette Fulda isn't shy about her weight loss. In her book, Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir, Fulda takes the reader through her nearly 200-pound weight loss from morbidly obese to half her weight. Half-Assed was published by Seal Press in May 2008 and is available online at amazon.com or Barnes and Noble, among other bookstores. Fulda's blog can be found at http://www.pastaqueen.com/.
With a dry sense of humor and sarcasm, the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) alumna shares her experiences before, during and after her weight loss experience through blogging as the "PastaQueen" -- a title that came from her high school nickname of Jennetti Spaghetti, the Queen of Pasta. Fulda graduated from IUPUI's School of Informatics in 2003 with a degree in media arts and science. When she isn't blogging or exercising, she works as a Web designer in Indianapolis.
In an interview with Live at IU, Fulda talks openly about herself and her experiences.
Live at IU: What inspired you to change your lifestyle?
Jennette Fulda: The voices in my head stopped telling me to bake brownies and told me to start walking.
LIU: What made you decide to write a book based on your weight loss?
JF: I kept a weight loss blog at pastaqueen.com that became popular. Several of my readers suggested I should write a book, and eventually, I met an editor who was interested in my story and helped me write a proposal.
LIU: What do you like being an author?
JF: It's fun to search amazon.com and see my book there with my name and the word "author" after it in parentheses.
LIU: What do you like most about blogging?
JF: I've met a lot of funny, kind and inspiring people I would never have met otherwise. If I ever need to crash in Chile or Australia or Scotland, I know someone who would let me couch surf. I do get a lot of weird e-mail because of the blog. One person said my chronic headaches were caused by saints who were possessing my body. I don't think he was being silly either. Mostly I get positive feedback from people who find my story inspiring or funny or thought-provoking. People take comfort in knowing someone was able to lose that much weight and keep it off while living a normal life. I'm not rich and I didn't go away to a fat camp for several months, so they realize that perhaps they could make a lifestyle change too.
LIU: What did you expect when you began to share your weight loss with the public?
JF: I didn't expect much. I just like to write and wanted to sort out a lot of the fat issues I had. I didn't know my site would become popular, but it's gratifying to know other people find comfort in reading about my journey.
LIU: What did you learn at IUPUI that you still use every day?
JF: I learned how to stalk someone in the parking lot and steal their parking space.
LIU: If you could go back and do it all over, would you change anything?
JF: I would try to be more involved in student activities. I was morbidly obese at the time and felt socially awkward, so I tended to isolate myself. It would have been good for me to participate in some clubs and make more friends and connections.
LIU: What did you picture yourself doing when you graduated?
JF: I pictured myself as a Web designer and about six months after I graduated, I got a job with a small company doing Web design.
