The word, explained
Chubby Chaser Meaning
What the phrase means, why people split on it and what to put on your profile instead.
A chubby chaser is slang for a person who is sexually drawn to bigger bodies; Wiktionary (2026) files it as informal. Another name for the same person is fat admirer, or FA. Some people shrug at the phrase and some hear a jab, so follow the other person’s word and say what you like instead of labeling it.
Use the word so people keep talking to you
Nobody owns this word, so the rule is simple: let the other person pick it, and say what you like in your own words.
Do
- Ask which word they use for themselves, then use that one.
- Open with something about them: a line they wrote, a hobby you can ask about, a joke that fits.
- Say what draws you in your own words once the chat is warm, and say what else you like.
- Reach for admirer or FA if you want a short tag, and use it once.
- Drop the word the moment someone says it stings.
Skip
- A username or headline that is nothing but a label.
- Using the phrase as a compliment, as if being wanted for a body were the whole offer.
- Correcting the word someone picked for their own body.
- Guessing whether your attraction, or theirs, counts as a fetish.
- Defending the word’s history at someone who just said it hurts.
The plain meaning
What a chubby chaser is, and what else people call one
Wiktionary (2026) calls chubby chaser an informal term for a person whose sexual attraction is aimed specifically at bigger bodies. It also quotes Lesley Kinzel’s 2012 book Two Whole Cakes, which treats fat admirer as another name for the same person and describes straight men drawn to bigger women. The definition says who someone is drawn to and nothing about how they treat people, which is why the rules above are about conduct.
Fat admirer, or FA, is the form that turns up in plain description: Ospina puts it in brackets beside chubby chaser, and Autostraddle’s 2024 first-person essay treats it as an ordinary label. Dimensions Magazine (2026), which describes itself as a size and fat acceptance community, has a BBW/FA board for big beautiful women and the people who admire them.
Gay communities have a pair of their own. Wikipedia’s 2026 entry on chub slang uses chub for a heavier man and chaser for a man drawn to chubs or bears, and says chaser sometimes stretches to an outsider attracted to the people inside a community.
Why one word gets a shrug from some people and a wince from others
Four personal or commercial voices and one study, each with its date and its kind.
| Voice | What they say | Kind of source |
|---|---|---|
| Marie Southard Ospina, Everyday Feminism, October 2016 | Recalls growing up with the message that only strange chubby chasers would show interest in bigger bodies. Later found that people who prefer bigger partners are a varied bunch, and that attraction to a bigger body needs no fetish. | A personal essay |
| Amber Sarah, Everyday Feminism, January 2013 | Advises admirers not to describe themselves as a chubby chaser or build a username around a body label, because women then feel wanted only for their bodies. | A personal view drawn from her own and her friends’ experience |
| Wooplus blog, read October 17, 2026 | Presents chubby chasers in a positive light and defines one as a person drawn to plus-size people or to big men. | A plus-size dating platform’s own blog |
| Autostraddle, 2024 | Treats fat admirer as an ordinary descriptor and adds that, seen in a hostile light, the same person could be called a chubby chaser. | A first-person essay |
| Renee Engeln, Psychology Today, July 2021 | Writes up a study led by University College London in which roughly 1,700 people, mostly in the UK, rated words that health care providers might use about weight. Chubby and extra-large were among the most disliked. | Research on health care wording, not on dating |
Read down the rows and the pattern is about context, not a ruling: a plain description in one essay, a positive pitch on the Wooplus blog, a warning someone remembers from childhood. Markey makes a related point about the word fat inside fat admirer. In her January 2026 column she says it reads as neutral to people in fat acceptance and body liberation communities, but not to everyone and not in every setting.
What to put on your profile instead
The sources point to three routes, and none is the official one. Pick the one that sounds like you, then read it back as the person receiving it.
Lead with them
Sarah’s 2013 advice is to keep the label out of openers and usernames altogether. Make your first message about the person.
Your profile says you have sat in the same corner booth every Friday for six years. What do you order, and is there room for one more?
Use the short tag once
Ospina’s 2016 essay offers fat admirer beside chubby chaser, and FA appears in Dimensions Magazine’s board names. Put one in your profile text, never your username.
Admirer of BBW and big men. Here for something regular, private and easy to talk about.
Say it in a sentence
Ospina’s 2016 essay describes the preference rather than naming the person: someone who prefers bigger partners.
I am drawn to bigger bodies and to people who are at ease in theirs. Easy to talk to, hard to rush, and I would rather be told what you want than guess.
Let people choose their own words
Three writers reach one rule from different directions. Sarah said in 2013 that a woman gets to pick the words for her own body, Engeln wrote in 2021 that people should be left to describe their own bodies, and Markey advised in 2026 asking rather than assuming. The person chooses the word and you follow it.
So when someone calls herself curvy, big or a BBW, those are her words. When a man calls himself a BHM, that is his. When a line you wrote draws a wince, change the line. And if the word is aimed at you, you get a vote too: take it, ignore it or say you would rather they didn’t. The BBW hookup profile tips have more wording to borrow, and the guide to asking a BBW to be your fuck buddy shows how to start a chat that is about them first.
Quick answers on the word
Is chubby chaser offensive?
It depends on who says it and how. Ospina’s 2016 essay remembers it used as a warning, Sarah’s 2013 advice tells admirers not to wear it as a label, and a Wooplus blog post presents it positively. With no agreed verdict, use the word the other person uses.
Is chubby chaser a real thing?
Yes. Wiktionary (2026) lists chubby chaser as an informal term, and writers from Lesley Kinzel in 2012 to an Autostraddle essay in 2024 use it or its twin, fat admirer. Same person, two names, and opinions differ on both.
Is chubby chaser a gay term?
Not only. Wikipedia’s 2026 entry on chub slang says that in gay communities a chaser is a man into chubs or bears, while Lesley Kinzel’s 2012 book uses fat admirer, the same idea, for straight men.
Can a woman be a chubby chaser?
Yes. Wiktionary (2026) defines the term for any person, Ospina’s 2016 essay uses it for anyone who prefers bigger partners, and a Wooplus blog post defines it as a person drawn to plus-size people or to big men.
What can I write on my profile instead?
Say it in a sentence: that you are drawn to bigger bodies and to people who are at ease in theirs, plus what you want from a meet-up. Admirer or FA works as a short tag. Then add whichever of BBW, BHM, SSBBW, Curvy and Plus Sized fit you; the features page shows what else a profile holds.
Where do admirers meet BBW women and big men?
Fat F-Buddy is one place: an adults-only hookup site where BBW and plus-size women, big men and admirers meet one to one. Write a profile that says what you want, then message people whose profiles you enjoyed reading. BBW near me shows how to look around your area.
Say what you like, in your own words
Build a profile that sounds like you, tag what fits and let the right people reply.
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