Fat Girls Guide to Living Answers my Questions – Thank you Tee

After posting about my tribute to the women of last year who played a big part in our website and those I would really like to connect with in the plus size world this year, I had a message from the creator of Fat Girls Guide to Living saying she would love to talk to me, so here it is. Thank you Tee for your fantastic interview, I hope we can speak again soon.

Fat Girls Guide to Living is one of the most innovative plus size blogs I have come across and I enjoy reading it even when I am not looking for plus size fencing gear! The articles are enthralling, how did it all start, where and when?

Thank you! I had the idea for FGG after meeting some of my readers from adventurejournalist.com and realizing they were surprised to see that I was overweight. Because I had blogged so much about traveling, hiking, skating, kayaking and other things most people don’t imagine “fat girls” doing, they had always pictured me as thin and athletic. I got a lot of “I wish I could do that!” responses from other women who were overweight, so the light bulb went off for a web site that shows plus-size women that, well… you can!

You have three members to your team, how did you all meet?

Toni and Michelle are friends that I’d originally met many years ago through adventurejournalist.com, and had worked with on some past projects. When the idea for FGG was just a seed, I approached both of them — Toni for her straightforward writing style and her experience as an active, outdoorsy woman who also happened to be overweight, and Michelle for her incredible culinary talent and photos, and her experience  balancing great food with healthy choices.

What can readers expect when they come to your website?

Readers seem to appreciate the balance of wry humor, fun and straightforward pragmatics in our style. We’re not here to tell anyone they need to lose weight, or even HOW to lose weight if they wanted to, nor are we interested in kvetching about the myriad injustices of being overweight in a world that loves thin – we know those things, and when we want to we can find that stuff anywhere. What I think has been missing in the plus-size web community is a practical guide to living a great life NOW, just as you are, whether you’re perfectly happy at 250 pounds and have no plans to change that, or you’re actively trying to lose weight, but don’t want to wait until that happens to get out there and have some fun.

Reading your personal profile, you write of letting weight hold you back, do you feel your blog has helped you on a personal level also?

I definitely do. I was fairly active before I started FGG, but I think what’s really starting to change most is my shyness about being overweight. It was a sore point I avoided conversation about for years, and in the last several months since we started FGG I’ve been more and more open about it and comfortable with it. But I’m still working on being okay in front of the camera! That remains a tough one for me.

Can you tell me more about your Photo Challenge that you run on the website?

The idea for a monthly photo challenge was two-fold. First, we wanted to “help along” the change in public perceptions of overweight women through portraits of them out there doing, living, being fabulous and creative, having a great time. By doing that, we also wanted to start showing women how to change perceptions of themselves through self-portraits. A lot of women have had really powerful results with projects like these. Also: I need to learn to take my own advice.

What do you like to write about the most?

Traveling and adventure, mostly – even if the adventure is just an everyday thing or moment that becomes elevated to a higher level because of the meaning we attach to it or the light we shine on it. In some way or another, that principle is infused in just about everything I write about.

You are a wonderful photographer, have you always wanted to be a photographer and what is your favourite subject matter?

Thank you! I started taking photos when I was little with my grandfather’s old C-110. Oh, they were horrid. Heads cut off, things too blurry or far away. But I eventually got better, and have found in the last several years that I love capturing a normal, unremarkable thing and making it remarkable through a unique angle or treatment.

Do you have any future plans for your blog? And are we allowed to know what they are?

Right now we’re focusing most on taking the pulse of our readers and making sure we’re giving them what they’re missing elsewhere, and sifting through potential sponsors and site partners to find the ones that match our mission and the unique place our audience is in — overweight and struggling with body image, but ultimately determined to get out there and live a full life unencumbered by those things. Eventually we’d love to do more high-touch things, like a calendar or a conference.

We are about to start a campaign titled Real Bodies Unite where we need 10,000 signatures to present to the fashion houses. We want to prove that women want to see more size diversity in the fashion industry – the media, advertising and catwalk, can we ask your thoughts on this? Do you feel women are represented correctly in the fashion world?

Yes! I think we’re starting to see the very meager beginnings of a shift in fashion toward more healthy body types and sizes. It’s a long time coming — not because I begrudge any designer the freedom to put their clothes on whomever they choose, but because I think the exclusion of larger women sends a negative message. Women of all sizes – from naturally thin to athletic to curvy to very large – should be well represented in the fashion industry.

Thanks Tee, I hope that encourages people to sign our petition.

What are your favourite fashion retailers?

Believe it or not, I’ve just started following plus-size fashion in the last year. Before I started FGG, my idea of fashion was a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and maybe some cute sandals. If I had a matching scarf from Coldwater Creek, I thought I was hot stuff. Our readers have taught me A LOT about plus-size fashion. But I’m still a basics girl at heart, and I think my favorites right now are Old Navy (because I can finally fit into their stuff!) and Sonoma’s line at Kohl’s. I can hear FGG readers sighing and shaking their heads…

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time when you are not blogging?

Right now I’m running a fitness challenge for 35 men and women in my area. We’re working toward a 50 pound weight loss in six months through weight training, cardio, getting active outside the gym and whole foods nutrition. Otherwise I love traveling, road trips, exploring, canoeing, and I’m in the middle of my first novel – which has been an exciting ride all by itself!

And finally, do you have any lifestyle advice for the 100% People readers?

Absolutely: TRY EVERYTHING! I am happier with myself now than I’ve ever been — and the biggest factor in that has been just getting myself up and putting myself out there into situations that a few years ago I might have shrunk away from, either too shy or embarrassed or thinking I couldn’t do it because I weighed almost 250 pounds. I have yet to come across something that women who aren’t overweight can do that I couldn’t. Maybe I had to take it a little slower, or squeeze in a little tighter, or rest more often or otherwise modify it a little bit — but everything I’ve tried in the last several years, from 5-day canoe trips to sea kayaking to hiking to 11,000 feet to taking a boot camp class and then some, I’ve been able to do. And almost always I achieved more than I expected to.

Thanks for a great interview!

Thank you and visit the FGG website here.