Big Interview: the Fat Girl’s Guide to Living

Since 2008, the Fat Girl’s Guide to Living (aka FGG) gives fashion advice and living tips to women with “real bodies’. Tee, Toni, and Michelle created fatgirlsguidetoliving.com, but their readers are also very active contributors to the site. Tee has accepted this interview for Plus-Size-Tall.com. Find out about her goals, her favourite brands, and her top advice for women who struggle with their weight.

1/ Tell us about the team behind the Fat Girl’s Guide to Living. Is one of you the resident fashion expert?

Toni, Michelle and I met many years ago through my blog at adventurejournalist.com, and had worked together on a couple of projects in the past. We also happen to all be struggling with weight, and with the idea of putting ourselves out there despite it. When I got the idea for FGG back in 2008, they were the first people I thought of — both creative and full of great ideas for what we call “mindful decadence.”

None of us came to our posts at FGG with an intimate knowledge of fashion, we’ve all been learning as we go. Our readers, many of whom are hardcore plus-size fashionistas, have helped a great deal.

2/ What are the topics that you cover most often (related to fashion or not)?

I’d say the biggest topics are split between fashion (and how to find it, if you’re fashion-challenged like we are) and getting outdoors and enjoying activities that are usually associated with women who are athletic, like canoeing or snowshoeing.

3/ Why do you think that your readers like to hear from you?

I think we’re a practical, real, balanced voice in a world that easily gets divided into the camps of perpetual cynicism and empty cheerleading with topics like weight and body image. We also have fun with our guides, but keep it useful and real-world, the combination of which has ended up being infectious and motivated some of our readers to do things they’d never done before. Or at least not in a very long time!

4/ What is the most frequent mistake that curvy girls make when it comes to buying an outfit?

I just learned this myself in the last couple of years: a lot of women with curves like me (or let’s face it, bumps and dimples and rolls and pouches) are tempted to hide their shape behind shapeless, boxy and/or baggy clothing, thinking it’s going to minimize flaws and take attention away from their figure.

But I’ve found the opposite is true. Loose-fitting clothing can actually make a woman look larger than she is, even frumpy or sloppy. And our posture tends to change when we have clothing draping from ourselves. Clothes that aren’t tight but have attention paid to shape and form, that accentuate shape, actually make us look smaller and more confident.

5/ Do you think that the current interest in plus size fashion from mainstream magazines (e.g. Glamour, V Magazine) is here to stay?

I sure hope so! The shift toward body-size diversity has been great to watch, and I think we’ll see that domino throughout the industry over the next couple of years. I think the “real bodies” movement needs to be careful, though, and understand that real bodies (i.e, true diversity) embraces ALL sizes. Not just ours.

6/ What are your 3 favorite clothing brands of the moment?

Admitting this to a French fashion magazine may be a career-killer, but I have to admit: I’m a sucker for budget basics. Give me a pair of nice-fitting jeans (Torrid jeans are great) and some basic solid shirts from Sonoma or Westbound and a pair of Ugg boots and I’m a happy girl. I CAN say that because I’ve been spending a lot of time at the gym lately, that I’ve really been impressed with Danskin‘s new NOW line in plus sizes. I could live in those.

7/ I love your “Ask FGG” section. Could you explain to our readers what it is and how they can participate?

That’s one of my favorites, too! One of the best things about FGG is the community of readers so ready help each other out. When someone has a question (for instance, “where can I find plus-sized fencing gear?”) they post it in a comment on the site (ttp://www.fatgirlsguidetoliving.com), tweet it to us (@fatgirlsguide) or email it – and we put it in the queue.

We research the answer as best we can, post what we found, and then turn it over to our readers for additional comments and advice. We’ve had some lively conversations and lots of great suggestions come out of those posts.

8/ One last word?

You bet. There is nothing more I’d love to see come from the time and energy Toni, Michelle and I put into FGG than the abandonment of the “I can’t do that” presumption. The scarcity mentality of dieting is counterproductive to true health, the victim mentalities you sometimes see volleyed around isn’t doing that community any favors, and the “maybe someday” approach to everything — from traveling to outdoor recreation to wearing a certain dress to sex and dating — keeps us held back unnecessarily, which keeps us in a cycle of shame that gets harder and harder to get out of.

My advice to women struggling with weight, whether it’s 10 pounds or 200, is: TRY EVERYTHING. Not when you’ve lost 50 pounds, not when you’ve fit into your old jeans. But NOW.  I guarantee you’ll surprise yourself…and then want to keep surprising yourself again and again and again.

Thank you Tee for your time.

Fat Girl’s Guide to Living : http://www.fatgirlsguidetoliving.com