Fat Girl Walking: Sex, Food, Love, and Being Comfortable in Your Skin…Every Inch of It by Brittany Gibbons
Humorous Memoir
I don’t know how many of you know this, but I have another blog called Starting on Monday. I started it to blog about motherhood, laziness, being chubby, and maybe, hopefully, to write about a diet as I lost weight. 2.5 years later, I’m heavier than ever, and I feel so frustrated, I stopped even posting on the blog. My last post was called “I hate my body”. That self-hatred permeates every single aspect of my life.
I have read some of Brittany Gibbon’s blog, Brittany, herself, and always wished I could feel as beautiful and as good in my skin as she does, but I’m not even close. But it turns out this book was so crazy relatable! Brittany wasn’t always comfortable in her skin, she hated herself too. Well, geez, it sounds depressing, but Fat Girl Walking is anything but.
I laughed out loud, and cry/laughed at a few points that were just so…me. I have quotes highlighted throughout the book, and I wish I could share them all. It reads like a novel, but it’s her life. Brittany is like my perfect best friend, I want to steal her, and hang out all the time (stalker much?) Actually I DID kind of hang out with her almost 2 years ago, with Jasinda Wilder, and Alice Clayton, and Angie from SBC! I’ll have the video at the end of this review if you’re interested, of our “Curvy Girls in the Bedroom” chat, despite my laryngitis, I was so honored to be a part of this. It was the only time in my life my weight worked for me!
If you have no idea who Brittany is, that’s OK. Let me give you an overview.
I am the internet’s token fat girl. If the internet is still a thing when I’m old and die, all this might be included in my obituary.
Brittany Gibbons: The jolly face of plus-size women. Known for taking her clothes off to make political statements and making skinny people everywhere feel uncomfortable.”
Actually this is bullshit, because I think any average girl can relate to her, skinny or fat, everyone has had an issue with themselves, don’t you think?
Brittany is so real. She’s not preaching to you, she’s not telling you how to lose weight, she is telling you about her life in a way that is so relatable, it’s like chatting with a friend. She talks about growing up, getting her period, and then finding boys can boost up her self esteem, and how she fooled around with lots of them (I related to this so much!). She talks about experimenting in college, and of falling in love with her husband. She talks of having kids, and his having a vasectomy.
And she talks about her public life. Brittany went on all the morning shows in a bathing suit. She talks about the nasty internet trolls and how the media twists things around. But she does it all with humor and fun, with lots of balls and vagina comments.
(I had a similar experience while reading Seduction and Snacks, you can read about it here.)
It was so nice to read a book from someone who gets you, from putting your hand on your stomach to assure people you weren’t fat but pregnant, to never being in any photos so it looks like your kids have no mom, and running to Facebook like a crazy person if someone tags you. From hemorrhoids to only having clitoral orgasms, Brittany is me, only 10 years younger, prettier and funnier.
But there is an important message to learn, ESPECIALLY if you have daughters. Life is too short to live with self-loathing. Don’t let your kids catch the self-hatred bug. Love yourself and others will too.
Brittany talks a big game about body confidence now, but you can see that the self-loathing and self esteem issues are still there, lying right under the surface. She’s not a narcissist, she’s not in love with herself. She is still on this journey of acceptance, and it just made her all the more real to me, and absolutely motivated me to think a little differently.
Likes:
- I was worried I wouldn’t get into it because it wasn’t a novel. No issues there, it is a love story with her husband, and with her self.
- I laughed out loud so many times, because I could so relate!
- I cried for her and laughed at the same time.
- I loved knowing that she wasn’t always so confident. That she hated herself most of her life as well.
- She shared so many really private moments both from her growing up and from her marriage. Her husband must be a saint.
Dislikes:
- I didn’t dislike anything (except the price). But I would have liked some great dressing tips, she is an awesome dresser.
- I would have liked a little more on the process of learning to love ones self, and maybe a little more since her attitude has changed about herself, it was very heavy about her “before” and a little light on the “after”.
Rating 5 stars. Although sex is discussed, there are no sexy scenes.
The Down and Dirty:
Fat Girl Walking: Sex, Food, Love, and Being Comfortable in Your Skin…Every Inch of It is not a novel, but it reads with the ease of one. It’s funny, it’s smart, it’s relatable to anyone who has any self esteem issues, and for curvier moms with daughters, I think this should be required reading. The book encouraged me to re-start Starting on Monday, and to try some positive self talk instead of the negative crap I spew at the mirror daily. Brittany’s stories about growing up were fun and relatable, and her honestly was refreshing. I have never related to a “character” in a book so much, and she’s real! I know this is pricey for our little bookie community, but the price is different for memoir type books. I, for one, think it was more than worth the price!
Purchase Fat Girl Walking: Sex, Food, Love, and Being Comfortable in Your Skin…Every Inch of It by Brittany Gibbons
Check Brittany out on Entertainment Tonight. See her on The Today Show.
Check out the episode of Last Call Brittany with Jasinda Wilder, Alice Clayton, Angie from SBC, Amber Doty , me (with laryngitis) and Brittany, herself (pun…that’s the name of her blog):
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