The Fat Girl's Guide to Living

Comfortable in my own pants

I love yoga. The reasons are many: it’s a low impact activity (perfect for my myriad prior injuries), practice can be adjusted to suit just about any ability level (no need to take one of those overachieving “power yoga” classes to reap its benefits) and body type (I am a master at adjusting poses to suit my ample lower belly), and it makes me feel fantastic, inside and out (I leave class feeling both relaxed and energized – unlike anything else physical I do, except maybe for sex!).

Let’s face it: yoga pants are inexpensive and easy to find at just about any major retailer. Those yoga pants are just fine, and fortunately, you don’t need any specialized equipment to practice yoga. But if you want comfortable, well-made, sturdy, flattering yoga pants that will last you for years, check out these beauties from Land’s End. The fabric wicks away moisture from your body and prevents the growth of bacteria–distinct advantages if you’re a sweaty Betty like me. They’re also nicely insulated–I never feel the cold when walking to and from yoga in our freezing Illinois winters–and I just love the thickness and firm flexibility of this fabric.

The only down side to these yoga pants is the price: $48.50 for plus (IX and 2X) and tall sizes (where regular and petite pay $42.50). However, my pear-shaped, size 20-but-pushing-22-for-a-while-now bod fits into their regular XL (listed as an 18-20). Also, I only buy these on sale, and they are marked down once or twice a year–sign up for email deals on the Land’s End home page (they arrive almost-daily but there are new offers all the time) and become a fan on Facebook, where unique specials sometimes pop up. Finally, check your local Land’s End at Sears stores for in-store sales that aren’t advertised on the web and the Land’s End Outlet stores if you have one in your area (I once found the yoga pants for $28 at a Sears store).

Whatever your budget (and as a feast-or-famine freelancer, I love a good bargain), it’s always a good idea to have some items that really work in your wardrobe and are built to last. If all this yoga-in-comfy-pants talk has you excited to try yoga, check out the Fat Girl’s Guide to Yoga, and look for an upcoming Stuff We Love on yoga tops soon. And as always, share your fave finds in the comments section.

I haven’t paid more than $2 to line these eyes since ‘07

It happened innocently enough. Wandering through the aisles of SaveMart with a list, a budget, and a pair of neglected eyelids. A few days before I had used the last little nub of my pencil eyeliner, and while I don’t wear makeup anywhere else on my face, I love a nice, dramatic eye. I felt naked.

But they didn’t have my usual brand, and spending $4-8 on an eyeliner I hadn’t tested out felt too risky on my budget. If I didn’t like it (and I’m picky about eyeliner consistency) – then I’d be stuck with it, because I couldn’t justify buying another one right away. After a few minutes I spied a collection of eyeliner sticks in nice, rich colors in a jar on the shelf, marked Jordana Quickliner Eye $1.25/each.

My first instinct was to wonder what was wrong with it. Do they break easily? Do you have to press hard and dig at your lids to make it show up? Do they wear down fast? Will I get eyelid cancer?!

I really liked the smoky tones, so I decided I’d give it a shot. I figured for $1.25 if I didn’t like it I could at least justify buying another one. But I didn’t like it. I loved it. The cocoa brown was exactly right, and the texture was smooth as silk going on. That stick lasted me about three months. Since then, I’ve found it as low as $.99 cents and as high as $1.99.

Good stuff, good price. Done.

Don’t try this at home. But do try some of these recipes.

It all started on Facebook, when an acquaintance mentioned making the shrimp-stuffed poblanos recipe in the latest issue of Cooking Light for dinner. I was entering my grocery list onto my iPhone and added “Cooking Light,” since I’ve yet to meet a poblano I didn’t like, and I hadn’t read the magazine for years. Why? I’d grown tired of all things “diet” and “light” and “fat free” and “artificially sweetened” and “blast your butt” and “tone your abs” and all of the other promises of perfection made in bright, bold fonts at the checkout stand. I wanted to learn how to cultivate a sensible relationship with food and to make good eats using real and tasty ingredients, and I started doing just that.

Fast forward to my post-grocery-shopping reading, and you may now color me impressed and inspired by Cooking Light magazine. It’s not only for people watching their weight; the recipes are just plain good and emphasize moderation over artificial sweeteners or crazy substitutions. Many of the meals could easily pass Michelle’s muster for a Foodie Fridays entry. Like Fettucine Alfredo with Bacon, Roast Chicken with Balsamic Bell Peppers, and Chocolate-Cherry Heart Smart Cookies.

Then came the kicker: the January/February issue features 10 rules for eating in 2010 that read like a FGG laundry list of mindful decadence: “try something new,” “cook more often,” “eat more whole foods,” “indulge adventurously.” I also loved the “Dinner Tonight” section that ends with – be still my menu-planning, grocery-listing heart – a food shopping list for each recipe! Swoon.

This just goes to show that not all things labeled “light” will leave you feeling deprived or spin you into “diet” mode. Bravo, Cooking Light!

Got a favorite food-related read? Share it in the comments.

Me: cozy and comfy in my White Stag turtleneck sweater

If you’re like me, you have well-worn go-to pieces in your wardrobe for everyday living. Stuff that never fails to meet at the junction of looking good, feeling comfortable, and being just valuable enough to feel great in it, without being so valuable that you’re afraid to wear it out.

I have three favorite pieces like that, and two of those are White Stag Woman: my cotton “business casual” pants, and my ribbed cotton turtleneck sweater. Here’s why I love ‘em:

1. I’ve had the pants for almost three years, and the sweater for two. Neither has shrunk, lost its shape, pilled, faded, unraveled, ripped/split, stretched out or otherwise failed me.

2. Stains and dirt have come out/off quickly and easily with both.

3. Both are form fitting with a tailored feel (a standout in a world of boxy, shapeless plus-size clothing), but without being snug in the wrong places. I feel shapely and feminine and touchable when I wear them. The fabric is soft without being flimsy, and knows how to hide the parts I want most to hide.

4. Both pieces are impressively slimming, and make me look and feel about a size smaller (the turtleneck sweater in the photo above is a 2x).

5. Both pieces were under $20 at Walmart.

The bad news: they’re not always easy to find. It’s hit-and-miss to find them at Walmart, some stores carry a wide range and others nothing at all, and their online store only carries a small selection. A search on eBay only yields about 35 pieces. (An aside: am I the only one who loathes the way plus-size clothes hang on a hanger?)

But these are worth seeking out and waiting for, so keep your eye out for them. Next time you come across a White Stag Woman piece at Walmart, shopping eBay or even a garage sale, you can be sure you’re getting a plus-size brand that looks great, feels great and holds up to everyday use for years.

Surely we can’t be the only ones who think gingerbread consumption should be encouraged year-round. Its rich flavor is so satisfying that it’s tough to over-snack on them. We also love yoga for its restorative powers and the way regular practice encourages us to slow down and be in tune with our bodies, so these cookies represent a perfect – and adorable – pairing of style and substance. Every order of gingerbread yogis comes with this yoga pose chart. How sweet is that?

We also fell hard for these plump doves and these cool camera cookies – nice inspiration for our 2010 self portraiture challenge. Visit the Baked Ideas web site for more ideas – they’ll even make custom cookies of your fab figure!

Got any great finds we should know about? Tell us about them in the comments.

My RSS feed is packed so full that I sit down around 7 each morning to crack open, and it’s usually approaching 9 before I’m moving on. When I’m more pressed for time, I skip most of them and sail through my top 15 or so feeds – and one of those is Lilli Hingee’s delightful, daily “style story,” Frocks& Frou Frou.

I’m no girly-girl; you’ll catch me buying dresses and jewelry and shoes about as often as you’ll see Ralph Lauren sponsoring a BBW convention, but people, I admit it: Lilli’s daily outfit posts give me a secret pinch of giddy girliness. I figure the step outside-of-myself is good for me, and she’s so cute I can’t even be mad at her for making me want to spend money on polka dots and florals and a good pair of red pumps.

Just don’t tell anyone…I got a rep to protect.

And so I pass the Frocks & Frou Frou RSS torch to you, in hopes you’ll get as much enjoyment out of Lilli’s daily looks as I do. For an extra dose of girly goodness, you can also follow her on Twitter.

I plan my family’s weekly menus before grocery shopping for a variety of reasons: efficiency, health, budgeting, and, well, I’m kind of a nerd and I enjoy it. Knowing what I’m buying before I shop also keeps impulse buys at bay, but last week, I made an exception.

When I spotted the words “Mediterranean Bruschetta” and “Party Crackers” in the same phrase on a box, into the shopping cart it went. Even my five-year-old is hooked on them, and kids can be a tough sell. Every day when he came home from morning kindergarten, we enjoyed an indoor picnic lunch featuring a variety of cheeses (light cream cheese for me, co-jack for him), fresh fruits, and colorful red and orange bell pepper slices. These crackers are very crunchy and flavorful, but they’re a little on the delicate side, so if you buy them for a party, go easy with dense or heavy appetizer spreads.

Tasty as they are, these are also a bit on the spendy side. But one thing I’m discovering as I’m learning to trust my body and my appetite is that a little decadence can go a long way. I also believe that you get what you pay for: I’d rather buy fresh salmon, asparagus, and couscous (one of my family’s favorite meals) than eat at McDonald’s, for instance (though some nights, I’d rather pay for convenience and I accept the costs associated with that, too). So as an occasional treat, these are well worth the expense. I might go for the Roasted Garlic & Thyme or Stoneground 7 Grain this  week, but for me it’s hard to resist the siren call of bruschetta. To the folks at Kashi: we’d love to see some more flavor varieties for these crackers. How about something with rosemary or cracked black pepper?

Have you spotted anything tasty while shopping for holiday celebrations this season? Share your fave finds in the comments.