The Fat Girl's Guide to Living

Who you callin’ fat by Jamie Bates

Choosing this month’s photo challenge winner was tough because so many new and colorful photos landed in our FGG Girls photo group. Jamie’s image (above) is December’s winning photo because of her distinctive, electrifying, and inspiring self portraiture style. Congrats, Jamie! Send us your mailing address and we’ll send you a prize.

If you can’t relate to the sentiment expressed in this photo, we might have to revoke your honorary fat girl card and boot you from the clubhouse. Okay, we’re kidding, but we know that struggles with the scale can be epic for women of every size, and that’s what made this photo as evocative as it is funny. And while not everyone worries about this issue, however you feel about weighing yourself (or not), it’s sometimes easy to forget that there’s so much more to us than our waist size or weight. Taking racy, playful, or soft self portraits – or having a friend or professional photographer take quality photos of us – is a great way to capture and celebrate who we are now.

If you saw our Mid-Week Mini Challenge from last week, we’re extending it by 24 hours, because 01.01.10 is such a tantalizing kick-off date for a creative self portraiture challenge.

Here’s the scoop:

Join a Flickr self-portrait project group like 52 Weeks or 365 Days, upload your first self-portrait, then commit to at least one self-portrait each week for a year. When you’ve joined the group and added your photo (which should be taken just for this project), come back here and link to that photo in comments, which then enters you to win the mini-challenge mystery prize. Deadline: 11:59 p.m. (PST) on January 1, 2010, and the winner will be chosen at random on January 2.

I’m having another go at 365 Days of self portraits (my first 365 was in 2007), but of course *I* can’t enter to win the prize. We welcome other takers, however, so show us what you’ve got, girls!

My self-portrait project was both scary and liberating

Can you tell we love to see your self portraits? We’re always elbowing you to get in on the FGG Girls Flickr group, and now we’re willing to materially reward you for it. That’s because we know how powerful a self-portrait series can be…especially when grappling with body image.

So I’ll get right down to it. This week’s mid-week mini challenge is:

Join a Flickr self-portrait project group like 52 Weeks or 365 Days, upload your first self-portrait, then commit to at least one self-portrait each week for a year.

When you’ve joined the group and added your photo (which should be taken just for this project), come back here and link to that photo in comments. You’ll be entered to win the mini-challenge mystery prize, and we’ll choose a winner at random on December 31. As for the rest of next year, well…you’ll just have to be on the honor system to stick with it.

Deadline: 11:59 pm (PST) December 30, 2009. Edit: We’ve extended the challenge till the end of the first day of 2010 (11:59 pm PST on January 1, 2009)! Post links to your first 365 Days or 52 Weeks images in the comments either in this post or here.

Image by Happywalks

Michelle has tempted us with mini muffins and cupcakes in the past, and this week’s photo reveals how sweet it is to downsize our favorite treats (in this case, red velvet cupcakes). I love Regina’s joyful smile here, and her adorable kitchen!

Our FGG Girls Flickr group is growing every week, with amazing images of women sharing their lives, personalities, and curves.

You don’t have to be a professional or even advanced amateur photographer to join – just take photos of yourself truly living. That’s it. Show us your favorite hobbies, new fall sweater, or that cute haircut and color (ahem, Tee!). We started this group as an outlet for us fat girls to see ourselves in a kinder light and appreciate just how fun, adorable and sexy we can be. And even if you’re not feeling particularly fun, adorable, or sexy, give it a shot anyway – you may surprise yourself.

Each week we select one photo from our group as the FGG Photo of the Week. At month’s end, we pick one photo from those weekly entries to win a prize. This month’s theme is COOKING, which should be easy enough to capture in the next two weeks.

So if you haven’t already, join the fun! We look forward to seeing how you’re living.

Ladies, on your marks! Forever 21′s plus-size line, Faith 21, is hosting a model search – and they want to see if YOU’VE got the right stuff. Just submit a photo of yourself wearing a Faith 21 item by November 18, and you could win a trip to L.A. for an official Fait 21 model photo shoot and a $500 Faith 21 shopping spree. Second and third place prizes include $400 and $250 gift certificates, respectively.

Click here for full contest details

Too shy to enter, but still want to check out Faith 21′s line of plus-size apparel? Click above and get the discount code for 10% off an order of $40 or more.

Good luck!

by photobonnie

If you haven’t been by the FGG Girls Flickr group lately, come check out the growing collection of lovely portraits and self-portraits we’ve got from our awesome readers.

Never been? Need a refresher? Our Flickr group is a gathering spot where women who are overweight are encouraged to post photos of themselves living. And by living we mean anything from cooking to kayaking to wrestling to holding hands on the beach with a lover to enjoying a cup of coffee to raking leaves to hanging out the window of a car on a road trip.

Each week we select one photo from our group to showcase in our photo of the week feature. Each month, we pick one photo from the showcase to win a prize.

So if you haven’t already, add your own photos to our group! Can’t wait to see you there.

Me, on a good day.

We’ve noticed via Twitter and blogs that a few of our readers (and one of our own, who shall remain nameless) are going through the fall doldrums this week, and since it’s hump day and plenty of us are dragging through that, too, we thought we’d post a little challenge to get ya up off that shelf and back into the vibrating hum of things. Define that as you will.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it: go do something bold and out of character. Something badass. Something that pokes your comfort zone. So to speak. Something you’ve wanted to do if only you had the ______.

Decide that you have that, and go.

Then report back here with your story, so the rest of us can be inspired and egged on to go out and do our own thing. You have until tomorrow night, Thursday, at 11:59 pm Pacific to do it and then add your comment here.

Toni and I (like how I volunteer her for stuff without her permission?) will pick the top three winning boldies on Friday, and each winner will receive a mystery prize that’s related in some way to the bold thing you just did. Entries will be judged on:

1. Originality. The less cliche the better.
2. Real boldness. If you’re a plus model and you go have a sexy photo of yourself taken, it doesn’t count. If you’re a serious introvert and you go attend a Toastmasters meeting, it does.
3. Legality. As in, let’s keep it that, please. Even if only just.

Don’t want to participate, but want a prize anyway? Hit “tweet this” below and include @fatgirlsguide in your tweet so we can keep track of it. We’ll pick a wild card Twitter winner by drawing to receive a 4th prize.

3…2…1…

GO FORTH NOW AND BE BOLD.

Image by Betsssssy

Welcome to November! Because we don’t yet have any entries for this month’s photo challenge (theme: COOKING), I combed flickr in search of a self portrait that would inspire our readers. I also decided what to have for lunch: a sandwich loaded with fresh veggies!

If you’d like a chance to be featured as our FGG Photo of the Week and to be in the running for a prize at month’s end, join our photo challenge! Here’s how:

Throughout November, snap a photo of yourself, or have someone else snap it for you, in the act of baking, frying, prepping,  or buying – anything associated with cooking. Then upload it to the FGG Flickr Group for a chance to be featured in FGG’s Photo of the Week each Sunday. At the end of the month, we’ll select one prize winner for November. Good luck!

Also, I’d like to hear from you readers who don’t join our photo challenges: why not? For those who are having fun in the FGG flickr group, is there anything more you’d like to see there? Your feedback helps us create fun promotions and continue growing our thriving, supportive community – all with an eye toward celebrating ourselves just the way we are. Share your thoughts in the comments section. And when you have lunch today, consider snapping a tasty pic of yourself doing the prep work!