The Fat Girl's Guide to Living

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When Toni wrote the original Fat Girl’s Guide to iPhone Applications last December, she noted that, despite the holdout status maintained by some of our more technophobic readers, the smartphone wasn’t going away. How right she was! In the eight months since that post ran at FGG, Apple has released both the iPhone 4 and the iPad, while the Motorola Droid has continued to explode in popularity and application offerings. We figured those three factors — not to mention the scads of new and updated apps on the market — warranted re-visiting the app stores to share some of the newest (or most addictive) ways these ubiquitous gadgets can enhance your life.

Note: Not all of our suggestions are designed or marketed specifically as apps for overweight women; most, in fact, have much broader appeal or aren’t weight-related. Consider this a roundup of helpful (or goofy) apps that we, as fat girls with active lifestyles, have enjoyed or coveted this year.

Apps for the hungry girl

Whether you’re in the kitchen or on the go, the Epicurious app helps take your cooking to a higher level by allowing you to search/browse/save/e-mail more than 30,000 recipes and create shopping lists. On the large screen of the iPad, the app becomes a stove-side cookbook with user-friendly layout and task progress bar. Best of all? Epicurious is free for both the iPad and iPhone and is newly available for Android mobile devices.

If you’re searching for a place to eat, both Yelp (free, user-generated reviews) and Zagat To Go (Zagat ratings for 40,000 restaurants, $3.99-$19.99) can help you decide where to nosh. Both apps command loyal followings based on their respective content, attitude and price, but if you have an iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry or Android mobile device, you can try them both and decide for yourself. And once you know where you’re going, reservations are a snap with OpenTable.

Loving the variety of fresh produce the summertime brings? The What’s Fresh app (for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch) can tell you which fruits and vegetables are currently in season in your area (anywhere in the U.S.), or provide a calendar of when/where the item you’re craving will be in season. Currently selling for 99 cents (down from $1.99), this one’s a gimme for girls who love to shop locally and those of us looking to include more fresh fruits and veggies in our diets.

Apps for the active girl

We haven’t seen many specific fitness apps for plus-sized women out there, but girls of all activity levels can benefit from setting the simple goal of just trying to move more. Portable technology makes it easier than ever to track (and celebrate!) everything from the shortest walks with the dog to lengthy hikes, runs or rides.

Counting steps, measuring stride and tracking distance and calories burned all happens via iTreadmill’s quick, clean interface (99 cents for iPhone or iPod touch). And I was already addicted to MapMyRun.com, but the iMapMy fitness app is even more exciting. Different versions exist for BlackBerry, Android and Apple gadgets, but the upshot is that the GPS-enabled app provides route planning and tracking, training log and social network for everything from walking to running to cycling.

We know every girl has her favorite activity, and it would be impossible to tackle all of the corresponding app recommendations here. If you’re learning to get your yoga on, for example, you may dig 101 Yoga Poses app, free for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. And for girls who like to travel on two wheels, Bike Doctor ($1.99 for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad) provides diagnosis and step-by-step bike repairs so a flat tire doesn’t derail the whole commute.

Health and wellness apps

WebMD‘s free app (for iPhone and iPad) is an easy-to-use goldmine of medical info. In addition to expected features like a symptom checker and information on medical conditions, other cool components of this app include the ability to locate your nearest physician, hospital and pharmacy, and a tool that identifies prescriptions and over-the-counter pills by shape, color and imprint. And in addition to the numerous weather apps out there, some — like AccuWeather.com’s WeatherMD™ targets content to those with weather-affected ailments like asthma, arthritis and allergies.

Staying in touch with your own health is a little easier with the HeartWise app ($2.99) for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, which allows you to record and track trends in your blood pressure, resting heart rate and weight. We also love the simple, straightforward videos on iStretch, which offers yoga stretches designed to combat the effects of repetitive motion aches and pains on our office-dwelling bodies. Soon-to-be moms can even track and share every stage of pregnancy (“morning sickness: day 23!”) with free apps like I’m Expecting.

Apps for your lifestyle

Perfect for the commute, the doctor’s office waiting room, or the girl with eco-friendly reading habits, both iBooks (free for the iPad) and Amazon.com’s Kindle app (iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Android) offer the ability to download and read books chosen from a library of thousands. While you’re at it, jot down notes for the upcoming book club meeting (or just sketch your Next Big Idea) with Evernote, a free app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch that instantly syncs to your Mac or Windows desktop.

Pandora + portability = happy, happy ears. Seriously, if you haven’t yet used Pandora to build free, customized radio stations based on a genre, a group or even a single song, I want you to do three things: 1) Finish reading this article; 2) Download the free app to your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, BlackBerry or Android; and 3) Send FGG fan mail. Not sure how to complete any of those three steps? Check Howcast for a video guide on any topic you can dream up — it’s available free for Apple products, Blackberry and Android.

Whether your “must-have” news fix comes via NPR, the Associated Press or People magazine, there’s an app for that. And iPad users with a pop culture jones will appreciate the way Entertainment Weeky’s “Must List” comes to interactive life with the free app.

Counting pennies? SuperSaver.com (free for Apple products) shows you promotions and coupons available in your area, while iGasUp (same) will steer you toward the cheapest gas prices in any location. If you do the car share thing, the Zipcar iphone app is handy for finding and reserving a vehicle. It will even allow you to lock/unlock doors or beep the horn of your car — great for remembering where you parked! After saving some money, keep the warm fuzzies going by saving a little planet, too. The iRecycle app can help you figure out where and how to recycle everything from newspapers to cell phones, while informing you of eco-friendly gatherings in your area.

Finally, several friends swear by using textPlus to stay in touch and meet new people. Available for Apple products and Android, the app allows free, unlimited texts (including group texts) from any device. No more 30-minute conference calls to decide what movie to see. Everyone wins, truly.

Apps that deserve the iPad treatment

The iPad’s big, beautiful display is just begging to show movies. Netflix members can download the free app and stream full-length movies or their favorite TV series anywhere they choose. And fans of ABC can thank the network for its gorgeous streaming viewer, stocked with full-length episodes that can be paused and resumed as the mood strikes. Looking for a (free!) diversion but not sure what you want to watch? Dailymotion lets you search more than 13 million videos from channel selections that include TV, film, sports and music.

And while some apps could only be pulled off by an iPad-size screen (the instant ambiance — or camp factor — of Fireplace HD comes to mind), others can just flat-out blow you away when given more room to do their thing. Check out the updated iPad version of Star Walk constellation finder (which Toni mentioned last time) for, um, a stellar example.

Apps just for fun

Sure, a smartphone or iPad can make you more productive or change the way you experience media and information. But the gadget’s equally (if not more) important function is that of a sleek, pricey, grown-up toy. If you’re not yet playing Words With Friends or any of the Bejeweled games, I envy your restraint. And although I’ve yet to play it, the level of addiction reported by users of the crazy-popular puzzle game Angry Birds makes me glad. . . and itchy to see what the fuss is about.

Other fun ways to indulge your inner nerd: For 99 cents, Game Table turns your iPad into a variety of classic card and board games (checkers, chess, solitaire, poker). And Sporcle provides Apple users with a dizzying array of quizzes, trivia, games and “did you know?” lists for just $1.99.

For pure brain candy (no thinking required!), there’s an app for every ridiculous concept imaginable — all you need to do is Google. (Trust me on the ridiculous part — I have a friend who stubbornly refuses to admit that More Toast is anything other than sign of the apocalypse.)

A few ideas more compelling than toast: If you’re a child of the ’80s, like me, you can relive the days of Def Leppard and Debbie Gibson via the (free) Jamboxx app’s ’80s-inspired interface, which turns your iPad into an old-school, mix tape-making boom box. Nostalgialicious! And laugh if you want, but we dare you to play Bubble Snap (free for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch) just once. There’s something inexplicably compelling and Zen-like about popping bubble wrap, whether virtually or in real-time — even without the high-score bragging rights at stake.

For me, the best part about smartphone apps is when someone taking a seemingly ordinary app and weaves it into her life in a fun and unusual way. My friend Chrissy uses iRaffle to settle disputes among her three boys. Fighting over the bionic Spiderman action figure? Punch all three kids’ names into the app and — bam! — two seconds later, there’s a winner. “I tell them you just can’t argue with science,” she says. I’m totally trying that next time we no one can pick a place for dinner.

Readers, tell us — what’s your favorite mobile application these days? How does it bring more fulfillment, variety or fun to your life?

Gulf Coast, 2006: The day we built a playground with KaBOOM!

I was racking my brain Wednesday night for a way to kick off this week’s Guide (okay, truthfully I was watching “American Idol” at my friend’s house), when the show’s annual philanthropy-fest, “Idol Gives Back,” aired a piece that outlined the important work done by Feeding America. “I would love to work for Feeding America,” my friend said wistfully, “but I’d feel too weird about being a fat girl working for a hunger relief organization.” And just like that, this intro wrote itself.

Volunteering: The great equalizer

Here we are on Earth Day, smack dab in the middle of National Volunteer Week — what better time to tackle the perceived notion that fat girls are somehow lazy and inactive? The amazing plus-sized beauties in my world lead rich, diverse lives that include: horseback riding, travel, tennis, gardening, motherhood, yoga, cycling, softball and — for some — healthy doses of community involvement. Yet for some of us, it’s tougher to overcome the internalization of the notion that we “can’t” do something because of our weight. Maybe it’s because many of us equate volunteering with food pantries and soup kitchens, and anything involving food feels like it draws attention to us. Or maybe it’s because we fear not being able to keep up with the energy levels of those we’d be joining in whatever effort we chose. Martin Luther King once said:

Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. . . . You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.

Granted, Dr. King didn’t include “You don’t have to have a BMI lower than 25 to serve,” but his point is clear: Service is the great equalizer. Rich, poor, young, old, Ph.D. or high school dropout, fat or thin — it doesn’t matter who you are. It only matters that you want to lend a hand. And ladies, there are 10 times as many ways to pitch in as there are those of you reading these words right now.

Beyond food banks

It’s difficult to pinpoint how food became the default association when we think of volunteerism; perhaps it’s because hunger is such a universal issue. Or maybe it’s because, for those new to community service, spending a few hours packing food boxes or serving hot meals offers an easy, single-day way to get involved. Regardless, if you’re looking to avoid any perceived stigma (your own or otherwise) about being a fat girl working with food, don’t worry — there are scores of other ways to pitch in.

Our recent Guide to Spring Cleaning Your Closet mentioned donating your ill-fitting clothes to charitable organizations, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Opportunities to make a difference exist all around you — at your child’s school, through your church or as part of neighborhood clean-and-green efforts. If you’re not sure where to begin, try searching VolunteerMatch or Serve.gov, online databases of volunteer openings that are as easy to use as plugging in your zip code and area of interest. Idealist.org lets you be even more specific in searching its 18,000+ opportunities by selecting specific issue areas or skills used. Another great option to investigate is HandsOn Network, which includes 250 Action Centers in 16 countries. From big city organizations like Chicago Cares, New York Cares and Hands On Atlanta to smaller community hubs like Volunteer Center of Johnson County (Kansas) and HandsOn Bay Area (California), these centers are your local volunteer experts and can help connect you with a meaningful project that addresses critical need in your own community.

Find your volunteering niche

Because there are literally thousands of charities and volunteer opportunities out there, this is one of the few areas in life where you can essentially write your own ticket. So pick a cause that’s near and dear to your heart. Local animal shelters and adoption centers can almost always use volunteers to maintain the facilities and to walk, socialize and care for the animals. Various services for veterans rely heavily on volunteer assistance, and many youth organizations are starved for volunteers to staff their educational and recreational programs. Or you could pair good deeds with a current health or fitness goal and raise money while walking or running. Many 5K or 10K events also include a walking option; some are even geared toward families. Find an event near you by searching the Runner’s World database (look for walk/run combos).

If you’re looking for an activity that doesn’t require a lot of mobility or physical exertion, consider donating blood — zero exertion and free cookies! If you’re a knitter, take on a few projects that will benefit homeless or underprivileged kids or adults. Not crazy about needles of either kind? Become a trained domestic violence hotline volunteer, provide some companionship or a game of Bingo at the local senior center, or become involved as an ESL volunteer or youth tutor. In addition, nearly every nonprofit organization, large or small, welcomes willing, enthusiastic volunteers who can provide administrative or reception support. Your professional skills may come in handy, as well; try scanning the “get involved” or “support” pages for organizations you respect to locate their wish lists, which will often include services like PR, marketing, graphic design or accounting. Basically, if you have the time, an organization will gratefully find a way to use it.

Fight the “fat girls can’t…” notion

One of the scariest and most fulfilling experiences of my life took place in October 2006 in Biloxi, MS. A year after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the gulf coast, I finally had the time and money to spend a week participating in the rebuilding efforts. Having convinced a friend to join me, we made arrangements with Hands On Gulf Coast (now Hands On Mississippi), booked our flights, and spent a week eating communal meals and sleeping in bunk beds, dorm-style, surrounded by dozens of other volunteers.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I don’t take naturally to physical activity and hard labor; I’m an indoor, creature comforts kind of girl, and I’ll choose the escalator over the stairs every single time. So the idea of spending my vacation willingly rising at dawn and working until my feet ached and my muscles screamed was a huge step outside my comfort zone. I had several moments leading up to the trip where I thought, “Oh my God, I’m not going to be able to do this. I’m too overweight and out of shape. People will laugh at me. It’s going to be too hard.” But I’d spent the whole year wishing I could do something to help, and thankfully, that conviction overshadowed the massive doubts I was having.

The days were long and the work was hard. We spent two work days working on the community gardens maintained by HOGC, hauling fence portions and bags of Quikrete, digging post holes, hanging and setting fencing, painting the fence. Another day was spent raising a playground from the ground up with KaBOOM! (see photo, above). When we arrived on site that morning, there was an empty lot behind the school and a ton of supplies, tools and play equipment components; when we left that afternoon, 200 people from all over the county had created a full-scale playground for the kids to enjoy. I worked alongside the school’s principal atop a 10-foot-tall pile of playground mulch. I pitchforked mulch until my arms felt like they would rip off in protest. It was one of the most fulfilling days of  my life. That trip taught me that my weight may make some things more challenging (I’ve never popped so much Aleve), but it doesn’t define me unless I let it.

Celebrate the benefits of giving back

You don’t have to hop a plane to the nearest disaster zone or become Queen of the Mulch Pile to prove that fat girls can do anything they want to do. All you need is the willingness to step outside of your daily routine for a few hours here and there. Volunteer by trying something new or doing what you do best. Either way, the boost of accomplishment and confidence is one we could all use. Plus, if you’re shy about meeting people, community service is a terrific way to ease into a new network of friends with similar interests and passions. There’s even been research done to suggest that volunteering makes us healthier. The only question left is: How will you choose to get involved?

How do you stay involved in your community? Has your weight ever held you back? Tell us in comments.

I realize that not everyone owns an iPhone, or even wants to. But one look around any public space and you’ll notice that like it or not, the smartphone is here to stay. The good news: the technology is rapidly advancing in terms of performance and the array of inexpensive downloads (known as “applications,” or “apps”) available to users. These babies are only going to get better, faster, and able to perform more tasks to simplify and amplify our lives. Even if you have no immediate plans to purchase an iPhone, there are some good web sites associated with some of these apps that are worth checking out.

Shopping – Red Laser is the first app I discovered (thanks to my friend Jennifer) that made me feel like the new millennium had finally arrived. Sure, we don’t have jetpacks or flying cars (yet), but we can use our phones to scan stuff to compare prices! That’s close, right? Okay maybe not, but still . . . it’s a simple, cool, useful app you can use to instantly comparison shop in ways we’ve never really been able to do before. The down side: it only compares prices among a set amount of retailers, but I’d watch for this one to expand. For groceries, Grocery IQ and Shopper are handy grocery list apps (I use Shopper but wish it had a menu planning function) and Relish has a seriously delicious-looking app for meal planning and shopping (and making our foodie columnist Michelle drool) and Big Oven has a free app that lets you browse their burgeoning recipe database.

Nutrition & Fitness Tracking – Not all of our readers are looking to lose weight, but for those who are, the SparkPeople iPhone app received props from our readers when we gave a shout-out for faves on Twitter. Membership on SparkPeople is free, and it works a lot like Weight Watchers, My Food Diary, and other sites that allow you to track food intake and exercise – and it’s free! (We love that!). Speaking of Weight Watchers, members can take their points with them via the Weight Watchers Mobile app, which is also free.

Health & Wellness – hLog is a comprehensive app that tracks your overall health, including medications, sleep cycles, and other information.  GoMeals helps diabetics track nutritional information, find nearby restaurants, and record daily food intake. Diabetes Pilot allows users to record blood glucose levels, insulin doses, and produces trends summarizing your diabetes care. There are even apps to track your menstrual cycles – yes, really. For time zone and otherwise numerically challenged people like me, this is ideal (though I just circle the date on my wall calendar). iPeriod estimates your future periods and also helps you predict ovulation, for girls who are trying to conceive. New millennium, indeed. ShapeWriter is a company dedicated to making typing easier and more intuitive. For those of us with tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome, having easier ways to type that put less stress on overused tendons is definitely worth considering. Finally, I use Ambiance daily for relaxation while meditating and background music while working, and there are tons of white noise sounds to help you get to sleep.

Good Eats – Urban Spoon offers city-specific restaurant recs, and I love the simplicity of TripAdvisor’s Local Picks. And not to tempt you Starbucks addicts too much, but they have two positively dreamy apps: one to find the nearest ‘bux and another to record the balance on your Starbucks card. Hello Vino is a free app that pairs the perfect wine with whatever you’re dining on at the moment.

Just for Fun – I may have an addiction to Words with Friends (a Scrabble knockoff with a social networking twist) and Crosswords, but they’re relatively healthy and inexpensive brain workouts compared to my former Starbucks jones. The Gratitude Journal and Vision Board apps are not only a blast to use, but they’re a perfect way to kick off a new year by giving thanks and dreaming big. I included this one just for Tee: Star Walk is a stargazing guide that shows phases of the moon, meteor showers, and constellations. Tell me that isn’t fun! And just today, I just discovered the Lego Photo app, which instantly turns your photos you into bright plastic brick works of art – for free.

Before You Buy - Talk to your friends and ask them about their favorite apps – a fun rite of passage for new iPhone owners. You’ll be sure to get an earful and/or an inbox filled with suggestions. A quick shout-out on Twitter (using Tweetie2, my favorite Twitter app) asking people for their favorite apps related to any topic under the sun will net you at least a few good responses. Also, read reviews before you buy and write them afterward; developers want to keep customers coming back and will listen to your requests for tweaks and additions. Finally, many apps associated with social media sites are free – like the flickr and Facebook applications, allowing you to bring your friends with you wherever you go.

So, girls: dish on your favorite iPhone apps, fat-girl-specific or not. And from all of us at FGG, have a wonderful new year!

Chilling in Camp Dining Room moments before the kids kicked me off and took over

We realize that roughing it isn’t for everyone, but camping is an affordable and fun way to travel. Camping also offers the chance to disconnect from email and text messages while reconnecting with the natural world. And sleeping on the ground needn’t mean the end of all creature comforts, even if you’re on the fuller size of full-figured.

If you’ve never been camping before, you might wonder why more than a sleeping bag is necessary. First, it’s not like you’ll find grandma’s neon orange shag carpet out there–without a proper barrier between you and Mother Earth, rocks, roots, and twigs will go bump in your night. Some campgrounds even require that you pitch a tent in a designated area, which is often covered with gravel. Second, a camping mattress also provides insulation from the cold–and sometimes wet–ground. Third, depending on the type of activity you’ll be doing, like backpacking or hiking into a remote campsite, the bulk and weight of the mattress itself might matter.

But finding a bed away from home isn’t always easy given the array of choices, not all of which are geared toward girls of a certain size. Here’s our guide to finding that sweet sleeping spot that won’t leave you feeling like you’re dozing on top of a marshmallow.

Get to know the types of camping mattresses and pads.

Foam pads – You may have used the ancestral version of these pads (which remind me of the stuff they use to make Crocs) for Girl Scout campouts. Designs and materials have evolved since then; there’s some spring to these pads, there’s nothing to inflate (or leak), and the insulating properties are decent, but I’d put these at the lower end of the comfort scale for most users.

Self-inflating pads – The term “pad” and “mattress” are sometimes used interchangeably here because self-inflating pads combine the best of many backpacking and camping worlds: portability, durability, and comfort. Self-inflating pads come in a variety of lengths, widths, and thicknesses depending on your needs. Backpackers often use shorter, narrower, and thinner pads to save ounces on the trail, but car campers can afford a bit more luxury, which is what I’m all about at this point in my outdoorsy life.

Air mattresses with pumps – These look more like the mattress on your bed or the Aerobed you have stowed away for overnight guests. Pluses: they come in a range of sizes (including queen and king) and are widely available at big box retailers. Minuses: these tend to have a “waterbed effect,” which I prefer to leave in the 1970s where it belongs. Add a sleepmate to the mix and if anyone moves, it feels like you’re riding on a raft in the ocean awaiting rescue. This type of mattress tends to be more vulnerable to leaks and punctures (more surface area means more can go wrong) and they often require a separate foot or battery-operated pump. The technology is always improving on these things, so read reviews of recent models to see if stability and durability improve over time.

My personal pick – I use a size large REI Camp Bed 3.5 Self-Inflating Pad, pictured above. First off, it’s much smaller and therefore more portable than traditional air mattresses, and it’s a snap to set up (“self inflating” pretty much means what it says). Second, it’s thicker than a backpacking mattress (for a good suggestion on those, check out this glowing review of the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir by the gear testers at Backpacker magazine) and I find it super-comfy for my size 20 bod. My husband feels these are just a bit too narrow, but he’s 6’1″ with a rib cage like a linebacker, so we probably should have purchased an extra large for him (REI lists the specs for each mattress on their web site). Finally, it doesn’t slide around on the tent floor, it feels luxurious, and I sleep really well using it.

Take one for a test roll. Find a reputable retailer who will let you try out a mattress first. REI is renowned for their excellent customer service, so if you have one in your area, check them out. Check the return policy to make sure you can return the mattress or pad if it doesn’t work out. Again, companies like REI, L.L. Bean, and even some independent shops (ask around!) will accept returns of used items, while big box retailers might be less likely to do so. And don’t forget about borrowing gear from friends to see if a particular pad or mattress might work for you.

Now that you have some of the basics down, what are you waiting for? Get shopping for that next overnight under the stars!

Let us know your favorites! This guide is based on my over twenty years of camping and backpacking experience but it’s by no means exhaustive. If you have a favorite camping pad or mattress–or hammock or cot–share what works for you in the comments section.