Told through a series of larger-than-life snapshots, a hilarious memoir in essays about love, sex, marriage, motherhood, bikinis, and loving your body, no matter what size you are from the acclaimed blogger and body image advocate.

Brittany Gibbons has been a plus size her whole life. But instead of hiding herself in the shadows of thinner women, Brittany became a wildly popular blogger and national spokesmodel—known for stripping on stage at TedX and standing in Times Square in a bikini on national television, and making skinny people everywhere uncomfortable.

Talking honestly about size and body image on her popular blog, brittanyherself.com, she has ignited a national conversation. Now in her first book, she shares hilarious and painfully true stories about her life as a weird overweight girl growing up in rural Ohio, struggling with dating and relationships, giving the middle finger to dieting, finding love with a man smaller than her, accidentally having three kids, and figuring out the secret to loving her curves and becoming a nationally recognized body image advocate. And there’s sex, lots of it!

Fat Girl Walking isn’t a diet book. It isn’t one of those former fat people memoirs about how someone battled, and won, in the fight against fat. Brittany doesn’t lose all the weight and reveal the happy, skinny girl that’s been hiding inside her. Instead, she reminds us that being chubby doesn’t mean you’ll end up alone, unhappy, or the subject of a cable medical show. What’s important is learning to love your shape. With her infectious humor and soul-baring honesty, Fat Girl Walking reveals a life full of the same heartbreak, joy, oddity, awkwardness, and wonder as anyone else’s. Just with better snacks.

Fat Girls Aren’t Freaks of Nature. They’re Just Like You. Maybe They Are You.

With Fat Girl Walking, Brittany Gibbons wants to start a conversation. Or continue a conversation, one she inadvertently started a while ago when she took her clothes off on a stage in front of 700 people. A lot of people thought she was awesome for doing that. Now, she’s made it her personal mission on her blog, in social media, on television, and now in this amazing book, to destroy the ridiculous myth that every woman who is overweight hates her body and herself. Brittany Gibbons, and the Curvy Girls she speaks to every day on the Internet, beg to differ. They love their bodies. They love fashion. They are in loving relationships, having lots of sex. They aren’t just a fetish, they are normal women. Sure, sometimes they doubt themselves, they’re not robots, but not anymore than EVERY OTHER WOMAN ON THE PLANET.

Fat Girl Walking is a collection of stories from Brittany’s life, her thoughts about the issues that she has faced as a woman, wife, mom, daughter, daughter-in-law, and Internet personality in regards to her weight. She has tried to be as honest as she possibly could—but hopefully any discomfort you feel will quickly be replaced by laughter. She also asks some tough questions, things like “What if my husband weighs less than I do?” and “Is my body hate ruining my daughter’s life?”

Read Fat Girl Walking—start having those conversations, and maybe save all of womankind.

“Blogger Gibbons gets really real about plus-size life (and, like a boss, refuses to apologize).”