Why I'm Revealing My Weight On The Internet

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Brittany GibbonsBlogger, "Brittany, Herself"

GET UPDATES FROM Brittany Gibbons   Like 1.2k Why I'm Revealing My Weight On The Internet Posted: 03/25/2013 11:34 am Follow   Body Image ,   Health , Ask Your Husband To Guess Your Weight , Brittany Gibbons , Guess My Weight , Guess Spouse's Weight , Obesity , Reveal Weight , Scale Honesty , Women News
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So the outpouring of commentary regarding my bikini post, and the subsequent news sources that have picked it up, has been amazing. I'm glad that it touched such a nerve, but it also left me doing two really weird things.

1. Defending my legit plus size-ness. Which is cool, I mean, I shop for panties at Lane Bryant and I can only buy accessories and drawer pulls at Anthropologie. My jeans range from size 14-18, and if you want to borrow them, you totally can.

2. Assuring people I am healthy. Which is weird, because when I meet people of like, any size, I almost never assume they are unhealthy unless they are actively mainlining heroin. Also because I'm not their physician or the Cool Ranch Dorito Taco police. People are all, hey it's cool you look this way, you know, as long as you are healthy, and I want to be like, um you too, man? And then I fist bump them, because I am not entirely sure how to respond to that. It was my non-medical degree assumption that people can be unhealthy at any size.

Anyways, this whole entire thing reminded me of a conversation my husband and I had last night, and in a very "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her" fashion, I figured I share it with you.
Hey, I'm trying to practice guessing people's weights, can I guess how much you weigh?

Why are you practicing this?

It's just a skill I like to keep fresh, in case I need to ever work at a carnival or something.

Alright, what's your guess?

170. You have to give me a 8lbs margin of error.

Weird, you're right.

I know, it's like a super power. Now you go!

Haaaaaaaa no.

No seriously, I bet you'll never guess!

Nope, if I guess too high or something you'll be pissed, Pass on that.

Andy, I won't be pissed, I swear. On our kids. And on Sims3, which don't tell anyone, but I'm secretly playing.

160?

You're adorable, at the doctor yesterday I weighed 209.

No you didn't.

True story.

And so I pulled out the scale and hopped on. I mean, what? He's going to divorce me because I weigh over 200lbs? That seems like way more paperwork than it's worth and lawyers are hella annoying.

People carry weight in all different ways. You can't draw a line in the sand and toss assumptions on either side. I do this, all of this, to show you what a real person looks like at this weight. And what a real person looks like in those clothes. To either confirm or destroy everything you thought you knew about your body.

I've never lost friends or boyfriends or husbands over my scale. And it's also not what was holding me back from having an amazingly exciting career, chasing all the things I never imagined I could achieve.

I always wanted someone to do this for me, and it's an honor to be part of the group of women who are now doing it for you. All somewhere between 209 and 214lbs of me.

Related on HuffPost:

Loading SlideshowLady Gaga

After the media focused on her alleged weight gain in September 2012, Gaga hit back at critics by baring her body in photographs, sharing her struggles with an eating disorder, and inviting her fans to join her in a "body revolution."

Adele

Adele says she tries not to worry about her body image and doesn't want to be a "skinny minnie." "The first thing to do is be happy with yourself and appreciate your body -- only then should you try to change things about yourself."

Rebel Wilson

The actress took to Twitter to say, "I'm not trying to be hot. I'm just trying to be a good actress and entertain people."

Ashley Judd

After the March 2012 frenzy around Judd's "puffy face," the actress fought back in The Daily Beast, calling the media out for making women's bodies "a source of speculation, ridicule, and invalidation, as if they belong to others."

Allison Tate

Tate's essay about body image and motherhood not only broke the Internet; it has sparked a movement of "moms who stay in the picture."

Autumn Whitefield Madrano

On her informed, thoughtful blog "The Beheld," Autumn writes about beauty, body image, appearance and her two -- that's right, two -- mirror fasts.

Kjerstin Gruys

Gruys went on a year-long mirror fast during which she did not study her reflection in mirrors or other reflective surfaces, or look at photographs of herself.

Christina Aguilera

"I am always in support of someone who is willing and comfortable in their own skin enough to embrace it," the singer said in a recent interview.

Lena Dunham

At the 2012 New Yorker Festival, the magazine's TV critic, Emily Nussbaum, asked Lena Dunham, producer, creator and star of the hit HBO show "Girls," why Dunham is naked in so many scenes. Dunham responded, "I realized that what was missing in movies for me was the presence of bodies I understood." She said she plans to live until she is 105 and show her thighs every day.

Alexa Chung

Chung responded to critics who suggested that her slight frame made her a bad role model for young women, saying:"Just because I exist in this shape doesn't mean that I'm, like, advocating it."

Stella Boonshoft

The NYU student started the amazing Body Love Blog, where she posted this picture of herself and wrote an open letter to those who feel entitled to shame others for the size or look of their bodies.

Beth Ditto

This 5-foot-tall, 200-pound singer spoke openly about her weight to The Advocate, saying, "I feel sorry ... for people who've had skinny privilege and then have it taken away from them. I have had a lifetime to adjust to seeing how people treat women who aren't their idea of beautiful and therefore aren't their idea of useful, and I had to find ways to become useful to myself."

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