Confessions of a Chubby Mom Blogger

Hello, my name is Kelly and I’m chubby.

I’ve been chubby since I was about 16 years old.  I wasn’t a chubby child and I have fond memories of being a thin teen – but those memories are distant.

I’ve been gaining weight steadily all my adult life.  (One diet at a time.)  I married chubby.  I divorced chubby.  I worked chubby.  I volunteered chubby.  Today, I work at home chubby.

It’s a chubby life

I asked a question on the blog yesterday, ‘Do You Have to be Thin and Beautiful to be a Popular Mom Blogger‘.  I wasn’t really asking this from a personal perspective but some of my friends of Twitter and readers were very sweet with their private messages and emails.  They wanted to tell me that they didn’t care about my weight at all and that I shouldn’t give it another thought.

I didn’t ask the question because I needed encouragement – though it’s always appreciated.

I wasn’t asking the question because I feel left out for being chubby.  Far from it.  I’ve never let my weight hold me back.  I’m not shy.  I have never been and never will be a shrinking violet.

Do I hold back from posting pictures of myself?  Yeah.  I only show headshots and a rare head and shoulders shot.  I cringe at the idea of posting a full body shot – {shudder} – I really, really don’t want to do that.

I haven’t been to a blogging conference – travel just hasn’t been on the agenda for me in the past.  But that’s going to change in the future.  I have a LOT of travel and in person events planned in the next 12 months.  One way or another there will eventually be a full-chub shot of Kelly – and I’ll have to live with it.

Do I wish that I were thin?  Yes!  Am I going to hold me breath and wait for it to happen before I reach for my dreams?  Hell no!

Back to my question though:

Do you have to be thin and beautiful to break into the upper crust of the blogosphere?

After reading all the comments and tweets, it’s apparent that there are two answers.

First, the answer is yes. It’s clear that being thin and attractive AND talented opens a lot of doors.  Our culture does value beauty.  Advertisers demand pretty faces for their ads and websites.

But then, the answer is no. There are stand out exceptions where chubby women have broken through into the big time.  There are some top level mom bloggers who are chubby.  I believe that talent, charisma and personality can and will trump chubby in many situations.

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