Introducing: Tess Peters

For my first post, I thought that I should introduce myself.

My name is Tess and I'm a senior in high school. I've been overweight since birth. My mom literally had to have a C-section when I was 8 months old due to the fact  that I was already 8 pounds and 12 ounces. There have been many times where I've tried to lose weight,  but I always end up failing. I go to the gym, I take my vitamins, but I continuously struggle to have a healthy relationship with food. It has taken a toll on my mental health, but thankfully I had a teacher that made me really enjoy poetry/writing.  Over the last couple of years, writing has helped me a lot. It taught me to stop bottling up my insecurities and led to me being able to talk about them. Instead of keeping everything inside, I was able to turn my toxic thoughts into powerful words. As I wrote each word onto paper, it cleansed my mind of the virulent thoughts. It also led to me forming a comfortable relationship with my body. Six years ago, I'd feel uncomfortable when people said the word "fat" around me. But now, my life motto has become, "Yes I'm fat, it just be like that sometimes." People that have talked with me for more than 5 minutes can definitely confirm the fact that I'm not oblivious to the fact that I'm fat. I crack a lot of jokes related to my weight, and have no problem talking with people about things related to my weight. Overall, I've pretty much become an open book which is something that I'm definitely proud about.

When it comes to this blog, my overall goals are:

• To show other plus size individuals that they aren't alone.

• Provide a perspective for people that may not understand what it's like for plus size people to live in today's society

• Remind people that there is no such thing as a "wrong" body type