Kim Droze, Managing Editor

If you ask anyone who's ever struggled with their weight to write a paragraph about their trials and tribulations, they could probably pen a book. And that's just what seven women bloggers did. Amidst all of the diet and fitness manuals that line the bookstore shelves sits Tales from the Scale, a tantalizing tell-all that details the ups and downs of Erin, Julie, Heather, Lori, Monique, Shauna and Robyn. Their first-person narratives are both inspirational and comforting for the person who feels alone in his or her weight-loss endeavors…

They call themselves the women of Big Girl Town. They're seven complete strangers who individually took to the Internet to blog about their ongoing weight issues. Although they all come from different walks of life, they've all spent most of their lives playing the dreaded weighting game. Beyond where they are now, these determined dieters discuss who they were and who they'd like to be. More than anything, they talk about their struggles to embrace the "big girl" within.

The ladies of Big Girl Town offer a candid and frank look at life in the fat lane. Revealing the most intimate details of their experiences with being overweight, the no-holds-barred approach is as humorous as it is heartbreaking. Divided into chapters like "The Twinkie Defense, or 'How We Got This Fat'" and "The Tenth Circle of Hell: Weigh-in Day," the book offers insight into the comic and tragic twists that each of these women has contended with.

Weight Loss Shouldn't Be About Isolation
The leader of the pack is Erin Shea, author of the compelling compilation, Tales from the Scale (2005, Polka Dot Press). While the rest of the world was blogging about politics, technology, current affairs and war, Erin and her pound-obsessed pals blogged about their own weight battles.

Erin created "Lose the Buddha," a witty blog devoted to her personal weight-loss journey. Initially, she believed blogging would be cathartic, a way for her to vent her frustrations about fighting the fat. She never expected that her private little blog would become a very public outlet that appealed to like-minded dieters everywhere.

When a publishing house approached Erin with the opportunity to turn her blog into a book, she couldn't refuse. Instead of going it alone, she teamed up with six other bloggers and Tales from the Scale was born. The book gives women permission to talk about their lives with reckless abandonment and to do so without feeling ashamed or embarrassed. Anyone who's ever tried to shed those extra pounds will quickly realize they're in good company with the ladies of Big Girl Town.