'Why wouldn’t I have confidence?' Nicole Byer serves up body positivity, humor in new book, '#VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE'
A bikini-clad Nicole Byer is serving body positive wisdom to the masses in her new book, "#VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE: The Fat Girl's Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-in-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini" (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 192 pp.), which hit shelves Tuesday.
"I am a fat lady who loves wearing bikinis. Which is #verybrave in our culture today," Byer, 33, wrote in the book's introduction. "I've come to embrace being #veryfat and #verybrave and I want to help other women/people be #brave too."
And while Byer, the comedian who hosts Netflix's "Nailed It!", has filled the book with captions that are funny enough to prompt a reader to actually chuckle aloud, inspiring others is at the book's core.
"It’s 2020, and I still get people being like 'you’re brave,' which, to me, is a very insane thing," she told USA TODAY. "People are like 'how do you have so much confidence?' and sometimes I think it’s an insult because, like, why wouldn’t I have confidence?"
Writing the captions and segments of self-help was easy. Byer said it was mostly common knowledge, including a multi-step explanation on how to buy a bikini. Step one is: "Go to a store" or for millennial or Gen Z readers: "Go online and Google."
She used what she called, "dumb humor," throughout the book, and it works. Her 199-item list of "Activities You Can Do In A Bikini," is cheekily filled with "duh" items, including "eat a potato," "argue with your boyfriend," "wave at a dog," "bake a cake... but be careful" and more. Point made: You can do whatever you want in a bikini. And to have readers prove it to themselves, she left space for 10 more activities of their choosing.
While Byer is a two-piece swimsuit expert now, she wasn't always confident about her body. In fact, she took a long hiatus from wearing a bathing suit until she donned a swim dress at a hotel pool and friends complimented her.
"I just looked cute; they were just telling me the truth, and I heard it and I was like 'oh yeah, I’m very cute,'" she said.
Byer said she thinks a lot of women go through the experience of not liking their bodies and are on a journey to be OK with their physique.
She hopes people start posting more bikini photos or just enjoy their lives wearing whatever they want to wear. There's no reason, she said, to have your body be a problem in your life, especially in the middle of a pandemic.
"Bodies are fine. Bodies are bodies," she said.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nicole Byer book spreads body positivity in '#VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE'
