Stephanie Quilao

For New Year’s 2008 on my blog Back in Skinny Jeans, I came out about a bulimia relapse. What made this a toughie was that I am blogger who for the last 2-1/2 years has focused on healthy and holistic ways to lose weight, and yet behind the scenes I was engaging in an eating disorder, something contrary to that healthy message. Yes, big pickle indeed!

Prior to my confession, my history with Bulimia was already well known so that part was no secret, however, I am big on walking my talking, and this situation was so contrary to my own feelings of blogger integrity. I'm saying one thing to my audience, and doing another behind the scenes. I take the whole authenticity thing to heart, maybe too much.

As bloggers, there is a personal/public threshold as to what we disclose or not, but my bigger problem was feeling (at the time) that I could not continue blogging about the subject I blog about when I’m deep in a relapse and recovery. So, I came clean to my audience to not only be that person of authenticity I want to be, but to also see how they would react and still accept me as a respected member of my blog niche. This was a pinnacle point in the history of Back in Skinny Jeans because at worst I was prepared to shut the blog down, and at best, I would learn something about my audience.

In the Coming Out Via Blog panel, I will share how my audience reacted in front & behind the scenes, what I learned from that experience as a blogger and as a person, and offer tips &