Mia Tyler has been a plus-size model since 1996 and has appeared in many fashion magazines. Mia now focuses on being healthy rather than a certain dress size.

But she can remember when she was 13, she went to a diet camp where kids played a different sport every hours and snack were forbidden.

She decided that strict dieting increases craving for forbidden foods. Today, Mia is an inspiration for many people who are overweight and have body image issues.

Here is an excerpt from Mia Tyler’s recent interview with Figure magazine.

You’re a groundbreaking plus-size model, the first ever to appear in Seventeen. How did you get started?

I got pushed into it. I’d always thought of models as just standing around in makeup. It seemed uninteresting, brainless. But I was offered a contract, and my best friend said: “You’re stupid if you don’t do this. What else are you going to do? What are your goals in life?” At the time, I didn’t have any.

Not the most auspicious start. What kept you modeling?

Getting letters from fans saying, “I put you up on my wall so that every day I wake up and you’re the first thing I see, and I feel better about my body and who I am.”

It took a couple of years for that stuff to really sink in, for me to understand there was a cause in plus-size modeling. Now, every job I take, I think: “What are my fans going to get out of this? What kind of message am I sending?”

So you had issues with the “model” label. How about “plus-sized”?

Never. You know, it doesn’t matter what size you are, as long as you carry yourself well. If you’re walking through a crowd, your head down, worried that people think you’re overweight, you’re already feeling bad about yourself.

But if you stand up straight and walk confidently, and you honestly believe, “I’m a big, sexy girl,” you’re not even going to be thinking about that stuff. You just have to be comfortable with who you are. I really, really want people not to care about what others think. [via]