"I didn't find [the briefs] or the bra at all inappropriate," Ms Newman told NBC4 News. "They covered me entirely and I've seen pictures like that all over Instagram."
The teenager said that her 500 followers on the photo sharing website had been her "safe place", where she and other young women received positive feedback for posting pictures using hashtags like #bodylove and #pizzasister4lyfe.
She said she had been bullied for her size throughout high school and struggled with self-esteem issues, but that her confidence surged when she started attending Ohio University and found such warm online support.
"Fat is not a bad word," said Ms Newman. "How confident can you be if you keep censoring yourself because people don't want to look at you?"
Thousands of images like this one - from the singer Miley Cyrus' account - appear on Instagram every day
Since taking a stand against Instagram and "making a huge ruckus" about the decision to suspend her account, Ms Newman said people had thanked her for inspiring them to "feel strong and courageous and ready to fight like I have".
Her story made national news in the US, and this week she revealed that Instagram had reinstated her account and apologised for what happened.
Related video: Instagram bans woman's account due to picture of her toddler
A statement from the site said: "When our team processes reports from other members of the Instagram community, we occasionally make a mistake. In this case, we wrongly removed content and worked to rectify the error as soon as we were notified. We apologise for any inconvenience."
- UK Independent
