I enjoyed this book even though I had a hard time reading through it. After some thought I think this has more to do with my own weight issues and also how quick I am to get distracted. In my status I stated that I was getting bored with it. this I believe had more to do with me than the book. The author writes with humor and wasn't afraid to write about the touchy subjects. She has had an amazing weight loss. Her journey is interesting. I liked that she doesn't give out a specific diet plan. I'm not impressed with diets. Diets are like vacations. They are for a specific amount of time and when they are over you need another one to recover from the one you just had. I like that she stresses it is a lifestyle change. The message is find what you can live with and do it. Or that is the message I got. ( )

Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir by Jennette Fulda

★ ★ ★ ★

When Jennette Fulda was in her early to mid-20's and started having some major health issues, she had no choice but the face the fact that she was nearly 400 pounds and in need of a lifestyle change. It was no easy thing to do but she faced it and would lose the weight after many attempts, failures, and hard work.

I find anyone who capable of losing such weight (or any weight) in a healthy manor to be a inspiration. I love the fact that she isn't overly hard on herself. She carries herself with humor and realizes that she is just human. She faulters, she makes mistakes, and she continues with life and what she needs to do to improve it. As someone who had struggled with her weight most of her life, and being about the same age as her, I really could relate to her. Not only the obvious connection but her way of thinking about weight are very similar. She would go on to start a blog to record her progress and in the process would gain quite the following.

While this book may not be the best written and seems to jump around at times, I did find myself immersed in this book and unable to put it down. She had me laughing and nodding my head in agreement many times over. This isn't a how-to guide. She doesn't give you step by step on what she ate because as she pointed out, everyone is different in their journey to losing weight. This is simply a book more or less stating that she did it, and there's nothing stopping anyone else. It's about living one's life to the fullest and being happy with the person you are. ( )

No secrets, or magic wands. No huge emotional issues or therapy bills. And no prince charming whisking her away to the castle. Just one woman's honest experience of life before and after losing half of her body weight that vrey often has you laughing out loud. If it doesnt inspire you to readjust your lifestyle it just might give you permission to love yourself a bit more. ( )

No secrets, or magic wands. No huge emotional issues or therapy bills. And no prince charming whisking her away to the castle. Just one woman's honest experience of life before and after losing half of her body weight that vrey often has you laughing out loud. If it doesnt inspire you to readjust your lifestyle it just might give you permission to love yourself a bit more. ( )

Although I found myself skimming this toward the end, I really identified with a lot of her struggles. I saw a lot of me in her and that made this so readable. She's a normal person who got fat and blogged on her journey to thinner. I'd much rather read those stories than celebrity diet and diet how tos. Nice balance of memoir and research woven in. The chapters were edited into a narrative rather than just reprinting blog posts, which added to it.

I've read some of her work in other writings and though I think I'll skip Chocolate & Vicodin, I'd read more of her work. ( )