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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Special treatment or special pleading?, 19 Feb 2002
By A Customer
I'm really in two minds about this book. As someone who has been overweight almost all my life, and has suffered from it (the two are not the same - which is one of the points Shelley Bovey makes), I am at a loss to say why I can't lose weight on a permanent basis, and from that point of view yes, I agree with her contention that there is something different about the way women who are overweight/repeat dieters can lose weight successfully - and who can argue with the fact that she's lost a huge amount of weight and kept it off?But.... I can't help remembering a line from a Cosmo book I read years ago; "Virtually everybody has to diet, so stop pitying yourself as unique... to lose weight and keep it off you have to eat less than you want for ever, it is that simple - and that simply awful!" While SB would no doubt hate and disapprove of the tone of most of that book, there is the crux of her message in a nutshell. I don't think her book addresses why women use food in a particular way, or why some people's "fullness sensors" don't trigger them to stop eating in the same way as the majority. But then perhaps only a psychologist can do that, and maybe only on an individual basis. I think this is a helpful and encouraging book to those people who are desperate to lose weight but trapped in a cycle of self-recrimination and reinforcing their own "failure" - and one of the most sensible things it says is an affirmation of the value of group support, even to those with "lone gun" character traits. Nonetheless, there is a part of me which says that the question IS one of self control, and all those old thatcherite chestnuts - SB herself discusses bulimia and compulsive eating, which are related to control over oneself and one's environment. Clearly, in the end, the harsh truth is that if you eat less and burn off more energy, you will lose weight, and if you continue to do it then you will maintain that loss. I suppose I was expecting something which looked a bit more at the triggers which cause some people to become overweight. And dealt with why food becomes so important particularly to women - overtaking other things like relationships, friendships, pastimes etc in extreme cases. So - it is a good book for people who feel trapped in a body that isn't "them" and want to do something about it - but I'm going to tell you the ending and spoil the plot here: SB says that if you want to lose a substantial amount of weight and keep it off, you have to stick to a modified version of however you lost the weight for the rest of your life. If you're not prepared to do that you are resigning yourself either to yo yo dieting, or to weighing more than you want to. Either way, it's a life sentence! I'm hoping for parole when I'm about 70.
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by Shelley Bovey
