Lessons from the Fat-O-Sphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce with Your Body

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bluesgirl, December 15, 2009 (view all comments by bluesgirl)
Between them, Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby have lost and regained enough weight to make up several people. According to them, this means that you’ll never be able to lose weight and keep it off either. Don’t buy into their message of failure, spend your money on a reputable diet/nutrition book instead of this one.

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SmittenKitten, December 15, 2009 (view all comments by SmittenKitten)
I skimmed through the first chapter of this book. It goes on (and on) about how “diets don't work”. Well – duh! If you go on a diet and lose weight, the diet “worked”. If you then go off the diet, reverting to the way of eating which made you fat in the first place, you can’t blame the diet for your regain. This isn’t rocket science, it’s just commonsense. I didn’t bother reading the rest of the book.

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ToledoKate, December 13, 2009 (view all comments by ToledoKate)
I can't believe this garbage has 2.5 stars!

The blurb here describes the authors' writing as 'the up-front and honest style that has become the trademark of their blogs'. That's a polite way of saying 'liberally sprinkled with words like f*ck, f*kken, freaking' etc etc.

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JJ1001, December 10, 2009 (view all comments by JJ1001)
Most human bodies can bounce back from all sorts of abuse, whether from excessive weight or anything else we throw at it - the human body is amazing that way. However, even the amazing human body can only take so much. This book has been written by youngish women in their 30s, when the body can still keep going under abuse of excess weight. But the more abuse it has to withstand when it young, the less it will able to deal with as it ages. It's like any other physical structure, the more weight it has to carry on its structure (bones/organs) over an extended period of time, the shorter the active lifespan of the structure. It's not like the laws of physics don't apply to the human body all of a sudden. Even if these people are somehow able to live to their 80s, their physical quality of life will be very poor, painful and restricted.

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MLM, November 4, 2009 (view all comments by MLM)
In response to gaelic81, I'd like to point out that while it's true that life's problems can't be solved by being thinner, life is far easier once you lose weight - no hassles with doctors, easier to get a good job, no need to defend yourself all the time, easier to find nice clothes etc - not to mention the health effects.

Also, this book doesn't paint being overweight or obese as an easy life, hence the chapters on sewing your own clothes, refusing to go into stores which don't carry your size, dealing with doctors. I wonder how many people have read the book, then decided they'd be better off sticking to their diet?

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