Customer Reviews

The Big Skinny: How I Changed My Fattitude

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I like Carol Lay's cartoons. I've been enjoying them for years so, when "The Big Skinny" included a lot of personal information about Lay's childhood and her relationship with her mother, I wasn't all that surprised. Her cartoons are often autobiographical. Sometimes reading them is like sitting in on someone else's therapy sessions. Interesting -- and occasionally pretty weird.

I liked the idea of a cartoonized weight loss story from someone with Lay's snarky sense of humor. I like very much how well she explained calorie counting. The calorie totals she's got in the back of the book are useful and some of her recipes look really tasty.

BUT...

It turns out that Carol Lay wasn't actually fat when she began her weight loss program. She weighed about 160 pounds and, at 5'9" -- pretty much every responsible authority agrees -- she would have been, at worst, only slightly overweight. Now her weight averages 125 pounds. Even for a small-framed person, that's just plain skinny.

Her message of eating reasonable portions of healthy foods really gets lost when placed in the context of her, apparently very unhealthy, obsession with thinness. Instead, what comes across is a sad story of one woman's daily preoccupation with eating the small number of calories necessary to keep her (at 5'9"!) in a size 4. That's sick -- and it's not an example anyone should be following.

A helpful and mildly humorous lark describing her attempts at losing weight, cartoonist Carol Lay gives copious amounts of information in this slim tome. Though it has more nutritional guides than narrative, the graphic novel speeds along briskly. The advice within is honest and direct, but it is nothing new. This is directed more towards an audience who has never tried to lose weight, and doesn't appeal much to anyone else. It is essentially a beginner's guide to calorie counting, more so than a memoir or health book - indeed, it treads a fine line between the two. Amusing, yes, but Lay doesn't cover ground in a way that is outstandingly unique...many have done this topic before her, and many with a more deft hand. The illustration format is a bit quirky and makes the reading light, but otherwise, this is hard to recommend outside of a specific demographic.

I borrowed this from a friend out of curiosity; I read some of Lay's "Good Girls" comics back in the day. Wow, what a disappointment. I thought I'd at least get some insight into Lay's ups and downs with weight loss, but all of it was glossed over in favor of pages upon pages of herself being obsessive over the size of a chicken breast and lecturing her housemate to do the same, and her dismissive attitude toward those oh-so-delusional (and OMFG so not attractive I'm sure) "friends" at parties who are fatty mcfatpants. Good for you and I'm glad you're happy, Ms. Lay, but you forgot to entertain me.

I found this book to be kind of a downer. Carol Lay keeps talking about what a "fattie" she was before she lost weight, but she was 160 pounds at 5'9.. which certainly isn't fat in my opinion. She also seemed kind of obsessed with weight loss for negative reasons.. it seemed to take up quite a lot of her life.

There was a pretty noticeable absence of real relationships in her story, and she didn't share very much about herself except for her fixation with calories. I was disappointed.

I do think this book would be helpful for someone who was just setting out on their weight loss journey and didn't know much about it, because there are a lot of good basic tips included.. but for someone looking to be inspired, I'd skip it.

I've read a number of books/articles/blogs over the years that focused on dispensing advice about how to lose weight. Some of them were unreasonable, extreme, or outright lies; you'll find none of that in Carol's book. Others gave quite sound advice, but in the most boring, preachy way possible; that's also not Carol's style. "The Big Skinny" manages to dispense sound advice in a way that's so interesting and entertaining that the important messages will slip into your mind without a fight.

The book combines mini-autobiography, miscellaneous anecdotes, and direct practical advice in cartoon format. There's also a large section in the back that may be the most lovingly crafted guide to nutrition on Earth (hand-drawn/lettered calorie count charts for a wide variety of foods, etc.). While I can't think of a section I didn't enjoy and benefit from, the anecdotes from Carol's life (and those of her friends) have to be the best: they tended to shed light on the self-damaging behaviors we also sometimes fall into and show how ridiculous and counter-productive they are without a moment of lecturing.

"The Big Skinny" is a fun read about an important and practical topic for many people. I recommend it highly.

My boyfriend lent this to me because we were both interested in losing some weight. After I read it I felt very uneasy about the whole book and I later figured why. For one thing, she was never really overweight to begin with. She acted and drew herself) like she was extremely overweight, but at 158 pounds at 5'9", that is barely above an average healthy weight, and I don't think it would be considered fat. Even at 137 pounds, she still thought she was overweight. At her goal weight of 125 pounds, she is just a few pounds shy of being medically underweight.
Secondly, her diet is just way too extreme. She consumes between 1350 and 1500 calories per day and has to record every single thing that she eats. I don't know how her metabolism got so screwed up that she can gain weight on a 1500 calorie diet, but there you are. While I agree that eating less and eating healthier foods are the way to go, her behavior of measuring amounts and counting calories seems to me to border on an eating disorder. She becomes so obsessed with fitness and only eating certain foods that she now does push ups on the counter while waiting for her tea to brew, and has to justify eating a s'more at Burning Man.
Overall, even though she was able to lose 40 pounds and keep it off, I don't think that her methods are healthy or practical, nor would I recommend them to anyone else.

I once ended a relationship with someone who was in a 12 step program. I did not have a problem with him being in a 12 step program. I did not have a problem with the fact he had been a substance abuser. There were other concerns that made me end the relationship that were much more serious, but it did bother me that he was obsessed with his sobriety. He could not seem to read, think, or talk about anything that did not have to do with his obsession.
Don't get me wrong. AA and other groups have saved countless lives, including his perhaps, but when you are so caught up in your abuse or recovery that you do not recall who is vice president, I don't think that's healthy either. I found Ms. Lay's book at a local bookstore and what intrigued bu the title-- I am working on losing weight. and I know attitude has everything to do with success. I am glad I chose to get the Big Skinny at the library before purchasing it, as I would not now buy it, and I can't recommend buying it to to others.

Ms. Lay has some good things to say, and the graphic novel is a unique way to present her message. I like how she urges us to look closely at labels and to avoid overly processed food. There is a ridiculous story about a friend who sprays a piece of toast to death with cooking spray, however. Not butter spray, cooking spray. Why would anyone do that? Lay lost credibility right there.
The reason for bringing up the ex in AA was that although I admire Lay's ability to keep her weight under control, she is still obsessed with food. Why can't she just eat health and not have to write down every bite she puts in her mouth? I want to master my food issues too-- but I don't think I will if it means I have to think about food all the time.
To sum up, The Big Skinny is just okay. Don't read it expecting to change your fatitude, unless you think trading one obsession for another is good.

I bought this book with the hope that it would help me lose weight, and if laughing makes a person thinner, this book is the answer. THE BIG SKINNY has to be the most original concept for a diet book. In the form of a beautifully illustrated graphic novel, Carol Lay serves up her personal weight loss experiences in a humorous and poignant manner. However it's not all stories and laughs, she also dishes up tasty recipes, includes a plan based on calorie charts, simple exercise suggestions, and tops it off with gorgeous drawings of all the food groups. This is I believe, is one of a kind, a diet book that is fun to read.

I'll admit to being more than chubby although I was once pretty darned thin. But I picked up the book more for the author and less for the sermon. It's a diet book and one I had to have a talk with my teenaged daughter about before she started overreacting to ideas within it- it's neurotic and would have one believe that to lose weight one's entire life should be devoted to counting calories, feeling guilty and marginalizing the rest of what life offers. I gave it 2 stars mainly because there are a couple of exercises that are easy enough to do at work. But the rest- the story of how a not-fat woman becomes skinny by measuring every mouthful for the rest of her life? Not that useful. Nor entertaining.

This is a graphic novel about the author's life-time battle with weight and how she eventually achieves nirvana through a drastic low-calorie diet. This was fun to read, especially the parts about her childhood and her week at Burning Man, but to me her weight-loss tactics are as drastic as her weight-gain ones. If I was to spend this much time counting individual calories and eating tiny half-sandwiches I think I would go mad. I guess if you are to go to an eating extreame, this would be the healthier option... but to me it seemed like a pretty hard-core weight-loss strategy. I really liked the illustrations, very cute.