Customer Reviews

Thin Is Just a Four Letter Word

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dee Hakala's memoire of her struggle with weight and dieting was very well-written and completely inspiring to me. Despite our differences (e.g. I am about 15 pounds overweight), I identified with her as a woman stuck in a culture which values women most for what they look like, and especially how much they weigh. Her story was riveting and so much more interesting than what you find in typical diet and exercise books. Her no-nonsense advice is right on target. She is a living, breathing example of assertiveness and taking life by the tail. I will read this again!

Dee Hakala understands the difficulties and emotional pain involved with a person who is overweight. Her book shows how she overcame and is still dealing with the problems involved in changing ones life to be happy. Good reading, and helpful.

Finally a person honest enough to say what being obese can mean to a person. Dee Hakala's words have become a healing force in my life. Never before had I read anyone who told the truth about this burden we bear in the way that Dee was able to do. Her words brought tears to my eyes and gratitude to my heart. Her courage in the face of the many obstacles of her life comes across on every page and enabled me to see many of the same obstacles in my life. I will use her words to help me "get up off my butt" and to recognize that the lonliness and dissertion that I have often felt in life really has affected my whole life. For the first time in my 46 years, I feel hope for finding a way out of this battle of the bulge. Dee has opened my eyes and opened my world to possibilities that I had never believe before. I have given or recommended her book to numerous friends that are in the same boat and overwhelmingly have heard from them the same praise all of them

It would be wrong to want to read this book in an effort to lose weight. What Dee Hakala wants you to do is get moving no matter what your size. If you've ever been the fattest person in your aerobics class, you can relate. Yes, the author has lost weight, but she's gained energy, confidence and her life back. There is very little weight loss stuff here per se, and, in fact, she makes the point that diets are NOT the answer, that exercise is a goal in and of itself. You will be inspired to get up and move after this book. One of the best books on size and fitness, easily as good as GREAT SHAPE.

I really wanted to like this book because I see alot of Dee in myself. Although I didn't have as rough of a childhood and didn't quite get as fat as her, I am an overweight woman who is starting out in the fitness industry. I can relate to the obstacles she's had to overcome and her successes are truly an inspiration. Truly -- and I completely admire her!

My disappointment comes from the first half of the book where she painstakingly details her abusive childhood, failed relationships, yada yada yada. She's right to say that alot of fat women have been down these roads and I understand the cathartic value in sharing your painful past in order to gain the confidence of the reader and to work out some inner demons. I just wish she'd done in one or two chapters, not half of the book!

I wanted more information on how she got herself off the couch and into the gym. I also wanted more specific information on how she started exercising -- maybe even some brief instruction. There was a bit of it towards the end, but I wanted more. I also wanted some more cultural analysis -- perhaps too much to ask for a small paperback -- but some insight would have been nice.

I know that Dee has a wonderful book sitting inside her, just waiting to come out. I wish she hadn't sold out for the cheap paperback and gone for the gold and written a revolutionary book. Perhaps she will come out with a Vim and Vigor guidebook. I'd be first in line for that!

As it stands, I lend this book to my students and ask them to take the best from it. We need visable plus-sized women, especially in fitness, and she has alot to offer. But there is still room for improvement and I make my critiques gentle in hopes that she will bless us with some more refined words.

I was disappointed with this book. I applaud Dee Hakala's personal struggle and transformation. I am thrilled with the basic premise of this book (i.e. that everyone, whatever size shape or fatness level CAN and SHOULD enjoy moving his/her body). However, as a fat and fit adult who is fairly knowledgable about nutrition and health, I felt that this bood was treating me as a fat, stupid, ignorant child. This is precisely what rational adults who have abandoned the absurd and harmful dieting jail do not need! Try Marilyn Wann's Fat?So! instead! It's smart, funny, and just as inspiring.