Confessions of a Carb Queen: A Memoir (Paperback)

by Susan Blech (Author), Caroline Bock (Contributor) "I'm not a weight loss expert, meaning I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist or psychologist or fitness guru..." (more)
Key Phrases: everything bagel, black stretch pants, noodle pudding, New York, Long Beach, Long Island (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Once a bodybuilder (now a motivational speaker), Blech had ballooned to 468 pounds by the time she checked herself into a Durham, N.C. weight loss clinic. In this painfully honest memoir, Blech recounts her shameful spiral into obesity, her life as a social outcast and the difficult road back to a healthy weight. Though funny and consistently entertaining, Blech pulls no punches regarding life with "The Body," from clothing and ordering food in front of people to sex and fire department-assisted elevator extraction. Descriptions of eating binges border on the pornographic ("I'm in that sultry, full, near comotose state, surrounded by the smell of grease, salt, fish, meat..."), arguably more so than descriptions of phone sex. After a dose of reality, Blech enrolls at age 39 in the Durham-based Rice Clinic. What follows isn't a ringing endorsement but rather a frank account of the discipline she-and, she argues, anyone who wants to overcome obesity-had to cultivate to reach her goal. The obese and their loved ones will gain practical advice, as well as a large measure of insight, from this intense, bravura memoir.
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Review

"A must-read for anyone who lets her emotions influence her eating." - Health Magazine

"Readers will find themselves rooting almost immediately for someone honest enough to unflinchingly reveal the most embarrassing aspects of weighing 400-plus pounds." - Kirkus Reviews

"The obese and their loved ones will grain practical advice, as well as a large measure of insight, from this intense, bravura memoir." - Publishers Weekly Web Exclusive Starred Review

"The usual suspects abound: lack of self-esteem, loss of a parent, the other parent not so nurturing, stemming the loss with food, hiding within the fat--we've heard it before, but not perhaps with the wit, immediacy and honesty that Blech brings to her story...Look past the sparkly pink cover and discover Susan Blech's unsparing, heroic and big-hearted story." - Shelf Awareness

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books; 1st edition (December 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594867763
• ISBN-13: 978-1594867767
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #55,779 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Did you ever wonder what Jewish people do on Christmas...., December 27, 2007

By	Sheryl Brotman (Leesburg, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I tore into this book on Christmas Eve, read it cover-to-cover, and was done in time for the traditional Christmas dinner of Chinese take-out! This is the most comforting, inspirational book I've read in a while. If you struggle with your weight and have a book shelf like mine, I doubt you'll find anything glaringly new as far as diet and exercise, but you'll cheer with and for Susan Blech as she courageously changes her world in order to save her life. If you ever lay in bed and reach a near-panic state wondering what would happen if you were caught in a fire, and you didn't have time to get dressed, and you needed clothes, and none of your neighbors were even close to your size....then this is the book for you! This book has renewed my hope that by continuing to search for what's really behind my food obsession, I can, one day, be successful. Just knowing you're not alone makes it a little bit easier to put your feet on the floor and trudge through for another day. Thanks, Susan, for making my ridiculous thoughts and feelings, seem almost normal!

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest and Compelling Memoir, January 1, 2008

By	Carole Glauser (St. Louis) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Thank God Susan has the courage to be so blunt and honest in this compelling memoir about finding her way back to her life and body after being completely detached and lost. I could relate to so very very much that she wrote: I drove myself from St. Louis to Durham to stay the month of June at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center and then returned for two weeks in August and two more weeks in November. When I weighed in on June 1st, I weighed 351 at 5'3"; near the end of the month on the 28th which was my 42nd birthday I had lost 20 pounds. And currently, I just hit a milestone as I weighed myself on Christmas morning and hit the 80 pounds lost mark. I aspire to be (and have no reason to doubt that it will happen) the success story and inspiration that Susan is and surely will be for millions of others that will encounter her triumphant tale!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book and loss, January 22, 2008

By	Judith McGregor "[e-mail]" (Illinois) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is not a diet book. Susan doesn't tell you, 'do what I did, and you, too, will lose weight'. Instead it is a story of a woman, who because of pain and loss, entombed herself in layers of fat. How she fought her way out of that tomb and became a whole person is the lesson of the book. Now that she is whole again, and can better deal with pain and loss.
A must read for any woman, and even some men.
I read it in one sitting and was very moved.