Lay, Carol – The Big Skinny

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The Big Skinny

That’s right, I’m reviewing what is essentially a diet book.  I’ve come to terms with that, you should too.  Actually, Ms. Lay would probably have a problem with this being referred to as a “diet book”, as what it actually sets out to do is show how easy it to to lose weight and keep it off for years.  The intro to the book is excellent: Carol, at a dinner party, is asked by the hostess what her secret is for looking so good (Carol, by her own description, has been at least 30 pounds overweight for most of her life).  She replies honestly “I count calories and exercise every day”.  And, well, that’s really all there is to it.  The rest of the book is her proving that counting calories isn’t as difficult as most people think, how exercising can be incorporated into the schedule of even the busiest person, how you can do those exercises at home (more or less for free once you get a few basic things), and how the only way for this to work in the long term is a sincere desire to change.  She describes how people have to have a moment when they decide they’ve had enough: a certain photo mercilessly shows how you really look, a small child asks you why you’re so fat, some sort of trigger makes you want to change.  Roughly equivalent to an alcoholic hitting rock bottom, I suppose.  She also makes it clear that it is still possible to go nuts on rare occasions and eat things that aren’t justifiable under your new standards, as long as you take care to make up for it in the coming days.  I don’t want to give away all her secrets here, as anybody interested in this sort of thing (which, judging from the sales numbers of diet books, is just about everybody) should buy the book.  Speaking as somebody who is trying to eat healthier (I really mean it this time), this is a damned near perfect way to approach things, chock full of common sense, and it even has a series of recipes in the back along with links to calorie counting websites.  It really isn’t as hard as everybody makes it out to be, and there’s a very simple reason why people want to gum up the works as much as possible here: how else could they convince people to buy every book about the latest miracle diet plan to come along?  This is one of those rare books that actually could change your life, even if you only take some of the suggestions out of it.  Take all of them (and no, you don’t have to completely give up cheese), and you’d have a hard time not being a healthier, fitter person.  $18