Big Girl: How I Gave Up Dieting and Got a Life

by Kelsey Miller

Overview

A hilarious and inspiring memoir about one young woman's journey to find a better path to both physical and mental health.

At twenty-nine, Kelsey Miller had done it all: crash diets, healthy diets, and nutritionist-prescribed "eating plans," which are diets that you pay more money for. She'd been fighting her un-thin body since early childhood, and after a lifetime of failure, finally hit bottom. No diet could transform her body or her life. There was no shortcut to skinny salvation. She'd dug herself into this hole, and now it was time to climb out of it.

With the help of an Intuitive Eating coach and fitness professionals, she learned how to eat based on her body's instincts and exercise sustainably, without obsessing over calories burned and thighs gapped. But, with each thrilling step toward a healthy future, she had to contend with the painful truths of her past.

Big Girl chronicles Kelsey's journey into self-loathing and disordered eating-and out of it. This is a memoir for anyone who's dealt with a distorted body image, food issues, or a dysfunctional family. It's for the late-bloomers and the not-yet-bloomed. It's for everyone who's tried and failed and felt like a big, fat loser. So, basically, everyone.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781455532643
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	01/05/2016
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Kelsey Miller graduated from Boston University with a BS in Film & Television. She began her career in the film production industry before transitioning to full-time writing. Soon after joining the staff of Refinery29, she created The Anti-Diet Project, one of the website's most popular franchises. She is currently a Senior Features Writer and lives in Brooklyn.

Table of Contents

A Note from the Author ix

A Beginning 1

Two Bottoms 6

The Final Pig-Out 12

Embracing the Plate 19

The Parr Where I Blame My Parents 28

The New Diet Buzz 48

A Brief History of Things I Haven't Eaten 65

Carbs! 86

The Cool Table 93

The Gun on the Wall 105

Reruns 113

Telling 122

The Mushy Stuff 132

Hurricane Sex(ually Transmitted Infection) 146

On Dumplings 153

Once More, Into the Suburbs 167

"Your Image" 183

Someone Else's Story 208

The Truer Version 214

Thirty 222

Still Thirty 228

The End (Just Kidding) 235

The Sucker Punch 245

Ice Cream Revisited 256

Another End 270

Discussion Questions 274

Many Thanks 276

Editorial Reviews

10/19/2015
This debut memoir by Miller, a senior features writer at the fashion website Refinery29, bemoans the ups and downs of dieting. Miller begins by telling us she’s “not special,” but has gone through the same struggle to lose weight that many people have endured. While focusing on her experiences at age 29, she traces her troubled relationship with food and her body back to early childhood, remembering trying to eat sweets away from the watchful eye of her mother, the “Food Police.” Miller goes on to share candid vignettes of going on and off multiple diets, getting her first job, falling in love, and facing her first Internet troll. The tone is raw and revealing, with self-deprecating humor sprinkled throughout; early on, Miller scripts out her inner dialogue with Seamless, an online food delivery service, in the process revealing her wit and vulnerability. By the end of this heartwarming and -breaking emotional roller-coaster, Miller has shed her self-destructive bingeing and dieting habits, learned to eat only out of hunger, and gained the ability to recognize and embrace who she is. Her honestly, hilariously told story will appeal to any readers who have ever felt dissatisfaction with their bodies and will move them to tears of sorrow, laughter, and joy. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"This chronicle of [Miller's] journey from childhood through hard-won revelations is hilarious and brutally honest, offering plenty of wisdom for anyone who's struggled with issues of her own."— People

"Readers of all sizes, shapes and backgrounds can relate to 'Big Girl.' It's a tour de force on growing up, learning how to be healthy in mind, body and spirit, and coming to terms with the fact that life is fast, but it is OK to stop for a moment to bring home, smell and eat the bacon."
—New York Daily News

"Raw and revealing, with self-deprecating humor sprinkled throughout. . . . [Miller's] honestly, hilariously told story will appeal to any readers who have ever felt dissatisfaction with their bodies and will move them to tears of sorrow, laughter, and joy."—Publishers Weekly

"Readers will cheer for Miller to succeed on her 'anti-diet' diet of intuitive eating, her quest to eat according to her mindfully mined needs and desires, not according to a rulebook."—Kirkus Reviews

"In less capable hands, Big Girl might have been another garden-variety memoir or diet book. With Miller in charge, however, we see these two genres woven cleverly together to tell a story that - if you're in possession of a beating heart - will promise to amuse, educate and inspire."—Sara Barron, author of The Harm in Asking and People Are Unappealing

"Smart, sane, and funny, Big Girl is the wise friend that every person should have by their side when navigating the bizarre extremes of modern eating. With grace and humor, Kelsey Miller sheds light on the hazards of a culture obsessed with dieting—and shows us that self-acceptance and intuition can offer a way out."—Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine

"Reading Big Girl is like spending time with your utterly authentic and devastatingly articulate new friend. Kelsey Miller strikes a pitch perfect balance between criticizing our deeply warped cultural attitudes toward body image and reminding us all that we're personally responsible for—and capable of—rising above the insanity."—Kelsey Osgood, author of How To Disappear Completely

"Big Girl is so much more than the story of a girl's life-long struggles with food and her body. It is a unflinchingly honest and laugh-out-loud hilarious look at what it means to be a woman, full stop. Kelsey Miller's struggles might not specifically be yours, but no one reading this spectacular debut memoir will doubt that how she deals with those struggles, her successes and very human failures, are universal. This book is, quite simply, an act of both courage and kindness, shining a spotlight on the things we all hold secret, and in the process it becomes not only inspirational and uplifting, but more importantly, an enormously entertaining piece of writing."—Stacey Ballis, author of Out to Lunch and Recipe for Disaster

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2016
This is not a diet book, it's an antidiet book, as well as a memoir of one woman's lifelong struggle to lose weight and journey through mindful eating with the help of Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch's 2012 Intuitive Eating, and an intuitive eating coach. Miller, founder of the Anti-Diet Project, tells a story that's compelling and deeply felt. VERDICT This highly recommended title will appeal to all women, no matter the kinds of personal demons they are battling to overcome.

Library Journal

2015-09-24
A hard-core dieter pokes fun at herself and the diet industry while trying to overcome her own food obsessions. Millions of Americans have grown up with calorie counts in their heads, tried-and-true diet tips at the ready, and meticulous food journals in their pockets. And yet, as a nation, we're heavier than ever. We know that dieting doesn't really work in the long run, so how about just not dieting? What would happen then? That's what Refinery29 blogger Miller attempted and what she chronicles in this wry, sometimes overly confessional memoir. Food is a big deal for the author, as we see in vivid scenes of calculated dips into the pantry chocolate-chip stash as a child and any number of "Final Pig-Outs" as a young adult about to start the next big plan, whether Weight Watchers, Atkins, or the Type O Diet. It may not be that big a deal for readers, though, and it can be tiring to read yet another list of foods consumed. Miller does take a look at some of the deeper reasons behind her compulsive eating, and it's in these passages that her vulnerability comes through and her story becomes truly compelling. Readers will cheer for Miller to succeed on her "anti-diet" diet of intuitive eating, her quest to eat according to her mindfully mined needs and desires, not according to a rulebook. It takes a lot of work to change a mindset that radically, and it's slow going for Miller, who tends to trade one obsession for another. Still, by the end of her memoir, it's clear that she is writing more often about friends, family, and career and focusing less on the food itself. Further material regarding this part of the journey would have made for a more satisfying closure, but as Miller herself notes, it's more about the process than the product. An anti-diet diet book that offers perhaps too much food for thought.

Kirkus Reviews