Book ~ "Getting Waisted: A Survival Guide to Being Fat in a Society That Loves Thin" (2014) Monica Parker

From Goodreads ~ Monica Parker bridges the divide between serial dieter's survival guide and memoir, taking readers on a hilariously funny yet bumpy ride from chubby baby to chunky adult. 

In "Getting Waisted," Monica begins every chapter with a diet she committed to and reveals how much weight, money and self-esteem she lost, then she tells how much weight she gained when she fell off the wagon. After all, "no one tells a short person to get taller or a tall person to get shorter but fat people hear about their bodies all the time." 

From Living Large in a size zero world to jumping into the dating pool without causing a tidal wave of angst, Monica learns that when you stop buying what the diet-devils are selling and start liking yourself, life is far more rewarding. When Mr. Right appears out of thin air, will she run back to the catalogue of Mr. Wrongs out of fear? 

Readers will laugh and cry as she realizes that while she thought it was her body that was in the way, it was really what she kept in her head that needed adjusting. Ultimately, "Getting Waisted" is an inspirational look at life through society's warped fun-house mirror, but Monica's reflection tells the real tale: everyone is always under construction and we are all flawed, chipped, and dented, but that doesn't mean we're not interesting, vital and sexy.

Monica was born in Glasgow, Scotland.  Her mother was an Austro-Hungarian Jew who escaped Austria during the Nazi invasion.  Her father was a "musty" fifty-year-old virgin Englishman.  It wasn't a love match ... they married, did it once and her mother got the British residency she wanted.  They would spend years living together and apart, depending on convenience.  When Monica was ten, the family moved to Toronto where her mother eventually became a dressmaker.

This is Monica's story of being a larger woman who was always trying to lose weight so she could fit in and be accepted.  When she was an adult, she worked in her mom's dressmaking shop and eventually became an actress, writer and producer in LA.  Each chapter begins with a diet she had tried (such as Dexadrine, Fen Phen, bananas and milk, Jenny Craig, receiving injections of urine of pregnant women and more), how much it cost her, how much weight she lost and how much weight she gained ... and the details of what was happening in her life at that time.

I enjoyed this book and liked the writing style, which I found honest and entertaining.  Monica's story was funny yet sad at times.  She seems like the kind of person you could sit and have a cup of tea or a glass of wine with and have a great time talking and laughing.