Friday, August 20, 2010

REVIEW: LOSING IT BY VALERIE BERTINELLI

Losing It - And Gaining My Life Back One Pound
at a Time 
By Valerie Bertinelli
KINDLE Edition


I don't know about any of you, but I have always had the weirdest relationship with my own self image in relation to my weight.  You know, the same thing that millions and millions of women have, that stupid and annoying 10 or even 20 pounds that keeps making a reappearance in my life and on my butt.  Every single time I work on a movie I drop 10 pounds in a month or two, without any effort.  I hadn't worked for 3 years, and my body showed it.  For most of the 3 years I tried to replicate my work environment at home, but it's almost impossible to be literally on my feet walking around for 15 hours, and cut my calorie intake by half. Not to mention being outside freezing most of the time.   So this time when I dropped some weight at the end of my 4 week show, I was determined to not let it creep back.  

HELLO, FAT ASS. 

It's all back.  All of it.  Once again i realized that I need to take a good long look at myself from the inside out.  And then I picked up a copy of Prevention magazine with Valerie on the cover.  I like her.  She seems very down-to-earth and normal, eventhough she married a rock star.  It piqued my interest and I ordered her book on my Kindle.  (Hence why I am IN LOVE with this little device, eventhough my bank account and my husband aren't!)  I read it in four days. 

Her book is a very easy and short read, filled with anecdotal advice on how to live a more authentic life. She is extremely candid about her history, and has this uncanny and almost creepy way of remembering her exact weight and how much she has gained and lost throughout her entire life.  And I thought I was bad!  Her book is exactly what I needed to see that A)I'm not alone and B) a person CAN overcome their obsession with food and how they look, or at least manage said obsession.  

Not only is it a very good book about her self discovery, it's super titilating too!  Who wouldn't want to know what it would be like to be married to Eddie Van Halen?

Immediately after I finished I clicked-clicked and bought Finding It, the next book.  It is not as riveting, but still good.  It focuses on her maintenance and how her life AFTER losing the weight is actually WAY HARDER than initally losing it.  Huh.  A BIT depressing.  BUT that being said, it is super motivating... and just take a look at the evidence:

BEFORE Jenny Craig called and said, "Hey fatty!  Wanna be our spokesperson!" (I'm paraphrasing, but she said something along those lines when the phone rang)


To THIS:

ISN'T THAT AMAZING??!!!!  And YES she did Jenny, and she is very dedicated and loyal to Jenny, but she also worked her butt off to get that body, and I think this photo was taken when she was 48!  YOU GO, VAL!  Just looking at the green bikini shot makes me want to do a sweaty jig around the block. 

ANYway, I think for any woman who would like to peek inside Valerie Bertinelli's life for a time and perhaps even have an aha moment or two, this book is worth the click-click.

RATING:  4/5


5 Blabs:

Allie ~ Hist-Fic Chick said...

I saw Valerie appear on the Rachel Ray Show right after she first lost all that weight and thought to myself, "WOW!" I think it's amazing and her story should be an inspiration to women everywhere who are battling weight loss. It's great that over the past few years our country has finally appeared to WAKE UP and realize how detrimental the "American super-sized" way of eating has become to so many people living in this country. Now we see so many TV shows about losing weight through healthy weight loss plans, encouraging people to improve their lifestyles altogether!

Lisa said...

I totally agree, Allie. I think that with people like Valerie, who really is like "one of us" as opposed to many celebs, she really does it all herself. And I also agree that people are starting to realize that our portions are WAAAY out of control. I see it in my own life!
Thanks for checking in and I love your comments!
LIsa

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I am so JEALOUS of her transformation...LOL

Have a great week Lisa. It is pouring here today and I need to go out briefly!

TheBookGirl said...

Hi Lisa
Really enjoyed your review of her books...I always liked her on TV...nice to know that she admits to having to fight the battle everyday...

Kristin said...

I usually don't read nonfiction, but I saw this book and had to read it. I loved it and want to read her other one that came out after this one. What an inspiration she is!

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