Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir

by Jennette Fulda (Goodreads author)

book data

178 ratings, 3.68 average rating, 55 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		17%
4		42%
3		31%
2		7%
1		1%

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published

May 1st 2008 by Seal Press (CA)

binding

Paperback, 300 pages

isbn

1580052339 (isbn13: 9781580052337)

description

After undergoing gall bladder surgery at age twenty-three, Jennette Fulda decided it was time to lose some weight. Actually, more like half her weight...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 375)

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12/20/08

Kimberly rated it:

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: anyone who has felt trapped in their own bodies

PastaQueen is my heroine. She trod the path not easily taken and emerged victorious over a body twice the size than it needed to be. I've been a fan of her blog for years and when I read that she wrote a book about her journey, I knew I had to pick it up. It has all of the humor of her blog and gives you just a bit more. It is now my diet bible - the book I read when I need inspiration to keep going on my own trail to health and happiness. I loaned to to a co-worker to read and told her tha...more

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03/07/09

Julie rated it:

Read in April, 2009

I really liked this book. Jennette is so honest and absolutely NOT condescending to the reader. She never once pretends to have all the answers to weight loss and says that every person is different and losing weight will be a different process and journey for each person. She also never says anything mean or rude about people who are still big and could stand to lose a few pounds..she talks about how cool of a person she was she was fat and does not apologize for it. It's a great read, very fun...more

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08/16/08

jess rated it:

Read in July, 2008

Jennette Fulda bites the bullet, changes her lifestyle, eating habits, and exercise habits, and loses 200 pounds, not because she hates fat people, but because her fat is making her sick. She's concerned about dying from all the medical risks brought through being obese. She's living with her mom, and can't walk across a parking lot without getting winded. It takes a few years, but she reaches her goal, learns to love herself, and chronicles the entire journey in her blog, pastaqueen.com.
...more Jennette Fulda bites the bullet, changes her lifestyle, eating habits, and exercise habits, and loses 200 pounds, not because she hates fat people, but because her fat is making her sick. She's concerned about dying from all the medical risks brought through being obese. She's living with her mom, and can't walk across a parking lot without getting winded. It takes a few years, but she reaches her goal, learns to love herself, and chronicles the entire journey in her blog, pastaqueen.com.

My primary issue with this book is that it is about 150 pages too long. Her lifestyle changes were based on "eat less, move more" philosophies, so the book is *not* a "magical cure" for obesity - I get it. I agree. It's a memoir. It's about her feelings through the weightloss journey. Oftentimes, I felt like she had blog disease of the mouth -- too much emotional processing with too little context. I felt like this book was another great example of what happens when blogs become books without a really strong editorial hand. We like blogs because they are quick, egalitarian, timely. We do! Well, I do! I look for different things in a book.

Fulda struggled with the Fat Acceptance community online especially. In some circles, trying to lose weight can be seen as selling out everyone else who's not trying to lose weight. It can be taboo to even talk about the changes you are making - what if you don't reach your goal? What if other people feel alienated as your weight comes off? It seems she made some enemies and got banned from a few messageboards, and had some nasty comments left on her blog. It was exhausting to read. I missed her online spats, and I don't know about her history in the FA/weight-loss communities, so I don't know the other side of the story, but I was left certain that there IS another side.

A lot of the questions Fulda explores are worth asking - how to accept and love your overweight body without becoming complacent or endangering your health? How to lose weight and not friends? How to explain that different things work for different people, when everyone wants to know your "magic secrets"? How to learn to cook and enjoy your food in moderation, develop healthy cooking/eating/shopping habits without adopting a fad/yo-yo diet? Some people know these things, other people don't. Fulda was defensive half of the time, and just rambling for the other half.

This review could go on forever, so I'll try to keep it short. I felt like the book was too long. Since there was no "magical" solution to Fulda's health issues, there is nothing concrete you could replicate in your life. Fulda spends so much time with self-deprecating humor and repeating over and over that she doesn't want to be an inspiration to other people -- by the end of the book, it's like, why did you write this, then?

I spent at least the last 150 pages punching myself in the face trying to finish this, and it is only because of my willpower that I was able to get through it. The final introspective moments in the last chapter were insightful but it was too-little-too-late to redeem the rest of the tedious book.

I wish I kept better track of where the recommendations I get come from, so that I could let someone know that this was a F for FAIL.(less)

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07/12/08

Angela rated it:

Read in January, 2009

Reading through Half-Assed, I hoped to keep up my healthy habits and motivations during the holidays (my first in the USA since 2003, that's five years!) and surrounded by some of the unhealthiest people I know - my family.

Jennette wasn't the magic pill that kept me off of white flour, refined sugar, and processed meats while I was home. To be fair, that was a tall order for anyone to fill. One willpower happy meal, and super size it!

But, I know that Jennette will be on...more

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03/10/09

Kat rated it:

bookshelves: so_much_fun

Read in March, 2009

This book comes from the unique perspective of a morbidly obese woman who, facing major medical problems, decided to lose 200 pounds to reach a "normal" bmi. She used only diet an exercise, and came from the unique position of not having tried yo-yo dieting for years or having self-esteem issues. She talks about the pitfalls of dieting, changing attitudes, and sticking to goals. She also has a lot about how to keep yourself honest. I found this book through her blog at http://pastaqueen.com/

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04/27/09

Susan rated it:

bookshelves: biographical, health

Read in April, 2009

I found this book very inspiring. She doesn't preach how to lose weight, recommend any particular diet, or really obsess on how she looks. She's in it to be healthier, and discovers a lot about herself along the way. She reminds me of myself, and seeing that she could do it makes me realize that I should be able to, since I only have half that much to lose.

I got it at the library, but am going to buy it to read again. *That's* how much I liked it.

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02/10/09

Melanie rated it:

Read in February, 2009

I really enjoyed this - there were so many moments when I felt myself nodding and agreeing 100%, and there were other moments when she gave me a good kick in the pants to get myself moving, too. This wasn't a sappy "woe is me" memoir OR a really peppy Denise Austin-style thing, either (if you know what I mean by that). It was matter-of-fact and well-written and very, very funny and honest and true. Highly recommended.

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04/06/09

Janie rated it:

Read in February, 2009

She's a good writer, with lots of humor and irony. This is her own personal account of weight loss, and, having also been through the process, I can say she pretty much tells it like it is. There are no "tricks" or "secrets." Everyone has to go about it her own individual way, but what it boils down to is healthy eating and regular activity. Easy to say, hard to stick to.

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07/13/08

Christy rated it:

Read in July, 2008

Earlier this year, I stumbled upon Half of Me, Jennette Fulda's blog about her weight loss adventures. I really enjoyed her writing style and read her archives from the beginning over the course of a few days.

The author does a nice job of transitioning to the book format and creates more of a narrative arc. The problem for me was that a lot of the components of that arc were previously published online, making the book feel a bit predictable. The sections on her early life as well a...more

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06/06/09

Melanie rated it:

Read in June, 2009

Jennette's writing is funny and light-hearted when dealing with a very serious subject: morbid obesity. The great thing is she does not whine, blame or spend an inordinate amount of time complaining about the changes she had to make in her life in order to lose weight. She just does it, sensibly and continuously, for more than two years to reach her goal weight. Amazingly uplifting!

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01/13/09

Monique rated it:

Excellent, inspiring, and unusual weight loss memoir. She doesn't focus much on the specifics of her plan (other than some details on "eating healthy and exercising")but on the experience of losing a huge amount of weight.

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12/28/08

Mickey rated it:

Read in December, 2008

This wasn't a touchy-feely "oh it's so easy to lose weight" book. The author is very honest about her struggle and makes it clear that it took modifying her eating habits and exercising to accomplish her goal. Now I just need to follow in her footsteps!

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05/05/09

Staci rated it:

Read in May, 2009

Impressive that she lost the weight; however she is so incredibly preachy it's distracting. It may have been more interesting to hear HOW she did it, rather than how great she feels for having done it.

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11/21/08

Lesley rated it:

bookshelves: diet-nutrition, non-fiction

Read in November, 2008

recommends it for: anyone who wants to lose weight.

This book reminded me a lot of my ongoing weight loss experience, including the blogging experience. I could relate to a lot of what she said, though I would've been more satisfied if the book had ended a little sooner.

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01/31/09

Charlene rated it:

Read in January, 2009

I really enjoyed this book. It is down-to-earth, motivating, funny and thought-provoking. And it is a fast read. What more could one ask for in the search for inspiration and chuckles?

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05/24/09

Barb rated it:

This memoir chronicles a young woman's weight loss--without miracle pills or bariatric surgery. She lost more than half of her body weight. It was an interesting book. B-.

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04/04/09

Doti rated it:

Read in April, 2009

Author uses humor to look at deadly-serious issues. Personal memoir, as indicated; interesting. Believe this is going to be worthwhile reading.

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03/11/09

Jenny Rebecca rated it:

bookshelves: diet-excercise, non-fiction

Read in March, 2009

Not bad. I like Jennette's writing style and some of her phrasing had me laughing out loud. "Cuter than a sink full of kittens" is now one of my favorite sayings.

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01/22/09

Monkey rated it:

bookshelves: books-i-ve-read-in-2008-

Read in December, 2008

basically just another memoir about weight loss, a good read but nothing spectacular about it. It was moderately funny.

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10/30/08

John rated it:

bookshelves: bio-and-memoir, library_books

Read in November, 2008

The Universe must be giving me a hint to get going on losing weight - this book popped up as ready on my library reserve queue, just as I finished Jen Lancaster's Such a Pretty Fat.
Other reviewers have complained the book was "too long", which I can understand, though don't exactly agree. Fulda sometimes goes on tangents, especially later regarding her website; however, I found the "memoir-ish" aspect relevant to her situation. Recommended, and if you liked this one, an...more

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