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Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time
A Note to Amazon Readers (and a Q&A) from Valerie Bertinelli <p/> Dear Amazon Customer, <p/> Glad to see you here and hopefully purchasing my book. I've heard if you buy multiple copies it's a better experience--a better one for me! But seriously, I'm usually on Amazon, too. I've been buying books through the site for ten years. I enjoy reading the reviews. ...more
Audio CD, Abridged, 0 pages
Published
February 25th 2008
by Simon & Schuster Audio
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Celebrity biographies can be enjoyable if they reward the reader with bits of insight and honesty about the writers life. We're looking for something that we haven't heard before and stories that make them more human/real. Valerie Bertinelli offers us an incredibly candid story of her life (so far) that runs along the thread of how she handled weight gain. This book was actually loaned to my wife but as a Van Halen fan I scanned it for annedotes on the Rock and Roll lifestyle and ended up readin...more
picked up 2/27. so far very personable! conversational reading! started last night (2/29) and am more than 90 pgs into it already!
update: (3/4) finished! a very easy, interesting, relate-able read! her writing is very conversational and i could hear her voice in my mind as i read. i've also had relationships w/musicians (infamous & not!) & relationships that i lost myself in trying to force them to work, i'm now over weight (for me) for the 1st time since grade school & i've ...more
update: (3/4) finished! a very easy, interesting, relate-able read! her writing is very conversational and i could hear her voice in my mind as i read. i've also had relationships w/musicians (infamous & not!) & relationships that i lost myself in trying to force them to work, i'm now over weight (for me) for the 1st time since grade school & i've ...more
There are pros and cons to this one, and I am not sure that the pros outweigh the cons enough to recommend this book. Also, to be fair, I really don't think I read this book for the right reasons. Originally, I was more interested in the rock and roll gossip, and not Valerie Bertinelli's story. Then, over the course of the book, I did become more interested in her journey. Towards the end, I was really rooting for her. I liked the brutal honesty in which she describes her life. I also appreci...more
Maybe I missed most of this because she is from my mom's generation. I felt like I did at the end of Eat, Pray, Love-- get over yourself already! I appreciate her battle with weight and how she was able to retrospectfully examine her eating habits and attitudes. That is true for a lot of women. But I felt for the rest of the book it was all about how when she did drugs and slept around, it was justified (she admitted it was wrong, but then justified it) but when her ex-husband did it, that w...more
So as a fan of pretty much anything 80s, I was interested in readin this book. Also frankly, so see if there were any tips she had with healthier eating and lifestyle habits, which I am always open to learning. Valerie speaks openly and honestly about her struggle with weight, dealing with a very drunk and high famous husband (Eddie Van Halen), and trying to balance working with being a good mom. I watched a little of One Day at A Time when I was younger- it really was a bit before my time, b...more
The full title here is Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time by Valerie Bertinelli. Yes, that's right. I read an autobiography by Valerie Bertinelli, she of One Day at a Time fame, countless made-for-TV movies, and a marriage to a certain Van Halen member. Let's chalk it up to expanding my horizons and stepping outside my usual reading comfort zone.
And actually, it's not a particularly BAD book. Bertinelli tells her life's story (so far), following what I can only a...more
And actually, it's not a particularly BAD book. Bertinelli tells her life's story (so far), following what I can only a...more
I remember as a child watching One Day at a Time and my family sitting around the TV watching the show. Barbara was my favorite character on the show, since she was a huge Elton John fan. Later, I remember hearing the band Van Halen and being blown away. In high school I had a huge crush on Eddie and had my locker covered in pictures of him. When I found out that my favorite actress and favorite musician married, it was like the "best of both worlds".
Valerie's writing in thi...more
Valerie's writing in thi...more
I enjoy reading about the lives of actors told from their voice. One of my vices. There is really no literary value by reading these type of books. I like to read about celebrities lives, especially those that were in shows back when I was a kid. I always have a picture in my mind about what this person is really like. The books put it in perspective and confirm whether I had the right picture or not. With Valerie, I was close but not right on. I always viewed her as a girl who seemed to have...more
In this memoir, Valerie Bertinelli describes her life as a Hollywood actress as well as her 20-year marriage to Eddie, the guitarist for the band Van Halen. At one point, it seemed like she was living a charmed life but the truth was that she was miserable. During their marriage, she fought with her husband about his drinking and the extramarital affairs he was having and their fighting both wore them out. In the end she felt like she couldn’t compete for attention with his rock-n-roll lifest...more
Not as completely focused on her weight cycling as the title suggests, which is a good thing in my view, as that part of it is obvious and repetitive (various anecdotes documenting that (a) if you eat a lot and fail to make time for exercise when you're stressed and unhappy, you gain weight; (b) if you crash diet and binge on exercise when trying to fit in certain clothes or get a specific acting job, you rarely maintain it; (c) if you adopt a sustainable exercise program and eat healthy/moderat...more
I'm not sure it's fair to judge someone's perspective of their own life. It is exactly what it is...their story to tell. I found it interesting that she spends the entire book relating her life to her issues with food and weight but skimmed over her drug use as if it were no big deal, as if "easy come...easy go".
It took me a very long time to read this book. Not because I didn't enjoy it. I enjoyed reading while I was reading but once I put it down it didn't call for me to...more
It took me a very long time to read this book. Not because I didn't enjoy it. I enjoyed reading while I was reading but once I put it down it didn't call for me to...more
Valerie Bertinelli seems to be the kind of person I would like and hang out with. Her weight loss story had as much to do with food as it did the things in her life that kept her eating...and eating and eating. I read this book in less than 24 hours, I passed this on to my MIL and she will be done with done with it in less time than that! Great, fun read.
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Listening to this on audio was such a blast! Valerie reads it herself and it REALLY is like one of the reviews i read - like sitting and having a drink with your girlfriend, dishing the dirt. She dishes some dirt, she struggles with self-esteem and weight, her career ebbs and flows. Stars.....they're just like us!
Absolutely dull.
I dont read celeb bios for the dirt on fleeting sexual encounters--not that there is much of that here--or the name dropping.
I read them to find out what it was like to work on a hit TV show for a decade. What it was like to be a child with a highly lucrative and intense job and what it is like now that those days are in the rearview.
This vapid volume glosses over those details, and instead gives a seemingly endless litany of Bertinelli'...more
I dont read celeb bios for the dirt on fleeting sexual encounters--not that there is much of that here--or the name dropping.
I read them to find out what it was like to work on a hit TV show for a decade. What it was like to be a child with a highly lucrative and intense job and what it is like now that those days are in the rearview.
This vapid volume glosses over those details, and instead gives a seemingly endless litany of Bertinelli'...more
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Proof, were it needed, that I will read just about anything. And in the world of celebrity autobiographies, will not only read anything but will enjoy it as well!
I have always loved Valerie Bertinelli,(I never missed an episode of "One Day at a Time")and she comes across in her book pretty much the way she always has on TV. Written with real warmth and honesty (tons about her difficult marriage to Eddie Van Halen and really written from a place of kindness), I found her str...more
I have always loved Valerie Bertinelli,(I never missed an episode of "One Day at a Time")and she comes across in her book pretty much the way she always has on TV. Written with real warmth and honesty (tons about her difficult marriage to Eddie Van Halen and really written from a place of kindness), I found her str...more
I wanted to like this book, I really did. I always was a fan of Valerie Bertinelli so I was sure I would like her book. Honestly it is one of the worst books I have ever read.
It reads like a high school diary. Bertinelli spends most of the book name dropping and blaming everyone she can for her feelings and her overeating. Her experience with the Jenny Craig program is saved for the very end and is incredibly vague. She went on the program and with seemingly no big hurdles or stumbling ...more
It reads like a high school diary. Bertinelli spends most of the book name dropping and blaming everyone she can for her feelings and her overeating. Her experience with the Jenny Craig program is saved for the very end and is incredibly vague. She went on the program and with seemingly no big hurdles or stumbling ...more
LOVED. THIS. BOOK. I went to her booksigning and waited on line for 2 hours- it was that good. I read it in two days. It's just so down-to-earth and honest. She comes off as a real person and very likable. She tells it all- nothing vague.
This was a really great book. Chapters are named after Van Halen songs which was pretty funny since it pretty much titled what Valerie was going through at that point in time. She is really down to earth and funny.
Being the same age as VB and growing up with One Day at a Time, it was fun to read similarities as a child and teenager; growing up in LA, being an Elton John fan, etc... but after awhile I found her to be kind of self-absorbed -- and I realize this is an autobiography, but I was hoping for somebody other than "the Hollywood type" and I was disappointed that even Valerie Bertinelli is "a Hollywood type". That being said, it was interesting reading about her marriage to Eddie...more
I don't know why I was surprised that a book about weight loss would be so much about weight, but my overall impression after reading this book was that it would have been a much better book if the weight loss part was left out. It seemed to be a standard celebrity biography with "at this point, I weighed 132" and "now I wasn't working out at all and gained 15 pounds" thrown in at the appropriate time. Yeah, we've all gained and lost weight, worked out and fallen off the wago...more
I read this book for the same reason I read US Weekly and Star magazine.
I am a voyeur into the lives of the rich and famous, especially those frequenting the Oprah show. If she finds it worthy to read, I likely read it too.
I mean, who doesn't want to know what its like to be married to Eddie Van Halen or how it feels when you are approached to be the Jenny Craig spokeswoman?
Needless to say, this didn't blow my socks off in terms of the writing. But it was nice, run...more
I am a voyeur into the lives of the rich and famous, especially those frequenting the Oprah show. If she finds it worthy to read, I likely read it too.
I mean, who doesn't want to know what its like to be married to Eddie Van Halen or how it feels when you are approached to be the Jenny Craig spokeswoman?
Needless to say, this didn't blow my socks off in terms of the writing. But it was nice, run...more
I actually didn't get very far before I quit reading. I wanted to learn about her weight loss journey, but instead found this book to be a tell-all about her sexual partners. Bummer.
I really really enjoyed this book. I respect her courage and determination to sacrifice her happiness for her son and even though the two of them did a horrible job at working on their marriage, they did one thing right by raising their son well. Her ability to take hold of her weight issues over all those years is an inspiration for all women who have struggled with their weight like I have. My husband who is a HUGE Eddie fan will not read this book because he does not want to hear about how ho...more
This book went fast. I was a big fan of "One Day at A Time" when I was a kid so it was really interesting to hear the behind the scenes scoop on Valerie's life as an actress on the show. Wow! Things were a lot different than I had imagined. I was also a Van Halen fan and so to get to hear what their lives were like was like getting to be a fly on the wall at something I'd always wondered about. She is so cool and honest and not full of herself. You can't help but like her and respect ...more
I think what I appreciated the most about Valerie's "tell-all" is that she revealed her insecurities about herself, her body, her marriage, and her relationship with food. I could totally relate to her stories about emotional eating and constant obsession with her weight. I also was interested in her stories about life as a rock-star wife and as a mother of a boy and only child. It's an easy read, but when you delve below the surface, deep issues rise up. She's very inspirational. And ...more
This book has lots of information about how Hollywood can affect young actors and actresses lives and sometimes not in a positive way. Valerie Bertinelli got into drugs and alcohol at a very young age. The friends she hung around with after going to Hollywood led her down a path of self destruction. After marrying Eddie Van Halen and continuing on this self destructive path with his alcohol abuse and her just trying to survive. She cleans up her act and leaves him, but finds that as she gave u...more
I have always liked Valerie Bertinelli, and this book didn't change my mind about that. There's always a surprise in store in an autobiography, and this one is replete with them. Barbara Cooper did drugs? Had premarital sex? Wasn't raised strict Catholic, as I had understood? Was impulsive and insecure, and had terrible body-image issues? Well, who knew?
I remember being surprised when her split with Eddie Van Halen was announced, after more than twenty years of marriage, but having ...more
I remember being surprised when her split with Eddie Van Halen was announced, after more than twenty years of marriage, but having ...more
This was an easy read and I wasn't sure what to expect when I first decided to buy it. After a few pages it felt like I was having a conversation with Valerie and not reading a book. I have to say I really enjoyed the "One Day At A Time" trip down memory lane She made some mistakes along the way but we all do. I think we can all relate to her in our own ways and I can identify with her insecurities as well. It had to be hard and cleansing to talk about the issues she has had to f...more
Had to read this one as I grew up watching her on One Day at a Time. Always thought she was so cute and innocent. Well she's cute but not innocent and easily admits that it was a little difficult to live down the image although she managed to handle things much better than her costar Mackenzie Phillips. She had a lot issues and problems with her marriage to Eddie Van Halen but that's kind of what you get when you marry a rock star. The main thing centers around her weight and lack of self confid...more
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| Loved This Book!!! | 1 | 29 | Apr 29, 2008 05:42pm |
Valerie Anne Bertinelli is an American film and television actress best known for her role as Bonnie Franklin's smart, nice, and lovable daughter, Barbara Jean Cooper, on the long-running television series One Day at a Time.
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“When you're busy blocking out difficult emotions and feelings, you're not going to feel the good stuff, either. ”
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