It Ain't Over 'Till the Thin Lady Sings - by Michelle Ritchie (Paperback)

About the Book

This sensitive, sympathetic book helps readers determine whether or not weight-loss surgery is right for them. Author Michelle Ritchie shares both her personal journey as a successful weight-loss surgery patient and her professional advice as an experienced weight-loss counselor. In sometimes funny, sometimes painful prose, she discusses her life before and after surgery and bluntly analyzes her own complicity in her obesity. As she describes her four-year battle to maintain her new, healthy weight, Ritchie emphasizes personal responsibility, reminding readers that surgery is not a quick-fix solution but a tool that works only as well as the choices patients make after the procedure. Also included are a detailed description of gastric bypass surgery; its pros and cons; tips for keeping weight off after surgery; daily food plans and sample shopping lists; information on cross-addictions; and a thoughtful discussion on intimacy and relationships after surgery.

Book Synopsis

This sensitive, sympathetic book helps readers determine whether or not weight-loss surgery is right for them. Author Michelle Ritchie shares both her personal journey as a successful weight-loss surgery patient and her professional advice as an experienced weight-loss counselor. In sometimes funny, sometimes painful prose, she discusses her life before and after surgery and bluntly analyzes her own complicity in her obesity. As she describes her four-year battle to maintain her new, healthy weight, Ritchie emphasizes personal responsibility, reminding readers that surgery is not a quick-fix solution but a tool that works only as well as the choices patients make after the procedure. Also included are a detailed description of gastric bypass surgery; its pros and cons; tips for keeping weight off after surgery; daily food plans and sample shopping lists; information on cross-addictions; and a thoughtful discussion on intimacy and relationships after surgery.

Review Quotes

"Ritchie, a certified substance abuse counselor and health educator for Kaiser Permanente, offers expert guidance and keen insight for those struggling with overeating addictions. Her book focuses on an often-neglected area: the psychological and practical life changes that weight-loss surgery patients need to implement. Ritchie's addiction counseling background is effectively used to address the mental and emotional journey of a compulsive overeater who chooses weight-loss surgery. She recounts numerous real-life stories, including many sets of thought-provoking questions with each chapter so that readers can explore their own experience and identify faulty belief systems. Sources for additional help, starting a support group, shopping, food plans, and other coping tools are provided in appendixes...Highly recommended for all libraries." - Crystal Renfro, Georgia Institute of Technology Library, Library Journal

"I have to honestly say that this is one of the best "diet" books I have ever read. I am not presently considering weight loss surgery, though I have in the past and decided against it. One of the great things about this book is you don't have to have weight loss surgery to use it. You don't even have to have ever considered weight loss surgery to use it.

Unlike other books that you might find in the "Diet and Weight Loss" section in the book store, this book does not require that you do something radical in order to lose weight and be successful at it. This book is more like having a best friend who's both been there and done that.

Chapter by chapter, Ritchie walks us through the steps to not only successfully lose weight, but to keep it off by making the necessary changes within ourselves. Each chapter has various stories, quotes, questions, and suggestions to help you look within yourself to find what it is that keeps you from being successful. Many of us have something that happened to us somewhere that makes any kind of success uncomfortable, so we hold ourselves back, not allowing ourselves to truly reach our potential.

After reading It Ain't Over 'til the Thin Lady Sings, I can say that I will need to go back and read it again, more slowly, over time, making the little changes as Ritchie suggests. I have a good feeling about it and can predict that over time, with this book in hand, I, too, can lose weight and keep it off, even without surgery." -Andrea Barry for Reader Views