Hey, Joob!

Last week, Charlotte @ The Great Fitness Experiment reviewed Skinny: A Novel (P.S.) by Diana Spechler.  After commenting on the post, Ms. Spechler was kind enough to contact me and send me a free copy of the book to review here as well!  I think Charlotte’s review was spot-on, but for those of you who haven’t read it, I will repeat the sentiments here

The story is centered around a young, twenty something woman from NYC named Gray and is told/narrated from her perspective.  After the death of her morbidly obese father due to a heart attack, Gray finds herself completely lost (despite their less than stellar relationship) and seeks food for comfort.  When the comfort is not there, this behavior rapidly degenerates, immediately, into binge eating disorder.  In an attempt to absolve a dark family secret, free herself from her binge eating, and seek some answers that have been lost to her, Gray begins working at a fat camp she finds on the internet as a counselor.   It should, furthermore, be noted that the book is loosely based off of Ms. Spechler’s own experiences working as a counselor at a fat camp.

There’s the basic premise of the book.  What did I think?

I really enjoyed and disliked this book at the same time.  Let me elaborate: It is excellently written.  I could not bring myself to put it down and finished it in about 2 days – seriously, I refused to get off the couch and stop reading it all day Saturday.  I disliked it because Ms. Spechler wrote it so well that the way she describes Gray’s fluctuating emotions and battles with self image are difficult to deal with.  At points I related so well to the protagonist that I was forced to be confronted with a lot of emotions I generally keep compartmentalized and forgotten.  That being said, I feel the reasons I “disliked” the book are the same reasons I liked it so much.

While I have fortunately never suffered from an eating disorder, Gray finds herself immersed in a world where what she thinks of herself DIRECTLY correlates with her opinion of her body and all those around her are constantly facing similar issues – which is something I think most women have, sadly, experienced.  On the topic of eating disorders… I should mention that they are a prevalent theme throughout Skinny and ought to be considered before you read it if you are particularly sensitive to the subject.  (Gray herself switches back and forth between binge eating and anorexia to the point of hair loss while her campers battle bulimia.)

Skinny was, once again, a reminder of why I keep this blog, am constantly trying to encourage those around me to be the best they can be, and started bodybuilding in the first place.  Thank you again, Ms. Spechler, for sending me a copy!

CONTEST PREP UPDATES:

• Next show is less than 2 weeks away, I dropped another pound down to 118.
• We’re keeping my carbs low but not obscenely so… workout days are 125.  We’ve dropped my fat intake again to 20g a day but I’ve doubled my fatty acid supplement intake.
• My energy levels are fine but I am starting to mentally burn out – again.  Saturday is my refeed and I took in 35g fat, 225g CHO, and 165g protein and I didn’t even enjoy it.  I just spread the macros out over the day.  It feels like food and eating at this point are just something I do because I have to.  I guess 24 weeks (YUP! I’m in week 24 of this bad boy of a diet) of meticulously portioning and planning every meal kind of sucks the joy out of it.  I don’t really mind though.  To me, the sacrifice is worth it for the show and it’s not like food is going anywhere in the next two weeks.  Corporate America will be sure of that!
• When I hammer out the details of my transition into the off season, I’ll be sure to write a blog entry about it.