A young food blogger shares her inspiring story of incredible weight loss-a journey from nearly 300 pounds to losing more than half her size-and establishing a healthy and confident relationship with food.
On her twentieth birthday, Andie Mitchell stepped on the scale and discovered that she weighed nearly 300 pounds. At 5′ 9″-even knowing that she was big and hating herself for it-she was stunned. How had she gotten there? Without following wild diet trends, she lost 135 pounds over thirteen months and has kept it off for six years. It Was Me All Along shares the at times heartbreaking, yet ultimately uplifting and motivating, story of how Andie kicked her habit of binge eating, which she developed during a traumatic childhood, and developed a healthy relationship with food, which she still loves to cook and enjoy. Her story is at once familiar and inspiring to millions who have struggled with weight and self-image issues. Andie is a powerful motivator who bravely bares all to help others.
In many ways, some portions of Andie Mitchell’s memoir It Was Me All Along read like pages from my own diaries. I could relate to her descriptions and her situations. I could understand the motivations to binge – even when not particularly hungry. There was a lot that felt familiar in these pages. But there was also something missing.
It Was Me All Along is Andie’s journey with food. She begins her story with her childhood and writes about the triggers that led to her developing an eating disorder. She also writes about tackling her weight with diet and exercise. There’s wisdom and some practical advice, but it feels that there is a lot that she glosses over. I saw in another review of the book a comparison to a diary; where events are magnified and dramatized. I can agree with that to an extent. And yet, it’s also a very personal story told from an individual point of view. Situations like the ones Andie Mitchell describes in the book – the handsome, popular boy asking her on a date, finding love, stumbling off the diet bandwagon – are emotional and can, no doubt, feel epic and dramatic. No judgement about that – every person has a right to feel their own feelings. But where those recollections trouble me is in the resolutions. For example, she writes about a binge, about how, once you have made up your mind to binge, it’s nearly impossible to stop yourself. It’s a concept I’m well and truly aware of and I would certainly agree with her assessment. Pages are dedicated to what she ate and how she ate and why she ate; but a scant few paragraphs tell about how she walked around Italy and then, seemingly as if by accident, lost 50+ pounds. The practicalities are left out and that left me wanting.
Even so, It Was Me All Along was an OK read. I admire her dedication and I respect the very hard work she put in in order to lose over one hundred pounds (and keep it off). I had expected – and, honestly, hoped for – better, but my disappointment was rather mild. Some of the lessons she learned and shared in the book are lessons that I’ve been thinking over since finishing and have already put a few “tips and tricks” into practice in my own eating habits. Overall, I’m thankful for the book and glad I took the opportunity to read it.
The Girl with Book Lungs 