Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living

I'm not sure I can adequately describe how incredible this book is. With her trademark kick-ass prose Jes Baker has created an amazing book on self-love/self-care. While many books of this variety seem lacking in action and substance, TNOWTFG lays down a hefty amount of facts and history along with plenty of action steps and resources to live your life unapologetically.

This book isn't just for fat girls, it's for anyone who looks at the weight/diet/fitness obsessed world we live in and thinks "something is wrong here". For anyone who wants guidance toward loving their minds and bodies just as they are now. For anyone who has ever been told they aren't enough.

Immensely quotable, immensely useful, immensely empowering. This is the show more self-love book you have been looking for. show less

I learned a lot from this book. I recognize my own prejudices when it comes to size and health. The chapter on mental health was VERY helpful to me. She provides practical advice for those bad days and addresses mental illness as what it is -- an illness. I don't think this is only a book for "plus size" women, but for people interested in how the beauty myth can affect anyone.

I think I'm just not the fat girl Jes is writing for. Although shelved in the adult non-fiction at my library, I think this more appropriately belongs in our teen section. Most of the advice is advice that I probably could have used in high-school, maybe college. But as an adult, it was all old news. Some of it was more interesting like health becoming our latest beauty trend.

For me, the majority of the book read like a conspiracy theory. As an adult, I have rarely experienced discrimination because of my size. On the occasion that I did, I just assumed that that particular person is terrible. Not that I am terrible. I have always had skinny boyfriends except once and that turned out to be my worst relationship! Jes is saying conquer show more the world, but her requirements for doing so are normal, everyday living, which I have never found hard, even when I was 275.

And, finally, I think Jes is misinformed about diet and exercise. For example, when she talks about how fat people should challenge the idea that they shouldn't run or jump - that is for safety purposes! It isn't discrimination. If you run or jump with a lot of weight above your knees, you will injure yourself, and this is coming from experience as well as advice from a personal trainer. This is a good example of how overly sensitive this book can be - not everything is a challenge or discrimination. Some things have merit. Some things just are.

I still gave the book three stars because I think many people could benefit from it, and there were some good ideas here. I definitely learned a couple of things, too. I just really thought a book for fat girls would speak to me, a fat girl, and it did not. show less

I read this book as an electronic advance reading copy provided by Edelweiss, and I have submitted my comments to the publisher via that web site.

This book takes an energetic, funny, youthful approach to self love for women with larger bodies, who often internalize the criticisms and hate that they hear from family, strangers, and the media. The author offers her own personal experiences, along with some excellent guest essays from other fat advocates, to show how to address shaming and negativity and cultivate one's own confidence.

It is important how the author situates her work in feminism, explaining why fat hatred--which is essentially a form of oppression--is targeted mainly at women. Her book is well researched, with extensive show more notes that cite both scholarly research and popular opinion.

One of the things I liked most about this book is the tools that readers can use to work through body issues. The author is a mental health professional, and her expertise is apparent when she discusses, for example, dialectical behavioral therapy or mapping your core influencers when you are feeling low.

While the author is proud--and rightly so!--of her journey towards self love, she acknowledges that she does not have all the answers, and she calls on guest authors to write essays about their own experiences, such as being women of color or living with disabilities. The author also offers numerous outside resources, mostly online, to support readers in their journey.

Recommended for public libraries. show less

I don't believe there can possibly be too many (or probably even enough) books about body/size acceptance. Add Jes Baker to the list of unapologetic fat women (along with Marilyn Wann, Kate Harding, Wendy Shanker, and Lesley Kinzel) who are vocal about the injustices that fat people (and especially fat women) face, and how to deal with them.

I personally enjoyed the more autobiographical essays more than the others. However, there were not a ton of these. The other essays were more "self-help-book-ish" which wasn't bad, but... they did not stand out.

At any rate, I recommend this book for those of you who are interested in learning more about how to stop hating your body, no matter what size it is.

While I didn't love the writing (it's a little too casual for me), I did find this book to be funny, sassy, and really affirming. Baker takes an issue millions of people struggle with - big and small - and offers anecdotes, study data, and challenges in an attempt to engage the body positivity movement in a constructive and critical way. I giggled at some parts, felt sadness at others, and had some a-ha moments. If you've ever struggled with seeing your body for what it is and being happy to have a body, this is a good read.

Having enjoyed Landwhale, I decided to try Baker’s earlier book on body positivity. It’s got some useful, interesting content, but I just can’t seem to get this sort of advice to really work for me. YMMV.