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Passing for Thin: Losing Half My Weight and…
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Passing for Thin: Losing Half My Weight and Finding My Self (edition 2004)

by Frances Kuffel

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2615101,306 (3.77)7
An intimate and darkly comic memoir of a woman who does a 180 with her body. In the opening pages of Passing for Thin, Frances Kuffel waits at the airport to be picked up by her brother, Jim. He strides past her without a glimmer of recognition because she barely resembles the woman he is expecting to see. Jim had last seen her when she was 188 pounds heavier. What follows is one of the most piercing explorations of the limits and promises of a body since Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face. With unflinching honesty and a wickedly dark sense of humor, Frances describes her first fumbling introductions to the slender, alien body she is left with after losing half her weight, shining a light on the shared human experience of feeling, at times, uncomfortable in one's own skin. Buoyed by support from a group of fellow compulsive eaters she deems "the Stepfords," Frances adjusts not only to her new waistline, but to a strange new world "the Planet of Thin" where she doesn't speak the language and doesn't know the rules. Her lifetime of obesity had robbed her of the joys of lovers, a husband, children, and even made it impossible to enjoy a movie, when standing in line was too painful, or travel, when airplane seats were too small, and hadn't prepared her for the unexpected attention from strangers, the deep pleasure of trying on a tailored suit, the satisfaction of a good run on a treadmill, or for the saucy fun of flirting and dating. She joyfully moves from observer to player, while struggling to enjoy the freedom her new shape has given her. As Frances gradually comes to know "and love" the stranger in the mirror, she learns that this body does not define her, but enables her to become the woman she's always wanted to be.… (more)
Member:PondererGirl
Title:Passing for Thin: Losing Half My Weight and Finding My Self
Authors:Frances Kuffel
Info:Broadway (2004), Paperback, 288 pages
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Passing for Thin: Losing Half My Weight and Finding My Self by Frances Kuffel

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» See also 7 mentions

Showing 5 of 5
Only made it to the middle of this book cause I'm in the process of moving, but it was hilarious! I thought the sponser thing was a good idea, but don't care for the dieting part where she was only allowed to eat salads at first. But I liked her descriptions of how she would sneak food right at the beginning when she was a girl, as well as the harsh realities of what obese people have to go thru on a daily basis. I've lost 31 lbs. within the last year or two and was miserable just being like that - I can't imagine being even heavier! And it was good to see someone do it without surgery!
  briannad84 | Jun 28, 2012 |
As a leader of a weight loss group, I have seen many people in a position similar to Frances'. Her story gave me a new perspective on the frustrations and body image issues that persist for people who have experienced large weight losses. Even though I myself never had as much weight to lose as she did, I can still identify with many of her struggles to see herself in a new, positive light. ( )
  ABurrell | Nov 22, 2010 |
I really enjoyed this read.

While I'm on my own WL journey I haven't faced anywhere near the struggles that Francie did because I have significantly less to lose. Her OA meetings are an interesting parallel to my WW meetings, although I think she takes far more out of it. I'd love to know where she is 10 years later. She yo-yoed so much on her last trip home that I truly wonder if she kept it off - if she got to the root of her problems related to eating.

Like a previous reviewer, I agree this fell apart in the last section. She seemed to lose her voice ( )
  skinglist | Jul 15, 2010 |
I really liked this book at first. The author speaks eloquently about her love of food and how she experienced the world through food, how she came to gain enormous amounts of weight. I was excited for her as she tells about losing the weight while in her 40s. She reclaims the "girlhood" she never had. Still, she has trouble accepting that she is a "girl", and still had the urge, will always have to urge, to eat her emotions. At some point, however, I became annoyed by her dating experiences, and how none of them seem to work out for her. Overall, it is a fairly well-written memoir that seems to rather fall apart a bit in the last fourth of the book. ( )
  saffron12 | May 26, 2009 |
Frances doesn't pull any punches. She details every part of her weight loss journey especially the painful reasons why she over eats. ( )
  Brookie | Jul 1, 2007 |
Showing 5 of 5
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Epigraph
"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the same thing," he said.

- A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Dedication
To Leonard and Marie Kuffel, whose hope and charity long outlasted my own, and to Lisa Kuffel Smith, whose faith in me began on her first birthday and who has been teaching me ever since.

There is such a thing as unconditional love.
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An intimate and darkly comic memoir of a woman who does a 180 with her body. In the opening pages of Passing for Thin, Frances Kuffel waits at the airport to be picked up by her brother, Jim. He strides past her without a glimmer of recognition because she barely resembles the woman he is expecting to see. Jim had last seen her when she was 188 pounds heavier. What follows is one of the most piercing explorations of the limits and promises of a body since Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face. With unflinching honesty and a wickedly dark sense of humor, Frances describes her first fumbling introductions to the slender, alien body she is left with after losing half her weight, shining a light on the shared human experience of feeling, at times, uncomfortable in one's own skin. Buoyed by support from a group of fellow compulsive eaters she deems "the Stepfords," Frances adjusts not only to her new waistline, but to a strange new world "the Planet of Thin" where she doesn't speak the language and doesn't know the rules. Her lifetime of obesity had robbed her of the joys of lovers, a husband, children, and even made it impossible to enjoy a movie, when standing in line was too painful, or travel, when airplane seats were too small, and hadn't prepared her for the unexpected attention from strangers, the deep pleasure of trying on a tailored suit, the satisfaction of a good run on a treadmill, or for the saucy fun of flirting and dating. She joyfully moves from observer to player, while struggling to enjoy the freedom her new shape has given her. As Frances gradually comes to know "and love" the stranger in the mirror, she learns that this body does not define her, but enables her to become the woman she's always wanted to be.

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