I was wondering if anyone could suggest a book or maybe online story of someone that has lost weight and managed to keep it off for awhile. I know there are stories on this site and others online. I'm looking for something very raw, where the issues relating to obesity are addressed, not just I did x, lost weight and now I feel great. Maybe someone talking about conquering binge eating, where they talk about the emotional issues they had to deal with along the way, exactly what they thought of themselves, issues they had along the way besides cravings. Then how they dealt with these issues once they lost the weight. Something very raw, indepth and well written.

I've read similar stories of drug addicts where they discuss maybe their childhood and things that lead to their addictions and the difficulties of rehab...I guess I'm wondering if there are any well written food addicition stories that anyone could recommend.

This is a post I'm going to watch closely because I love books like this! Here are my three favorites:

The Weight Loss Diaries: A Tale of Binges, Guilt, Fat Days, New-Me Shopping Sprees, Exercise, More Binges and How I Learned to Deal with My Lifelong Weight-Loss Struggle by Courtney Rubin.
published 2004 by McGraw-Hill
--It's a long title, but I figured I would include all of it because it really describes the book.

Passing For Thin: Losing Half My Weight and Finding My Self by Frances Kuffel
published 2004 by Broadway Books

Fat Girl: A True Story by Judith Moore
published 2005 by Hudson Street Press

These books are in order with my favorite at the top. Weight Loss Diaries is about a woman who has a busy professional life in her 20's, but she also has always had a weight problem. I believe she starts the book at 206 lbs or so. Passing for Thin is about a woman who is a little older and starts in the 300's. Fat Girl is an autobiography of sorts about a woman who has always had a weight problem and the things in her life that may have caused it. They are all very raw and touch on some very profound truths.

The next thing you could try is to look these books up on Amazon.com and then check out the books in the "people who bought this book also bought..." section.

Just FYI - Frances Kuffel regained the weight and is now writing a sequel about her experience regaining/trying to lose the weight again.

If you're looking for stories of successful maintainers - I happily direct you to the maintainer forums of THIS website where a bunch of us are post about what it's like to lose weight and then work to maintain that loss As a former sugar binger, you are welcome to click the link for my story below! I don't know if I've "conquered" but I feel pretty good about myself and the changes I have made to remain a slender person.

<-- 3 years maintenance next week

Courtney Rubin...that name sounds really familiar...was she one of the magazines "follow your diet around for a year" people (Shape?)

thanks guys, glory I just read through your story. I can relate to alot of it, the completaly letting yourself go and wanting to look invisible, the eating anything and everything sweet in the house as a kid (and having your parents be alright with it), telling yourself that your big boned (it's not even just me, my mom has been telling me this for years and every time I try to tell her I have serious food issues she blows it off like I'm being dramatic).

I'll certainly check out the books you recommended and look for some more. I'm really starting to realize that I have some serious food issues and it is going to take alot of work (both inside and out) to loose the weight slowly (I keep fighting the urge to go on some insane restrictive diet to drop 10 lbs fast) and keep it off. I believe that I am going to have to deal with this for the rest of my life to be successful, I will never be able to "eat whatever I want to". I feel like alot of time people don't realize (or want to realize) what an emotional rollercoaster being fat and trying to loose the weight is, they just think you need to put down the cheeseburger and it's that simple. That once you loose the weight, your cured and don't have a problem anymore. I think reading some stories of people acknowleging that it is a serious problem and describing what they went through (and how they deal with the issues once the weight is gone) will help.

My parents weren't okay with me eating sugar on bread- they didn't know. They weren't home and I was very very sneaky about it - I knew it was wrong. It was the start of the "secret eating" that would stick with me for years.

I do totally relate to what you said about never "eating what you want to" again - it took me 20 years to realize that it was my "normal" way of eating that made me fat and I had to change how I normally ate. It's really not all doom and gloom though, I found other foods I liked just as much - I still look forward to everything I eat, eating is still pleasurable and I still eat very frequently.

Giving up processed sugar (and in maintenance - eating very very little of it) really helped me. Switching from empty white carbs to whole grain versions also really helped tame my sugar addiction.

Good luck!

I'm going to bookmark this thread as well, since I too find such reading material inspiring.

I'd also recommend "Winning after losing" by Stacy Halprin (I hope I have the spelling right). It's dead on about maintaining, and was quite a positive read in my opinion.

I personally would suggest the story above. When I first came to 3FC in Jan. of 2007 it was one of the first things I read. Now I'm still here and feeling very good about where I'm at today. I love to read about nutrition and exercise and take something from each thing I read. Good luck to you. Happy reading.

I would definitely recommend reading the goal forum, there are many stories there.

Also a book I'd recommend reading is "Thin for Life". It is actually a book based on a study of people who have lost 50 lbs or more and maintained it for a year or more.

I'm going to second Nelie's suggestion. I learned sooo much from that book.
"Thin for Life" written by Anne Fletcher, I believe.

Some of those people have lost a lot of weight and have kept it off successfully for many years.
And I know, I'm pretty much saying what Nelie said but ... I feel strongly about this one. What those people did, do, experienced, felt ... is so beneficial to us.

If you want some online resources, Google PastaQueen and Dietgirl (two separate blogs). They both have books coming out, although Dietgirl's book isn't available in the US (you can order it from Amazon Canada though). They're very real, very open, very much written by real people.

I just read a new book, Never Say Diet: Make Five Decisions and Break the Fat Habit for Good (Hardcover) by Chantel Hobbs (Author). The author lost over 100 lbs and has some great tips. I see it's a top seller at amazon.com too.