Thank you Booksparks for sending me a copy of this fun book to review!
Janey Sweet has three months to lose thirty pounds - or she's going to lose her job as CEO of one of the most exclusive bridal dress design companies in the world.
When her best friend and partner in the business tells her that she's gotten chubby and no longer is a good representation of their brand (the largest dress size they have is a 4) he gives her an ultimatum to lose weight or take a hike.
Thus begins her journey to becoming a fitter, healthier, better version of herself.
Three months of juice cleanses, topless yoga and health retreats to exotic islands should earn her the results she's looking for. Right?
Fitness Junkie by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza is a smart, sassy satire about the ways health and fitness fads are taken to the extreme. I found it to be refreshing, relatable and hilarious.
I'm not sure that I know anyone who hasn't at some point in their lives made mention of their weight or nit picked their bodies. I can personally tell you (and my husband will confirm) that I have had an actual anxiety attack that was triggered by shopping for shorts. In hindsight, this is ridiculous, but at that time it was causing me an undue amount of stress because I do not - nor ever will - have thin, sculpted legs.
In the society that we live in, being thin and fit is a coveted pass that seems to earn you all the right attention. Clothes look better on you! Your hair will be shinier! People will LOVE you! People will be JEALOUS of you! People will look to you as an INSPIRATION! Everything you do will be #PERFECT and your life will be #BLESSED. This is not really realistic or true - but don't we all think this way just a little?
Fad diets, insane exercise classes, goji berries, acai bowls, fitness Instagram accounts and whatever else the media tells us is the new ticket to getting the super slim bodies we've always dreamed of (I can't be the only one who wants to have legs like Carrie Underwood, come ON people) is peddled to the masses and we eat it up. All of it. We are on a never ending quest to "get healthy" by way of abusing our bodies and demeaning our minds by taking things to extremes. This is exactly what we see in this book.
If you have EVER felt like anything that I've described above, this book is for you. It's a hilarious satire on all the health crazes there ever were. Clay diet? Check. Juice cleanse? Check. Boot Camp run by an ex militant group? Check. It's hilarious because it's ridiculous, but serious because it's kind of true. But more than picking on and making fun of every health craze there ever was - it really points out that while yes - exercise and mindful eating are healthy, so is having a bruffin once in a while. And that being happy and confident in being your own person is more beautiful than suffering to make yourself someone you aren't or forcing your body to be something it wasn't designed to be.
So while this book is funny and it's all about the lengths one woman goes through to drop 30 pounds that she didn't need to lose in the first place, it's really about finding happiness with the body you have and surrounding yourself with people who appreciate you for your own uniqueness.
I loved it when the main character asks her friend, "Why were you so into helping me get skinny?"
She responds with a long winded speech about how she really wants her friend to be happy, but then ends with my favorite line in the whole book:
"You know...I think it's a lie that all women want to be skinny. I think we just want to be told it's okay to look the way we look."
AMEN SISTER.
We just want to be told it's okay to look the way we look.
And it is okay. No matter what type of body you have - its yours and you should be proud of what it can accomplish and who you are.
Now go read this book. It's funny - it will make you laugh and release endorphins. Kind of the way exercise gives you endorphins and endorphins make you happy. So basically reading this book is like working out. #winning.
Elle Woods' logic for you all. You're welcome.
Buy It
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