Confessions of a Reformed Dieter

How I Dropped 8 Dress Sizes and Took My Life Back

By: A. J. Rochester

Narrated by: A. J. Rochester

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

For every woman who has ever tried to lose weight and failed, A.J. Rochester offers her own unique recipe for success, from someone who looked like the last of the lost causes.

When A.J. is singled out for a television show on obesity, she is at first appalled and then resolved. Enough is enough. She vows to change her ways and lose weight, not because she yearns to become a pretzel, but so she can keep up with her little boy and turn her life around at last. But after years of fighting a losing battle against her weight, A.J. knows she needs a miracle. So she volunteers to be a human guinea pig and record her weekly progress in front of a camera for a television program on body image.

Confessions of a Reformed Dieter charts the highs and lows of A.J.'s incredible journey, from her close encounters with a nutritionist, personal trainer, and psychiatrist to overcoming an early setback (waking up in a hospital with a broken leg after downing an illicit cocktail on an empty stomach), and the triumph of shedding the first, and last, kilo.

The result is a funny, insightful, and inspiring account of a woman who lost 40 kilos without losing her sense of humour, and discovered a whole new life.

©2003 A.J. Rochester (P)2003 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"Her comedic timing is perfect....The reading is lively, passages are laugh-out-loud hilarious." (Kliatt)

Sample Before Buying

I wanted to like this book despite some of the negative reviews. I just can't. Indeed Rochster's voice is grating, her humor lacking, and her self-deprication embarassing.

I should have picked up another of Lancaster's memoirs instead - trully witty and well written. I felt compelled to write this, my first review, following another first - my failure to finish this book. Please sample before purchase.

Just awful

Any additional comments?

This was horribly self-deprecating and fat shaming. Self confidence is not something that the author gained when she lost. Also, full of un-funny puns.

Confessions of a Reformed Dieter

Author/Narrator has the most grating voice. I can't bear that squawking in my ear.

BEWARE

I'll bet some people might enjoy this but I personally found it a total waste of a book credit and time. It is a mixture of an autobiography of a woman in Australie who loses weight told with lots of fat jokes. The reason I gave this two stars was because of the 1 or 2 good ideas her psychiatrist gave her during her weight loss journey. The author reads the book and she is so annoying and her self-deprecating comments about herself and other heavy people was really not funny and seemed out of context in my view. This may be due to the Aussie - US culural differences but I don't think so. Look at all the reviews before you buy this since I think many people will hate this audio book- even those that would othewise be intersted in this type of genre.

No lasting change

If her program was so wonderful, why didn’t it last longer? We know that lasting weight loss is very difficult and doesn’t succeed in most cases, but still, it would’ve been interesting to see if she could’ve maintained health even with some weight gain.

Wish it were better

A.J.'s accomplishment of losing about 70 pounds is great. I appreciated those parts of book where she is brutally honest about the dueling wills of anorexia, bulemia and the desire to be thin and fit in a healthy way. Her honesty about her feelings is great. The problem with the book is that there are too many fat jokes. They aren't paticulary funny and its depressing to hear someone run themselves down that way. To anyone who has struggled with obesity, you can relate to the feelings and it is "validating" to hear someone say them out loud. I wasn't thrilled about alot of the book. I can't honestly reccomend it as a good read, but if you have struggled with weight, then it might be worth a listen.