Losing It - and Gaining My Life Back, One Pound at a Time

By: Valerie Bertinelli

Narrated by: Valerie Bertinelli

Length: 4 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

Losing It is Valerie Bertinelli's frank, motivational look inside the life of one of TV's most adored actresses. It tells the inspiring story of her young stardom as the girl next door - cutie Barbara Cooper on the hit show One Day at a Time - her complicated family life, her struggles to maintain a healthy self-esteem while coping with celebrity, her tumultuous 20-year marriage to rock star Eddie Van Halen, her struggle with depression, and her life-long battle with weight. With courage and candor, humor and emotion, she shares her fears, insecurities, and triumphs, including how she took control of her own life and gained happiness.

Valerie takes listeners behind the scenes in her acting career and marriage. She discusses the stresses and concerns of being a rock star's wife and the joys of motherhood; the challenges of divorce and becoming a single parent; and the fears she had to address so that she could start dating again, trust a new relationship, allow intimacy, and let herself feel loved again. Through it all are surprising, sometimes shocking anecdotes about the other celebrities she has known, as well as stories of her loyal family and the friends who stood by her.

©2008 Tuxedo Ltd. (P)2008 Simon and Schuster Inc.

Not Just Weight Loss

This isn't a weight loss book, although she does discuss her weight issues throughout. It's much more than that. She discusses her entire life, pre-fame, One Day at A Time, marriage to Eddie Van Halen, motherhood, with a great deal of honesty. If you came of age watching One Day at a Time, you'll enjoy this book very much. Valerie herself narrates, and does a great job. It's like listening to a good friend talk about her life.
If you're looking for just another "how to" weight loss book, this is not for you.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Interesting listen but abridged

Valerie’s self deprecating humor, as well as her ability to call herself out for the behaviors towards Ed and others, which her insecurities had driven, was impressive. It speaks to the with she’s put into improving herself and understanding the root of those insecurities. As someone who’s done it, and thereby lost 40 pounds, I can say it’s no easy feat.

Maybe celebrities get used to their lives on display but still, I can only imagine the strength it must have taken Valerie to call herself out and be so honest in a book. Money is incentive but it takes more than a lucrative book contract to be thus transparent about her weight struggles. Well done, Valerie.

Some reviewers mentioned disappointment because they felt the book was not mainly about Valerie’s weight loss. I disagree. I thought that the book did a great job tracking Valerie’s life long weight struggles, highlighting periods in her life where her eating demons were apparent. It walked you through Valerie’s mindset and journey to get to honesty with herself about her weight. The book was well written and delivered the message Valerie intended.

Why I deducted a star:
At the end, it was mentioned that the book was an ABRIDGED version of the audiobook version, which was a let down. I had thought that by purchasing the audiobook, I was buying a the complete book, versus the cliffs notes. Oh, well.

I could relate about the crazy mind about weight

Love the book. I could do relate to how my life revolves about my weight and how I feel.

Entertaining

Delightful look at Valerie's life and struggles with weight. I think much of what makes an audible book good is the readers tone and connection with the listener. Valerie did an awesome job narrating, it wasn't like she was reading, it was more like you were sitting with her chatting about her life.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Inviting

this is book you can cuddle up with and feel understood. Valerie Bertinelli is honest and understanding while giving you a few incites she has learned along the way through her weight loss journey.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Engaging

Losing It, mainly deals with Valerie's struggles with her weight and negative self perceptions.

There are other personal aspects such as her relationship with Eddie and her sitcom life.

Valerie gives a great read of her book; really drawing you in with a warm and friendly voice. By the time I had finished listening, I felt as though I was hearing a friend speak about her life.

It goes by quick and even quicker if you're drawn in, like I was.

The only fault I have is that this is abridged.So, I'll be borrowing the book from the library to see what I missed.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Losing It

Plain and simple, if you are curious about Valarie Burtinelli's life, you will enjoy listening to her account. The book is not literary but an easy listen where you can kick back and relax. For those who enjoy autobiographies of the rich and famous, not only do you hear about her life first hand, but gain insight into the mindset of someone who struggles with body weight and how it overtakes your thoughts, in essence your entire being. Her struggle with codependency, her weight, and her own identify are presented very graceously and honestly.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

The girl next door

Great autobiography, insights into being an actress and wife of a rock star, and about how weight often reflects inner issues. I disagree with the negative reviews that a) thought this wasn't about weight loss or b) had nothing to say. I would have liked more about her journey with Jenny Craig, but overall it was helpful to hear about sorting it out. Her narration was great and unflinching and added to the sense that even if she was the wife of Eddie Van Halen, the nice girl next door charm that she perfected on "One Day at Time" is really true. The only downside is that this abridged and some of the details are lost.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

so personable

This book was funny and motivating. She really doesn't hold back. She talks to yoou u like you would an old friend. I completely enjoyed this book! I was sad when I was done with it.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Interesting, but disappointing

This book delivers a lot of what it promises, but it also provides plenty of stuff I wasn't as interested in..especially the number of men Valerie Bertinelli slept with along her path from "Barbara Cooper" to Eddie Van Halen's ex. Every man she discusses is described by his physical characteristics, and she was pretty eager to jump in the sack with all of them. I loved "One Day at a Time" back in the day (Val and I are about the same age) but I no longer have a crush on her...instead I feel sorry for her many, many insecurities.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful