Big Girl

October 19, 2015
This debut memoir by Miller, a senior features writer at the fashion website Refinery29, bemoans the ups and downs of dieting. Miller begins by telling us she’s “not special,” but has gone through the same struggle to lose weight that many people have endured. While focusing on her experiences at age 29, she traces her troubled relationship with food and her body back to early childhood, remembering trying to eat sweets away from the watchful eye of her mother, the “Food Police.” Miller goes on to share candid vignettes of going on and off multiple diets, getting her first job, falling in love, and facing her first Internet troll. The tone is raw and revealing, with self-deprecating humor sprinkled throughout; early on, Miller scripts out her inner dialogue with Seamless, an online food delivery service, in the process revealing her wit and vulnerability. By the end of this heartwarming and -breaking emotional roller-coaster, Miller has shed her self-destructive bingeing and dieting habits, learned to eat only out of hunger, and gained the ability to recognize and embrace who she is. Her honestly, hilariously told story will appeal to any readers who have ever felt dissatisfaction with their bodies and will move them to tears of sorrow, laughter, and joy.

October 1, 2015
A hard-core dieter pokes fun at herself and the diet industry while trying to overcome her own food obsessions. Millions of Americans have grown up with calorie counts in their heads, tried-and-true diet tips at the ready, and meticulous food journals in their pockets. And yet, as a nation, we're heavier than ever. We know that dieting doesn't really work in the long run, so how about just not dieting? What would happen then? That's what Refinery29 blogger Miller attempted and what she chronicles in this wry, sometimes overly confessional memoir. Food is a big deal for the author, as we see in vivid scenes of calculated dips into the pantry chocolate-chip stash as a child and any number of "Final Pig-Outs" as a young adult about to start the next big plan, whether Weight Watchers, Atkins, or the Type O Diet. It may not be that big a deal for readers, though, and it can be tiring to read yet another list of foods consumed. Miller does take a look at some of the deeper reasons behind her compulsive eating, and it's in these passages that her vulnerability comes through and her story becomes truly compelling. Readers will cheer for Miller to succeed on her "anti-diet" diet of intuitive eating, her quest to eat according to her mindfully mined needs and desires, not according to a rulebook. It takes a lot of work to change a mindset that radically, and it's slow going for Miller, who tends to trade one obsession for another. Still, by the end of her memoir, it's clear that she is writing more often about friends, family, and career and focusing less on the food itself. Further material regarding this part of the journey would have made for a more satisfying closure, but as Miller herself notes, it's more about the process than the product. An anti-diet diet book that offers perhaps too much food for thought.

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Starred review from January 1, 2016

This is not a diet book, it's an antidiet book, as well as a memoir of one woman's lifelong struggle to lose weight and journey through mindful eating with the help of Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch's 2012 Intuitive Eating, and an intuitive eating coach. Miller, founder of the Anti-Diet Project, tells a story that's compelling and deeply felt. VERDICT This highly recommended title will appeal to all women, no matter the kinds of personal demons they are battling to overcome.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2015
Over many years, Miller, creator of the online Anti-Diet Project, sampled every diet from Weight Watchers to Eat 4 Your Type. In this frank, often laugh-out-loud memoir, she digs deeply into her childhood, searching for the origins of her overeating habit. She remembers food as a reward for doing well and a consolation for disappointments. She remembers being teased about her weight as a child and being typecast as the sidekick in acting roles because she didn't have the right body type for the lead. Her struggles included a troubled relationship with her alcoholic, distant mother and sexual abuse by a family friend. Hope arrives in the form of an intuitive eating plan that allows her to recognize food as nourishment, not entertainment, and a blog that follows her transformation from calorie obsession to comfortable (not comfort) eating. Along the way she learns (and shares) some important lessons on living mindfully. Miller's style is breezy, but her keen insights, commonsense advice, and honesty will resonate with other troubled eaters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)