If You’ve Ever Found Yourself Up at 11:30pm Eating Froot Loops, You’ll Love Andie Mitchell’s Book!

I’m going to do something I wouldn’t normally do, I’m going to let you peek into my work inbox and fair warning, it’s going to get a bit personal. This isn’t something I’d normally do on my blog, but because I love this author so much, I feel like it will help to explain my excitement about her book. Not only do you get early manuscripts when you work at a publisher, but you also get emails from people that know you and know the kinds of books you love. My colleague and friend JH hooked me up and emailed me an early manuscript of Andie Mitchell’s It Was Me All Along. She said only two sentences in her email; Read this if you need a good cry AND you can thank me later. Here was my response after having read the memoir,

Hi JH,

 

I spent the past 2 days devouring this memoir and yes, I cried. But I didn’t just cry because the writing was so moving and cathartic. I cried, because I was able to relate to Andie’s story. I, too, have ordered way too many things from a drive-thru and I once had a love affair with sugary cereals and all bets were off when it came to cake. I understood every emotion, struggle and triumph that she experienced. I’m not at my goal weight… yet, but I’m a little bit closer than I was yesterday. Reading Andie’s memoir, It Was Me All Along, taught me that my goal is achievable and attainable. 

 

This memoir is going to be a book that I think everyone will be able to relate to, there’s so much in here for everyone, no matter what your age or your weight. I can’t wait to help spread the word about this incredible book that has such a profound effect on me. 

 

Thanks for sending!!! 

 

Lindsey

This email was sent on July 11th. That, my friends, was SIX MONTHS AGO and now I’m finally at that point in time when I can finally share my excitement about this book and you can do something about it AKA purchase and read the book. There’s nothing worse than being so jazzed about a book and then saying to the person you’re talking to… “It’s an amazing read and in six months, it’s going to rock your world”. So now that the time is here, I can finally say, “It Was Me All Along was amazing and when you read it, it’s going to rock your world.”

Let me give you a bit of a synopsis, rather than just writing a lot of positive adjectives. Andie Mitchell always struggled with her weight. She knew what she was doing was damaging, but at a certain point, food became a friend, it became entertainment and it became a way to erase the painful things occurring in her life. Her Mother, whom she’s very close with, didn’t know what to do. She tried all the ways to encourage Andie to pick up celery, but after awhile, she just wanted to see her daughter happy and the weight continued to increase. As Andie enters high school and college, she longingly looks at her friends pants and shirts and vows that one day, she’ll be able to swap cloths with her friends. Then, she does exactly that.

She loses the weight. You might think that would be the end, but really that ‘s just the beginning. It sure sounds like the fairy tale ending, right? You can put on skinny jeans, you can put on thigh high books and actually zip them up. But what happens when you’ve lost the weight and then food all of a sudden becomes your enemy. What happens when you’ve just spent an hour at the gym on your lunch break and you get back to the office and there’s a cake for Suzie’s birthday in the office kitchen? Andie starts experiencing a whole different kind of struggle with food, the kind where she becomes petrified of it. With strength, determination and what becomes an appreciation for food, Andie learns to appreciate all kinds of food and decided to start a food blog to document the relationship she has with food and call it, Can You Stay for Dinner? Here’s a snippet of her bio,

Eight years ago I lost 100+ lbs and have maintained a healthy weight ever since. (Check out the weight loss posts I’ve written here.) I started this blog because I had a library to fill with my thoughts on food, eating, and weight loss. I had a zillion dishes in my recipe box to share. A kitchen to invite you all into. I write to you now, sharing as much of my life and the food that’s filling it as I can — because that’s just how weird I truly am.

Since July of last year, I’ve made some of her recipes, I’ve continued to admire her journey by following it on social media and now I can’t wait to watch all of you fall in love with her when you pick up It Was Me All Along. The memoir shows vulnerability, strength and if you’re like Andie (and I) and you’ve ever struggled with food, this book will have an impact on you. It’s relatable, inspirational and it’s a great book to kick off your 2015 reading year.

You can read more about Andie’s story in this exclusive excerpt of her book in Marie Claire titled, “I Weighed 268 Pounds at 20 Years Old – But Being Skinner was Even Scarier“