This is a non-fiction book about a year in the author's life as he attempts to make changes to lose weight and get healthy. On Christmas Eve 2014, Tommy's older sister Brenda died due to complications from her own obesity. That was a wakeup call for Tommy to change his life. Admitting that he weighed 460 pounds at the start were "the hardest words I've ever had to write".
Tommy Tomlinson is an award-winning journalist by profession; he is a sports writer who worked for the Charlotte Observer for 15 years, followed by ESPN and other periodicals. So, this isn't just a story about a guy on a diet, it's a well written memoir. At the end of each chapter (month) he reveals his weight and loss (if any) for the month and year to date.
Realizing that a drastic diet would never work, Tommy came up with his own plan. He bought a Fitbit to track the calories he burned with his steps and exercise. He kept a meticulous journal of everything he ate and the calorie count. He figured that as long as he burned more than he ate, he would lose weight. His plan was to do this slowly and in a way that would work for a lifetime.
Along the way, we get to hear about Tommy's childhood in the rural South, his faith, friends, family and wife Alix. Huge Southern meals with fried everything and a half dozen biscuits apiece were the norm growing up, but his parents stayed stick thin after working all day in the fields. Tommy, of course, just grew bigger.
Fortunately, he had good teachers who recognized his writing ability and although his family was dirt poor, he went to college on a Pell Grant. The first semester, he maxed out the emergency credit card that his parents gave him buying junk food.
At age 29, Tommy was diagnosed with throat cancer. He survived, obviously, but treatment left him with a low, raspy voice - another burden along with obesity and bad teeth. At least, he wrote, God made the top 6 inches of him perfect - he had Paul Newman blue eyes and a politician's thick hair.
I won't divulge the results of how 2015 ended up for Tommy. However, in my edition of the book, there are two afterwards: his weight at the end of 2016 and 2017. Go for it if you like reading weight loss stories like I do!
I think I've looked at this book before. It sounds familiar, though I've never read it. I have a long list of books I want to read, and I will add this one!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a good read. I'll add it to my list.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds really interesting! Is it bad to say I want a biscuit now? ;)
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