These tanks are very long and comfortable. Definitly sucks you in and makes you look slimer. Great product and very good quality.

I was skeptic when I bought this product…after all I’ve tried so many things and none has really helped. I’ve also tried many diets, Atkins, the cabbage soup, shakes, HCG, you name it. As with many people I lost a little weight at first on these diets but couldn’t stick to them because they’re soo restrictive (for Pete’s sake, how are we supposed to live forever on eggs and bacon (Atkins), shakes and soup??). I would diet for a few days and then give up and eat like a pig, getting all the weight I’d lost back. I realized that what I needed is not to starve myself, but eat healthier and in moderation but I needed something to help me with my hunger pangs and cravings. Green tea helped me with that! Of course it’s not a miracle pill, you have to do your part! I’ve cut back on soda, junk food (no more KFC and burgers!), and excessive sugar (the hardest part for me because I have a sweet tooth). I switched white bread and pasta for whole grain. I’m also walking 30-50 minutes a day and drinking 2.5 liters of water a day. Someone could argue “well, anyone could lose weight doing those things without the pills”. Not me! As I said before my biggest challenge is controlling my appetite and cravings and the green tea pills has helped me with that. It’s not the “lose 30 pounds in 30 days” kind of thing but it’s healthier. I rather lose weight slower but eating right and without starving myself. I still eat the things I love, but with moderation. I won’t say that I don’t feel hungry anymore, but my appetite and cravings has lessened substantially with these pills. It’s been 2 1/2 weeks and I’ve lost 4 pounds so far. The price for these pills are also really good compared to others.

I love this shirt for the fact that it does smooth you out. However, I only gave it four stars because I have a small “pooch” in the front of my belly…I’m 41 and wanted something to kind of suck it in…This doesn’t work great for that area, but if you have love handles and back rolls, I’m sure you will love this top.

Most of us fat chicks, or recovering fat chicks, will probably find something we can relate to in Joyner’s memoir. Whether it’s ordering fast food for two, or failing to find clothes to fit, or more devastatingly not believing that anyone could possibly really love you, or finding our way to a more healthy life – there will most likely be something there you’ll nod your head about.

It’s too bad that the narrative’s timeline is so incredibly confusing. A lot gets lost in attempting to wrap your head around just where you are in time – is this before or after she gets married? Is this before or after the two kids? Wait, now we’re back to one kid? It definitely affected my reading pleasure, if you can work your way through that mess, you might find some interesting “a-ha” moments of your own.

I read this the same weekend I read Edward Ugel’s “I’m With Fatty” and not on purpose, but the books make interesting “bookends”. Both are about people in their mid-30s who are seriously overweight (but not super-morbidly obese) and who lose weight (by different methods) in 2008, write and blog about it in 2009 and have books published in 2010. One is a man; the other a woman. The similarities and differences are very interesting.

This, “Designated Fat Girl”, is the better and more honest of the two, but both are problematical. In the first book, Mr. Ugel wades through nearly 300 pages before telling us his height, a critical component of understanding how fat (or not) someone is. Ms. Joyner NEVER tells us; after finishing the book I still had not a clue if she was 5′1″ (severely obese at 336) or 5′11 (very obese, but not as severely). This is essential information and certainly not as private or embarrassing as your weight, so why not say it upfront?

The major problem with “Designated Fat Girl” is the structure. This is a sympathetic story, but it meanders all over the place. One minute she’s a newby TV reporter and weighs 180. Next she’s getting married and weighing 200 lbs. Then it’s back to her childhood. One minute she says she was normal weight until college. The next, she was ridiculed all her life by cruel brothers, and so fat other children mocked her. A chronological storyline would worked far more effectively.

The thing that comes through, however, with shining clarity is that being obese is a relatively MINOR part of Ms. Joyner’s problems. It is very obvious she has mental and emotional issues that run very deep, certainly to childhood, and her REAL defining problem is obsessive/compulsive behavior. She’s not eating out of joy or love for good food, as most fat people do. She’s just mindlessly stuffing tasteless crap in her face. We don’t hear, for example, if she is a good cook, or enjoys the taste, texture, smell of food. Only that she’s a very serious McDonalds addict, on the level of a crack cocaine junkie. And her consumption of Mountain Dew is off the charts! Surely her loving husband or family must have noticed at some point that her consumption of Mountain Dew, while an INSULIN DEPENDENT DIABETIC, was more than just “eating too much” but had all the markers of an obsession.

No one ever seems to think of therapy, and she only sees a bariatric doctor briefly and never has serious mental health counseling (she does take Fen-phen for a time). No family or couples therapy either. No introspection into her childhood issues or sexual problems. She never seriously joins Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or anything similar…never on Opti-fast. Never goes on the Atkins Diet. Mostly, her 16 year struggle with weight is about hopeless resignation, and sneaking off to McDonalds, and guzzling massive quantities of Mountain Dew.

It struck me that Jennifer Joyner could have made a serious effect to simply do NOTHING ELSE, not even cut down eating, but just gave up Mountain Dew and a significant portion of her problems might have decreased in severity. Also, I myself would not have gone in for major surgery BEFORE quitting the Mountain Dew and establishing that I had the serious committment to do JUST THAT ONE THING, that one OBVIOUSLY horribly bad and self-destructive thing, to be absolutely positive I could handle the rigors of bypass surgery and the after-effects.

In all the dozens of weight loss memoirs I have read in my life, I have noticed that almost all of then are written in the 1-2 years following a big weight loss; sometimes they are written DURING the weight loss or immediately afterwards. In other words, they are just getting off an huge high, and big success — but they have not proven they can MAINTAIN this loss over time. (This is also true for those optimistic articles in People Magazine each year about folks who have lost 100 lbs or more without surgery.) Every serious dieter, every doctor and researcher, knows that it is not simple weight loss that is so hard — it is KEEPING WEIGHT OFF PERMANENTLY that is nearly impossible. Until you have passed at LEAST five years of permanent maintainence, it is foolhardy to talk about.

Though gastric bypass is the most successful weight loss option ever invented, it has high risk and costs. Ms. Joyner has some very severe and disheartening complications; she doesn’t even recommend the surgery to others, despite her own incredible success story.

I am troubled by both what she went through (lung collapsing, abcesses, re-hospitalization, months of recovery) as I am by her behaviors AFTER losing 150 lbs. She still adamently refuses to eat fruit (she is a super picky eater, even at 38) or most vegetables, and she “lives” today on PEPPERONI SLICES, peanut butter, scrambled eggs and JUICE BOXES — the diet of a small child, and most of those foods unheathy or incomplete, and the juice boxes LOADED with High Fructose Corn Syrup.

I was left with not a sense of joy that Jennifer Joyner was at last normal weight and could live a happy life with her husband and children, but that she was only a few steps away from more compulsive behaviors, since she has never remotely addressed this part of the problem. And that her present diet is so unhealthy and extreme, she is at high risk of undoing her surgery (as about 20% of gastric bypass patients DO) by eating crap, or stretching out her stomach pouch.

I have to state here that a very dear friend of mine had gastric bypass surgery in 2003. She lost over 155 lbs in a year, though she was so heavy to begin with she never became actually thin (just thinNER), and over 2-3 years (with bad eating habits like Jennifer Joyners) eventually she regained all and MORE of her old weight. All that pain and money went for naught. Gastric bypass is a powerful tool, but it’s just that — a tool — not a magic potion. And if you never address the issues of compulsive behavior, self-destructive tendences, “super picky eating”, poor nutrition, addiction to sweets or soda or fast food — then YOU HAVE NOT SOLVED THE RIDDLE OR PROBLEM OF OBESITY.

I think that today Jennifer Joyner probably looks substantially better on the outside — but is just as sick, self-hating, poorly nourished and incapable of eating healthy food in a healthy way as she was at 336 lbs.

I know she did not intend the book to promote gastric bypass surgery as a “be all, end all” solution, but unfortunately it comes off that way. She needed to have the patience to wait and see if this truly solved her problems (over 5-10 years) rather than rushing a book or blog to print. Not to mention, deal with the many pyschological issues I mention above.

In conclusion: a little creepy and overall, depressing. Most ordinary overweight/obese people will probably not relate to this.

Bought this battery for my Bosch power box. Battery works great and lets me use the power box without messing with a power cord. I have ordered another one for a backup.

I saw this book recommended in Oprah or maybe Elle, it’s a subject I’ve read a lot

about and experienced firsthand. While I definitely sympathized with Jennifer’s struggle

with food addiction and “hiding” herself from family and friends because of her weight,

I was given pause, when, early on in the book, she says she “never eats fruit. I never touch the stuff!”

Ummm…what? She claims to be really trying to solve her problem, which is physiological, psychological, and

spiritual, yet even after her bariatric surgery she describes a very limited, very unhealthy diet, in which

she eats kind of like a 5-year old –cheese, peanut butter and pepperoni. No wonder she’s unhealthy! I would have

rather she realized that there is a cornucupia of delicious, healthy foods out there for her to try (and to realize

that your tastes sometimes cause you to enjoy LOTS of things as an adult you would never eat as a kid.)

One thing I do like about this book is that after she relates her surgery and subsequent ill effects,

she (spoiler alert) doesn’t recommend this surgery to others. After reading this book and watching many seasons

of the Biggest Loser, I still think diet and exercise are the way to go…gastric bypass surgery is a by-product of our sick, overfed culture and this book did not change my opinion on that. I wish her luck and am happy that she’s lost a lot of weight, but for God’s sakes, try a piece of kiwi fruit or a veggie! You don’t know what you’re missing.

This scale is awesome. It’s lightweight, very accurate, though I have nothing to compare the bone, water, muscle and body fat to. The weight is spot it. I love the personalized features for more than one user. It was easy to set up. Need a scale for the family or just yourself, don’t hesitate to buy this one. I’m very happy with it and use it several times a day.

I received this as a gift from a friend, who showed me how to use this for a nutrition class. Before, I had no idea these scales even existed that gives you body fat percentage. But this scale has been a huge help to my weight loss endeavours and I can’t say enough how happy I am with this scale. The best part about this scale is that it automatically recognizes different users so once you set it up with age, height, and build, you never have to touch it again. I’m more than happy to say that since trying to lose weight, i’ve gone down nearly 8% in body fat. ( I’ve come to learn that body fat% is a much better indiactor of overall weight loss compared to just how much you weigh) this scale is very accurate, sleak, and overall excellent. I’d recommend everyone to get this who is trying to seriously shed some pounds.