'The Amazing Adventures of Diet Girl' by Shauna Reid
Non-fiction - paperback; Corgi; 400 pages; 2008.
"I've got the biggest knickers in Australia."
So begins Shauna Reid's refreshingly candid, often humorous and hugely inspirational The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl, which charts her seven-year battle with the bulge.
Shauna's story, which first appeared in blog form, is an entertaining read reminiscent of Bridget Jones Diary. It is not a typical diet book. There are no recipes, no quick-and-easy solutions to fighting the flab. Instead it's an enthralling novel-like narrative that follows Shauna's ups and downs as she struggles to lose 12-and-a-half stone.
She battles depression, curbs her secret food binges and learns to love the gym. Along the way she finds the courage to backpack to the other side of the world and nabs herself a Scottish husband in the process.
I loved this book and kept turning the pages well into the early
hours of the morning. It's enormously moving in places, but any sense
of self-pity is tempered by a self-deprecating sense of humour which
had me laughing out loud more than once.
The beauty of this book is that it shows how it is possible to achieve anything if you set your mind to it. Shauna's steely determination to succeed and years of hard work paid off handsomely in the end. For that reason alone The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl should be required reading for anyone wanting to change any aspect of their life who lacks the courage to do so. It's already made me want to cut my caffeine intake and ride my bicycle more often!
