Summary

Gay begins her book by announcing that this memoir is "a story of my body and my hunger" (3). She introduces her topic by describing everything her memoir is not, comparing her story to the typical narratives of weight loss success, self-esteem triumphs, before and after photos, and motivational encouragements. Instead, Gay describes her story as "simply, a true story" (4) in which she will detail her struggles with eating concerns, body image, and the psychological torment associated with both, as well as provide insight into what it's like to live one's daily life as a fat person in the United States.

The first anecdote of the memoir describes Gay's experience in the waiting room at a doctor's office that specializes in gastric bypass surgery. Gay had come to the meeting with her father to see if she was a viable candidate for the surgery...