It Ain’t Over ‘till the Thin Lady Sings: How to Make Your Weight-Loss Surgery a Lasting Success

By Michelle Ritchie

This sensitive, sympathetic book helps readers determine whether or not weight-loss surgery is right for them. Author Michelle Ritchie shares both her personal journey as a successful weight-loss surgery patient and her professional advice as an experienced weight-loss counselor. In sometimes funny, sometimes painful prose, she discusses her life before and after surgery and bluntly analyzes her own complicity in her obesity. As she describes her four-year battle to maintain her new, healthy weight, Ritchie emphasizes personal responsibility, reminding readers that surgery is not a quick-fix solution but a tool that works only as well as the choices patients make after the procedure. Also included are a detailed description of gastric bypass surgery; its pros and cons; tips for keeping weight off after surgery; daily food plans and sample shopping lists; information on cross-addictions; and a thoughtful discussion on intimacy and relationships after surgery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Apr 28, 2007
• ISBN: 9781630265304

Reviews for It Ain’t Over ‘till the Thin Lady Sings

[msjoanna · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Maybe I just wasn't as interested in the subject as I thought, but I found this story really boring and overly peppy in its self-help mode and overly personal and specific in its memoir mode. But maybe if I were contemplating surgery, it would have appealed to me more.

[miki_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This self-help book about weight loss surgery has some great strengths, but also might not be quite what you're looking for. On the upside, this book is very well written, and is a much smoother, more enjoyable read than the majority of self-help books out there. The author has also done her research, and does a good job of combining factual information with her own experiences and stories from other people she's talked to. That said, the content of this book wasn't quite what I expected. This really wouldn't be the book to turn to if you're deciding whether or not to have weight loss surgery, or which type of weight loss surgery to have -- there's really very little information in the book to help readers make those decisions. Rather, the book seems very much targeted to people who are several steps down that road, and have already: * decided to have the surgery, * know which doctor or clinic they will use, and which surgical technique will be used, and * whose doctor has already given them health and diet guidelines to follow. For people who are already at that point in their journey, this book works to help emotionally prepare them, and helps them focus their motivation around following their doctor's guidelines for life after the surgery. I think the book probably does a great job at that -- but a large chunk of the material isn't even specific to weight loss surgery, and is instead the same ideas and suggestions you'd find in most health or diet related self-help books. All in all, I think this is a good book, and both easy and fun to read -- but I also think that many people might come away from reading this book wondering why they didn't learn more than they did.

[neilandlisa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Michelle Ritchie's personal and readable account of her gastic-bypass surgery isn't like the others on the market. As a certified addiction counselor, she gets to the heart of the matter for many people: why they overeat. Of course, there is good information about weight-loss surgery and if you are a candidate or not, but the emotional/psychological component is what sets this book apart from so many others on the topic.Ritchie reminds readers that weight-loss surgery is not a quick-fix to either weight loss or their problems and reinforces the importance of personal responsibility both before and after surgery. Fitness, meal plans, shopping lists and even post-surgery intimacy flesh out the book to make this a very complete and personal look at weight-loss surgery and whether or not it may be the right decision for readers. Even though I am not a candidate for this surgery, I enjoyed reading this book.

[smsuchy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Michelle Ritchie writes a compulsively readable self help book for people who have had or are comtemplating weight loss surgery. She adds interesting stories about real people to creatively illustrate her points about spiritual nourishment, letting go of unhealthy eating habits, and overcoming emotional eating. She encourages the reader to thoroughly evaluate their lives on paper to attain their goals. I recommend this book to all who are considering weight loss surgery and to those who have had the surgery done in the past.