The Real Me is Thin

The Real Me is Thin
Arabella Weir

The hapless and hilarious tale of a life lived under the constant and ruthless reign of a chocolate biscuit…Lumped into 'the too fat for potatoes group' by her mother, carefree eating isn't something Arabella Weir had much experience of growing up.Written with startling frankness, Arabella unravels her own eating history in this humorous appraisal of our attitudes towards eating disorders and obesity. Not easy for someone who still can't be alone unsupervised in a room with a packet of chocolate biscuits.Charting Arabella's neurotic relationship with food, from prolonged abstinence to binge eating, this humorous memoir recreates a childhood besieged with battles over food. Subjected to her mother's capricious feeding regime and taught early on that food was her enemy, happiness meant being allowed to eat what she liked - or more importantly what everyone else was eating.Recounting stories of unhinged mothers and callous doctors, mystery-meat suppers, and egg custard battles with calculating boyfriends' mothers, this candid memoir vividly recreates a childhood and adolescence marred by the social embarrassment of being marked as different simply due to your weight.

ARABELLA WEIR

The Real Me is Thin

FOURTH ESTATE · London

For Helen Scott-Lidgett and every woman who’s ever thought the way she looked mattered more than anything else about her.

Contents

Cover (#u336fbde7-f379-59e7-9f08-320d6622ed08)

Title Page (#uc9f30600-f169-5b00-bf67-9a5d697bc0b4)

Preface: how to tell if you think you’re fat (#ub7229d3a-2924-5664-80e5-94562ddd03f9)

The real me is thin (#ubff40eff-ea53-5b4c-a4b1-65b6e2af4f38)

When their ship came in (#u0ac57c09-93c2-5e4a-bdbe-13ccc60cb8ef)

Open the box (#u50d1c5d8-5fbd-5999-879a-9cf8818a5b20)

‘Arabella’s fat’ (#uccfdd7ec-f8d7-5e59-ad8b-dbfba9dc39eb)

Too much (#u503d9e0b-4c91-5f24-aea4-b3d330bf7909)

Daddy’s girl (#u3520a4ff-3567-55fa-9153-8c79c10dd504)

Happiness is a warm scone (#u26111589-469e-5a4a-95b1-41004de53933)

Cooking blind (#ueeba1cf4-6364-50aa-a1a3-927a2580e68f)

Shock in awe (#litres_trial_promo)

Funny valentine (#litres_trial_promo)

My other family (#litres_trial_promo)

A waist of time (#litres_trial_promo)

Kurt Waldheim finds out I’m fat (#litres_trial_promo)

All you can eat at the boy buffet (#litres_trial_promo)

My fairy stepmother (#litres_trial_promo)

This isn’t just food… (#litres_trial_promo)

Actresses don’t eat (#litres_trial_promo)

Doctor No (#litres_trial_promo)

Allergies for attention (#litres_trial_promo)

The appeal of obliteration (#litres_trial_promo)

Everyone’s got an opinion (#litres_trial_promo)

Passive-aggressive pudding (#litres_trial_promo)

Flying spaghetti (#litres_trial_promo)

Outing my bum (#litres_trial_promo)

Don’t eat pudding if you want to get a job (or a boyfriend) (#litres_trial_promo)

Sexual eating (#litres_trial_promo)

The mother of all diets (#litres_trial_promo)

Feeding Mum (#litres_trial_promo)

Dieting makes you fat (#litres_trial_promo)

Not eating, just neatening (#litres_trial_promo)

Wrong thinking (#litres_trial_promo)

Happy ending? (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Preface: how to tell if you think you’re fat (#ulink_9bfa2abd-ff82-51b8-af92-981b896252f9)

All women think they’re fat. Here’s how to tell if you think you’re fat, too.

TEN TOP TIPS

You think you’re fat if:

You’re reading this book.