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    It Was Me All Along: A Memoir
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    It Was Me All Along: A Memoir
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    It Was Me All Along: A Memoir
    Audiobook7 hours

    It Was Me All Along: A Memoir

    Written by Andie Mitchell

    Narrated by Andie Mitchell

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A heartbreakingly honest, endearing memoir of incredible weight loss by a young food blogger who battles body image issues and overcomes food addiction to find self-acceptance.

    All her life, Andie Mitchell had eaten lustily and mindlessly. Food was her babysitter, her best friend, her confidant, and it provided a refuge from her fractured family. But when she stepped on the scale on her twentieth birthday and it registered a shocking 268 pounds, she knew she had to change the way she thought about food and herself; that her life was at stake.

    It Was Me All Along takes Andie from working class Boston to the romantic streets of Rome, from morbidly obese to half her size, from seeking comfort in anything that came cream-filled and two-to-a-pack to finding balance in exquisite (but modest) bowls of handmade pasta. This story is about much more than a woman who loves food and abhors her body. It is about someone who made changes when her situation seemed too far gone and how she discovered balance in an off-kilter world. More than anything, though, it is the story of her finding beauty in acceptance and learning to love all parts of herself.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 6, 2015
    ISBN9780553546262
    Unavailable
    It Was Me All Along: A Memoir

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    Reviews for It Was Me All Along

    4/5

    81 ratings16 reviews

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    • 1/5
      I don't think I like memoirs very much.

      Or maybe I just don't like the authors, that could be it.

      I really wanted to like this book. As someone who also binge eats and has always had a volatile relationship with food, I wanted to relate to Andie, to see someone like myself. I wanted to see someone who had struggled but come out on top.

      Some of it was there. Mitchell struggled with her weight for years; her emotional struggles fueled her food addiction, and at least in that respect, I could relate to the author.

      Ultimately, though, there are a few things that I just can't get past.

      First, the poor writing was really distracting. Mitchell has a communications degree and (I think) her primary "job" now is maintaining a blog and writing books. Still, though, the writing seemed forced and unnatural. It felt like she was trying too hard.

      Second, and I hate to say this because she is a real person who could read this one day, but Mitchell did not present herself as someone who was very likable. She spends a large portion of the book talking about how hard her mother worked while she was growing up. Her mom clearly sacrificed a lot, yet Mitchell - at somewhere around 21 or 22 years old - felt okay with having her mom take out a sizable chunk of her retirement account to pay for Mitchell's skin-removal surgery. I know, I know, it's not my place to judge other people's life choices, but still... she was only in her early 20s. She could have worked for a few years to save up the money herself instead of relying on her mom yet again. She did say that she, her mom, and her boyfriend had a long discussion about it, but that seems to me like the kind of decision that could have waited until a time when her mom wouldn't have to dip into her retirement fund. It seems like quite a rash decision.

      Other decisions that Mitchell made seemed very selfish as well. She got a degree in communications with no real idea what job she might want after graduation, and predictably, after graduation she sort of floundered for a while until she lucked into a job on a movie set. It worked out well for her, and she was offered a job on another set several states away. She told her boyfriend about it and seemed to have already made up her mind to move, so of course, he agreed to move, too. They moved again for Mitchell to take a third job on a movie set before deciding (rather randomly) to settle in Seattle. Mitchell’s boyfriend Daniel supported her throughout all of her moves, and during her dramatic weight loss. She describes the depression that she felt after losing weight. Perhaps Mitchell’s lowest point in the book, in my opinion, was when Daniel lost his job and his motivation, became depressed, and she broke up with him. (Those events weren’t presented as being directly related, but that’s the way it came across in the book.)

      From what I’d seen on social media, I expected to really enjoy this book, but I just couldn’t see past Mitchell as being spoiled and selfish, and it made it really hard to be empathetic towards her. I was glad to come to Goodreads and see that there were plenty of others who felt the same way.

      So maybe it’s not just that I don’t like memoirs.

      Maybe I just don’t like bad ones.
    • 1/5
      I don't think I like memoirs very much.

      Or maybe I just don't like the authors, that could be it.

      I really wanted to like this book. As someone who also binge eats and has always had a volatile relationship with food, I wanted to relate to Andie, to see someone like myself. I wanted to see someone who had struggled but come out on top.

      Some of it was there. Mitchell struggled with her weight for years; her emotional struggles fueled her food addiction, and at least in that respect, I could relate to the author.

      Ultimately, though, there are a few things that I just can't get past.

      First, the poor writing was really distracting. Mitchell has a communications degree and (I think) her primary "job" now is maintaining a blog and writing books. Still, though, the writing seemed forced and unnatural. It felt like she was trying too hard.

      Second, and I hate to say this because she is a real person who could read this one day, but Mitchell did not present herself as someone who was very likable. She spends a large portion of the book talking about how hard her mother worked while she was growing up. Her mom clearly sacrificed a lot, yet Mitchell - at somewhere around 21 or 22 years old - felt okay with having her mom take out a sizable chunk of her retirement account to pay for Mitchell's skin-removal surgery. I know, I know, it's not my place to judge other people's life choices, but still... she was only in her early 20s. She could have worked for a few years to save up the money herself instead of relying on her mom yet again. She did say that she, her mom, and her boyfriend had a long discussion about it, but that seems to me like the kind of decision that could have waited until a time when her mom wouldn't have to dip into her retirement fund. It seems like quite a rash decision.

      Other decisions that Mitchell made seemed very selfish as well. She got a degree in communications with no real idea what job she might want after graduation, and predictably, after graduation she sort of floundered for a while until she lucked into a job on a movie set. It worked out well for her, and she was offered a job on another set several states away. She told her boyfriend about it and seemed to have already made up her mind to move, so of course, he agreed to move, too. They moved again for Mitchell to take a third job on a movie set before deciding (rather randomly) to settle in Seattle. Mitchell’s boyfriend Daniel supported her throughout all of her moves, and during her dramatic weight loss. She describes the depression that she felt after losing weight. Perhaps Mitchell’s lowest point in the book, in my opinion, was when Daniel lost his job and his motivation, became depressed, and she broke up with him. (Those events weren’t presented as being directly related, but that’s the way it came across in the book.)

      From what I’d seen on social media, I expected to really enjoy this book, but I just couldn’t see past Mitchell as being spoiled and selfish, and it made it really hard to be empathetic towards her. I was glad to come to Goodreads and see that there were plenty of others who felt the same way.

      So maybe it’s not just that I don’t like memoirs.

      Maybe I just don’t like bad ones.
    • 5/5
      Andie had weight problems as far back as she can remember and in this book she tells that story in an honest, nothing is taboo way. She shares her ups and downs, her struggles and victories. She not only shares the physical battle she went through, but also the mental battles she fought. She had to deal with her fathers alcohol addiction and frequent trips away from the house, plus her mother working all the time. She was called names by some of her classmates but she also had a great group of friends. She was even taken to the prom by a very popular boy and was crowned homecoming queen, something unusual for someone her size.Andie spent a semester in Rome, which I found fascinating. It was there, in a city I think would be very hard to eat healthy, that she found her way to a healthier way of eating and a love of exercise. Overall she ends up losing 135 pounds.For most of the book she has a boyfriend, Daniel, (who is also dealing with a weight problem) who loves her very much. He moves from place to place with her due to her career in film production. They are together for years but in the end she feels she has fallen out of love with and breaks up with him. I found this very sad.In this book Andie tells us what she did to lose weight, how her eating habits changed, and how her life in college and after were. When she leaves the film industry she starts a blog, Can You Stay For Dinner? where she shares recipes and posts about her weight loss journey. There are also section for her most popular posts, reader q& a, calorie examples, and more under the “Weight Loss” tab.In the back of the book there is a recipe for Sour Cream Fudge Cake with Simple Chocolate Buttercream. I haven’t made it yet but I plan to. It sounds amazing.I loved this book. Not only is she quite open about her struggles, she also has a great sense of humor and you see that throughout the book. I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who loves memoirs or anyone who is struggling with their weight.
    • 5/5
      Loved it! Highly relatable, insightful, and inspirational!
    • 4/5
      Nobody's story can be wrong just because it is different from yours. That person may make different choices and therefore obtain different results, plus their personalities, values, support system, etc come into play.

      I fight daily with a 33 year ED and her happily ever after is not mine nor is ever likely to be especially as I am double her age and struggled much longer.

      I am happy she is a true success story in her private and professional life, that she has a supportive mother, a load of friends, co-workers who love her and value her. Good for her !

      Just not all of us have it that way.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful story, very motivating and insightful
      Andi has a beautiful voice so it makes it 100x better to hear
    • 3/5
      Quick read, and I enjoyed it. But it was tough: content warning for alcoholism, depression, mental illness, disordered eating. Nearly cried several times, identifying with the author's experiences.
    • 4/5
      A gut wrenching (literally) memoir about a young food blogger's childhood and life long struggle with food addiction. Always the "chubby kid," Andie turned to food for comfort when her home life was falling apart around her. She hated her weight, but she loved food more. When she turned twenty she realized that she weighed nearly three hundred pounds, something had to change. She set about changing her eating habits, working out, meeting a therapist, and re-evaluating the way she looked at food. It wasn't easy and it wasn't fun. Andie realized that even attaining her desired weight goal didn't make her happy. She had to work on the inside as much as she had to work on the outside. Her memoir is touching and really hits home. I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in return for my honest, unbiased opinion.
    • 4/5
      Good story read by author Andie Mitchell about her love/hate relationship with food and how she overcame her demons, how she was able to change how she viewed and treated food and in the process changed her life and lost more than a hundred pounds (and has kept it off).Kudos to Andie! She seems like a wonderful person, someone I'd like to meet, and I'm happy for her.
    • 4/5
      Andie Mitchell, in her memoir, "It was me all along," tells of her battle with weight and body image. She was a chubby little toddler and there was no looking back from then on. she ate because food numbed her, she ate because food made her forget the pain of living in a dysfunctional family. Andie cries out that the bigger she grew the smaller she felt.Does she battle out of this weight problem? I wouldn't want to be a spoiler. I would certainly encourage everyone to read and find out for themselves.
    • 2/5
      I need to stop reading memoirs penned by bloggers. The level and type of writing necessary for a good blog is different that what is needed to write a book. I checked out the author's blog, and like (don't love) it. I fully intend to return for more food info. But this book, the bad writing is just inescapable. It is the same way I felt when I tried to read Jenny Lawson. I can't get past the bad prose. Her story is a good one, even if she seems wildly selfish and unyielding. Written by someone else I suspect I would have enjoyed the read.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. As some one who's struggle with their weight and relationship with food all her life, this book was inspirational and relatable. I would suggest this book to anyone who's trying to understand their food relationship.
    • 5/5
      For my 2018 New Year’s resolution, I made an easy one; one that I know I could accomplish. Once a month, I would grab a book that’s been lingering on my shelf for ages, sometimes years.My pick for January was this memoir, and now that I’ve read it, I could kick myself for not having read it sooner. I can’t remember how old Andie was when a doctor told her that if she didn’t change her eating habits, that she would weigh 300 pounds by the time she was 20 years old. The doc wasn’t far off; she topped the scale at 268 pounds.Suffering a lonely and miserable childhood, Andie found comfort in food. The anecdotes of her binge-eating were heartbreaking. When she went to college, she found some acceptance, but college life only added more pounds. Her agonizing tales of exercise and diet were equally as heartbreaking. The focus of how Andie managed to lose 135 pounds is captivating. Readers watch her learn to eats healthier, yet still have most of the foods she craved. The key is movement and moderation. I was completely fascinated by Andie’s story. .It was Me All Along receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.
    • 4/5
      It Was Me All Along is not an easy read. It’s difficult to journey through someone else’s childhood trauma and grown emotional struggles. Having been obese, I know that a lot of the problem is emotional, closely associated with family dysfunction. Although I’ve had the book for months, I put off reading it for fear of reliving my own struggles.

      The author successfully conveys her hurt, loneliness, and obsession with food. It concerns me how vividly she describes and recalls what she ate in the book. I mistakenly thought that her story would begin on an inspirational high note, explaining who she is now and then reflecting on her life before. However, instead the book is a chronological emotionally exhausting memoir not for the faint of heart.

      If you have struggled with your weight, some of the book will be like holding a mirror up to your face. It’s certainly good to feel you’re not alone. I only wish it had focused more on the positive end result. Overall, it’s a good read to learn more about what many obese children and adults face everyday.

      I was given a copy of this book via Blogging for Books for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      I’ve always been skinny. Even after having two kids people still consider me “skinny”, but in my mind I’m not as skinny as society wants me too. When I read this book and all of the struggles Andie Mitchell had to go through as a child and as a young woman I felt like somebody understood me for the first time. That feeling of giving it your all to lose those last 10 pounds and then losing them but they still aren’t enough… This book is for people who are cardio addicts, people who go on extreme diets of juicing and shakes to lose those last 3 pounds, for people who are literally in shape but they still want more…This book is for people like me, and it helped me cope with my eating/dieting/self image issues. I totally recommend this book. Andie’s journey to being healthy from being obese has taught me that I don’t need to judge my appearance, that I love myself the way I am, that I should stop comparing myself to 90 pound skinny models… It’s not healthy. I need to love myself for who I am, my weight does not define me.
    • 1/5
      The author has a long history with food – none of it good. It was her source of comfort in a difficult childhood. It was her source of comfort as she grew up. She certainly had a less than ideal childhood, but so have many of us. She also suffers from depression, another common fact of life for many. While she ate her way through her childhood and teenage years, in college she gained some control over her eating, and lost the most weight while an exchange student in Italy. She came home feeling better about herself and life in general. However, during college she met Daniel, who loved her and supported her through years of bad episodes and personal problems. While he himself had a weight issue, not as bad as Andie’s, when he lost his career and became despondent, she decided she was no longer in love with him, even though he was still her best friend. She left him, justifying the breakup because she deserved the best now that she was thinner. She forgot how much he supported her during each personal crisis she had, and there were too many to count if one believes half of what she writes! I came away thinking Andie Mitchell is a self-centered and cruel person – Daniel deserves better. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

      1 person found this helpful