| Losing It - and Gaining My Life Back, One Pound at a Time |  | Author: Valerie Bertinelli
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  176 reviews
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B0015MMSWA
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Amazon.com
A Note to Amazon Readers (and a Q&A) from Valerie Bertinelli Dear Amazon Customer, Glad to see you here and hopefully purchasing my book. I've heard if you buy multiple copies it's a better experience--a better one for me! But seriously, I'm usually on Amazon, too. I've been buying books through the site for ten years. I enjoy reading the reviews. I get a good sense of the book, and I like to hear what other people have to say. Like in a traditional bookstore, I can look at the cover, peek inside the book, and check out the bestseller lists. Valerie - Do you have a favorite character from a book? I love Scout and Atticus from To Kill A Mockingbird.
- If you can be any character from a book, who would you like to be? I would like to be Scarlett and I would let Rhett know how much I love him.
- How do you decide what next book you want to read? If it's for my book group, whoever hosts the next gathering picks the book, so it's picked for me seven out of eight times. But on my own, I read reviews and ask people whose taste I like what they're reading.
- Where's your favorite place to read? Either lying in bed or on the sofa next to the fireplace.
- What is your favorite genre? I don't really have one.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 171 more reviews...
 America's sweetheart July 19, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
LOSING IT: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time by Valerie Anne Bertinelli is a captivating memoir of her life as a child star, marriage to a rock & roll legend, and life in California. Many people know her as the spokesperson for a weight loss company, but she first became popular as Barbara Cooper, the younger daughter, on the great TV show One Day at a Time - The Complete First Season when she was fifteen. MacKenzie Phillips from American Graffiti (Collector's Edition) played the other daughter Julie, and the juxtaposition of the very different personalities made for a realistic, interesting show. Later, after a few Hollywood dalliances, Valerie married Eddie Van Halen when she was twenty, and began a fast-paced, hectic life on the road with the band.
Throughout her life, she has struggled with self-esteem issues and weight fluctuations. Reading her memoirs is like being with an old friend who you really want to see succeed. It's nice to see her get it together.
Charlie Z
July 18, 2008
 No longer a fan July 16, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was a teen in the 70s when Bertinelli was on TV. We're the same age. I was a huge fan, but I'm sorry I chose to read her bio. Reading her disclosures of using some hard core drugs (for the day) while she was on her sitcom just burst the image that was shoved down our throats by the many interviews she gave to Seventeen magazine back in the day, portraying herself as a "good girl." Mackenzie Phillips got all the heat while on that show--but Bertinelli was just as guilty, though obviously more careful. It's hypocritical that she propagated the image of a good-girl while doing the sitcom when she was just as wild with drugs and sexually promiscuous as Phillips. You have to remember, the 1970s were still relatively tame for otherwise "normal" teens in the U.S., so I was taken aback at her hypocrisy without nary an apology for pulling the wool over fans' eyes.
The big turn off was her constant pontificating about her hatred for anyone who doesn't think like she does (and most of Hollywood), read: Republicans and moderates. It's either her liberal highway or nothing. Also, another hypocritical point is her constant harping about how great Jenny Craig is yet her own, bloated, overweight and really fat kid is allowed to play nothing but video games (that emulate his dad). And allowing him to go on tour at the age of 16 with his drug addled dad??? Bertinelli's parenting skills are non-existent when all she writes is that she cried buckets when she saw him off to travel the world with a has-been, drunken, drug-addicted, sexually debauched rock band.
Yeah, I'm glad I don't think like she does. Wirting a book that showcases just how out of touch and clueless she is is a fine way of showing the world her ignorance in thinking, period.
 A great work of literature? No. Interesting and entertaining? Yes. July 14, 2008
This is a book I picked up as a result of my interest in Valerie Bertinelli's very public weight loss efforts. I knew who Valerie was before her Jenny Craig days from watching One Day At A Time years ago, but I haven't followed her career since then and would not have otherwise purchased a book about her life. Nevertheless, once I started reading the book (which actually has very little in it about her Jenny Craig days although her struggles with weight loss and food "addiction" are peppered throughout), I found it to be a quick and interesting read about someone whom I grew to like more and more after hearing her tell her story in a very honest way.
The book follows Valerie's life from her early years to her current status as a Jenny Craig spokeswoman. Through the years, her weight fluctuated along with her mood and situation (or more accurately, her dependence on food as comfort fluctuated), a common theme throughout the book. It seems that the Jenny Craig opportunity came along at the right time, i.e., a time when her personal and emotional lives were falling into place, which allowed her to open herself up to success in weight loss as well. For those of us who also have emotional eating issues, this need for alignment of the planets is something we can understand.
The book is written in a very conversational, laid back style, which makes it an easy, quick read. I found the story rather interesting - from how she initially got interested in acting, her experience with her fellow castmates on One Day At A Time, to her rollercoaster relationship with Eddie Van Halen, and her love of being a mother. I was entertained, which is about all I could expect from this sort of book, especially since I came into it with no particular affinity for, or dislike of, Ms. Bertinelli.
Losing It is certainly not a great work of literature, but I am glad I read it and enjoyed learning a bit more about the person behind the image. As a result, I am rating it 3 stars for an enjoyable book that kept me reading.
Tell All Book July 9, 2008
I passed this book up a couple times because I thought it was just a woman's book. I finally thought I would just give it a chance and am sure glad I did! Valerie really puts it all out there and holds nothing back. I was surprised at some of the things I found out and am sure you will be too. It's a good, fast read. Men and women will enjoy this book!
How can you not love Valerie? July 7, 2008
I have always been a fan of Valerie's. ODAAT was on when i was about 3 but I always caught it in reruns. Marrying Eddie certainly put her into a bigger spotlight and I began to relate to her. She is very frank about her weight, her marriage and her family. I have never thought she is fat and I was bummed at how hard on herself she was. But she is clearly in a better place now and seems like a wonderful mother. I gave the book to my mom after I read it and she also enjoyed it very much. I recommended the book to all my friends, you will finish it in a day like i did!
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