Mitchell - It was me all along: a memoir

PRAISE FOR

IT WAS ME ALL ALONG

The books biggest surprise is how relatable it is: Beneath the extreme eating scenarios Mitchell describes some universal truths about how women connect and clash with food. It Was Me All Along is the perfect book to read in January, because Mitchells total bluntness will inspire you to have a more honest year.

GLAMOUR.COM

Anyone embarking on New Years resolutions of eating healthier and losing weight will be humbled by reading Andie Mitchells memoir, a poetically written, honest account of her struggles with binging, obesity and the traumatic childhood that led her to seek solace in food.

STYLEBISTRO.COM

In a moving new memoir, It Was Me All Along, Andie Mitchell describes how her life became a prison of calorie-counting, cravings and self-consciousness until she found a comfortable weight.

DAILY MAIL

Mitchells journey towards acceptance, chronicled in her new memoir, It Was Me All Along, has struck a chord with women everywhere.

YAHOO! NEWS

Loving yourself is the bravest thing, and Im so glad Andie found her bravery and was willing to share it. Cheers to chocolate cake in moderation and happiness in abundance!

GIADA DE LAURENTIIS, author of Giadas Feel Good Food

Andie Mitchell draws you in from the first cupcake. She beautifully exposes the dark and painful struggles of weight loss, food addiction, and the self-hate that so many in this country face. Read this book because it offers wonderful lessons for healthy living, being kind to yourself, and finding balance. Read it because its heartbreakingly honest and endearingly educational. Just READ IT!

ALISON SWEENEY, HOST OF NBC'S THE BIGGEST LOSER

Andies story, in which she takes us along for her 135-pound weight-loss journey and makes peace with food, is remarkable. She chooses to see the positives from her past, and she realizes that who she was when she was bigger molded her into the person she is today. Andie is an inspiration to anyone who struggles with the challenges of dieting and weight loss.

GINA HOMOLKA, author of The Skinnytaste Cookbook

A candid and inspiring memoir.

KIRKUS REVIEWS

PRAISE FOR
IT WAS ME ALL ALONG
from Readers

I want to thank you for being the most relatable person I have ever known. For sharing your story so vulnerably, for being incredibly open and raw. I want to thank you for appearing in my life at a time that I need all of the motivation I can get. Every time I think about giving up, I hear you enforcing the power of today in my head and with that, Im unstoppable.

CARLIE GREEN

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your book!! I read it in about a day, and I kept reading parts aloud to my mom. You eat the way I want toeating both salads and cake. I really do love food. I want to learn to enjoy it and have a healthy relationship with it. For so long, Ive been looking for a person to model that. Thank you for being that role model. Knowing that it is possible to find balance and peace with food gives me so much hope for my future.

CHARLSIE

Just finished It Was Me All Along. Holding back tears because you expressed so poignantly how Ive felt for the last twenty years of my life. Seeing what a beautiful woman you are and knowing all youve overcome gives me hope that I may one day overcome my own emotional pain and stop using sweets to pacify the sometimes unbearable sadness/emptiness that I often feel. Thank you.

SHARON

Youve helped me turn a corner in my life. Your words have struck a chord in me quite deeply, and I cant thank you enough for what you do and for the words you have shared.

CHELSEA LYLE

Your story means more to me than you will ever know. Reading your book made me feel like I had a friend in all of this. Someone who understands me, someone I can turn to when I need help. I want to be better and I now know that its possible. Life doesnt always have to be so dang hard. If you can heal, then theres hope for me too. A million thank yous for all that you have accomplished and for giving me the inspiration I so desperately needed.

KRISTEN

Thank you. Thank you for so eloquently writing what I have been feeling for thirty-two years. Thank you for showing me that change is hard but it definitely can happen. And thank you for being so willing to share your life on your blog and in a book. You may never know how deeply you touch people who read your story.

DENISE TEMPLE

I have struggled with disordered eating for as long as I can remember, and at thirty years old, I am still trying to figure out how to marry my love of food and my need to be thin. I cycle through periods of acceptance and disgust with myself, sometimes within the same day, but I am working on it. Thank you for your bravery, your honesty, your passion, and your Peanut Butter and Nutella Cheesecake Bar recipe.

NICOLE

I finished reading your book in record time, and I just had to contact you to tell you that it was beautiful. It broke my heart a half a dozen times, made me squeeze my babies extra tight, made me cry and smile, and had me cooking dinner for my family and friends that night when Id finished. Your writing is gorgeous. Well done.

SUZANNE

Reading your book allowed me to know that I wasnt alone. It sounds so simple, but it made the biggest difference. You allowed me to see a perspective I had only glimpsed at briefly before: Food is not the enemy, what you do with it is.

TYLER NARDON

Copyright 2015 by Andie Mitchell
Readers Guide copyright 2015 by Penguin Random House LLC

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.clarksonpotter.com

Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

CLARKSON POTTER is a trademark and POTTER with colophon is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Kenneth Carroll for permission to reprint Elaborate Signings from So What: For the White Dude Who Said This Aint Poetry (The Bunny & Crocodile Press, 1997). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mitchell, Andie.
It was me all along / Andie Mitchell.
pages cm
1. Mitchell, Andie. 2. Overweight womenAnecdotes. 3. Obesity in womenPsychological aspects. 4. LifestylesHealth aspects. I. Title.
RC552.O25.M58 2015
616.398dc23
2013036057

ISBN 978-0-7704-3325-3
eBook ISBN 978-0-7704-3326-0

Cover design by Stephanie Huntwork
Cover photography courtesy of the author

v3.1_r2

For my mother. Everything I am is because of you.

IF YOU WERE NOT ABLE TO ATTEND my twentieth birthday party, you missed a fabulous cake.