Stranger Here by Jen Larsen

Stranger Here:  How Weight-Loss Surgery Transformed My Body and Messed with My Head, Jen Larsen.  Berkeley: Seal Press/ Avalon Publishing Group, 2013.  e-book, 261 pps.


Any changes in bodily function or within the body itself can certainly mess with body image.  Stranger Here is one story coming out of the ranks of people who opted for bariatric surgery after experiencing repetitive failure to lose weight and keep the weight off with dieting and exercise.  Jen Larsen does not glorify the process.  She lets the reader into her psyche.  Every uncertainty is cataloged.  Every misstep is recorded.  There are successes too.  And the ultimate success-- the success of gaining or regaining physical health-- is a promise that keeps Larsen going through the fear and the mess.

sapphoq reviews says:  I have had my own long-term struggles with my weight finally resulting in a sustained weight loss.  And my back-up plan was [and is] weight-loss surgery should I gain the weight back plus some.  Obesity deserves treatment.  Folks are way too quick to blame those of us who grapple with achieving a healthy relationship with food.  Dieting and exercise alone-- or coupled with psychotherapy of some sort-- do not always work for a certain percentage of the population.  Stranger Here is readable and raw.  Larsen lets us in on what can be expected and what may or may not happen anyway afterwards.  Recommended to anyone considering any sort of weight-loss surgery.