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Waisted
In this provocative, wildly entertaining, and compelling novel, seven women enrolled as cast members in an extreme weight loss documentary discover self-love and sisterhood as they enact a daring revenge against the exploitative filmmakers.
Alice and Daphne, both successful working mothers, both accomplished and seemingly steady, harbor the same secret: obsession with their weight overshadows concerns about their children, husbands, work—and everything else of importance in their lives. Scales terrify them.
Daphne, plump in a family of model-thin women, learned at her mother’s knee that only slimness earns admiration. Alice, break-up skinny when she met her husband, risks losing her marriage if she keeps gaining weight.
The two women meet at Waisted. Located in a remote Vermont mansion, the program promises fast, dramatic weight loss, and Alice, Daphne, and five other women are desperate enough to leave behind their families for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The catch? They must agree to always be on camera; afterward, the world will see Waisted: The Documentary.
The women soon discover that the filmmakers have trapped them in a cruel experiment. With each pound lost, they edge deeper into obsession and instability…until they decide to take matters into their own hands.
A compulsively readable and ultimately poignant examination of body image, family, and friendship, Waisted features Randy Susan Meyers’s signature “engaging and sharp” (Publishers Weekly) prose and is perfect for fans of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, Dietland by Sarai Walker, The First Wives Club by Olivia Goldsmith, and Hunger by Roxanne Gay.
Praise
“A provocative and compelling novel that’s technically fiction but discusses a topic most can relate to: anxiety over our waistlines. We join a group of seven women enrolled in an extreme weight loss documentary, who get more than they bargained for once they meet up with the producers. From mothers who are hyperfocused on their weight to a woman who worries her marriage will be over if she doesn’t drop some pounds, they all get a surprise when the filming transforms from light-hearted entertainment to “The Truman Show.”—CNN Ultimate Beach Read
“This deeply compelling (and thoroughly entertaining) novel will give you major Dietland vibes as it tells the story of seven women who vow to take revenge against the exploitative filmmakers documenting their extreme weight loss journey, and the self-love and sisterhood they find in the process.” —PopSugar
“Meyers spins a compelling tale, raising critical questions about familial, social, and cultural messages about body image . . .” —Kirkus Review
“Meyers delivers a timely examination of body image, family, friendship, and what it means to be a woman in modern society. It will appeal to anyone who has ever dreaded stepping on a scale; even those who haven’t will learn from it. Culturally inclusive and societally on point, this is a must-read.”
—Library Journal
“Waisted is a fiercely feminist story that skewers the weight loss industry and a society that “treats fat people like out-of-control horrors” and the war against women with its “intersectionality of misogyny, fat shaming, [and] faux health concerns.” This is urgent, angry, and at times darkly funny prose.” —Seattle Book Mama
“To Alice and Daphne, being thin is taking over their world. They become fast friends when they both sign up for a program promising dramatic weight loss in one month. Meyers exquisitely explores body image, family, and marriage in this surprisingly deep novel. though she starts with a fictionalized version of the TV show The Biggest Loser, she dips into major issues of race, culture, obsession, and sisterhood. Taking on the timely topic of how a woman is perceived in today’s society, she twists it into how far women will go to be what society deems right, and at what cost—a marriage, a family obligation, a personal goal? A compelling story that will leave readers giving their scale the side eye.” —Booklist
“Waisted is a wickedly fun spin on the pressure and obsession women put on themselves, and others in regards to food, eating, and weight. Alice and Daphne are obsessed with their weight but neither would tell one another such a thing. The two meet at Waisted, a program that promises rapid weight loss. With five other women, they join forces and leave their lives for change. All they have to do is lose weight… and contribute to a public documentary about weight-loss, Waisted: The Documentary.” —Women.com
“Full of wit, hard-hitting emotion and social commentary on being overweight in our culture, WAISTED is a novel that I devoured.In a fast-paced, easy-to-read style, Randy Susan Meyers dives thoughtfully into issues of ethics, family relationships, and cultural expectations surrounding body image, appearance and race. Put it on your TBR today!”
—Bookreporter
“Set in a weight loss camp for adults in a Vermont mansion, Waisted by Randy Susan Meyers (Atria Books) tells of a group of women determined to lose extra pounds who agree to be filmed as they take part in a program promising dramatic results. This is a story of sisterhood and self-respect as the women conspire against those in charge.” —Jewish News
“Daphne and Alice both seem to have it all but constantly feel like failures due to their insecurities over their weight. Because of their unhealthy obsessions with their bodies, the two women jump at the opportunity to enter a weight loss program in Vermont that promises dramatic results. The catch? They’ll be filmed 24/7 for a documentary. When the women learn that the filmmakers are really just using them for their own wicked experiment, they exact their revenge and take back control of their lives. Any woman who has struggled with body image issues will find hope in this relatable summer read.” —Ms. Career Girl
“Meyers touches on the many ways food lives in our psyches and in our stomachs, including self-image as well as being judged by others. . . . The husbands’ attitudes toward their thinning wives come with a delicate texture: “Yes, I always loved you, no matter your size.” But the ambiguity of who the women are as their weight goes up and down is a problem for all. Meyers’ observant wit squiggles through the existential questions of what the fat-thin-fat pingpong means for Daphne and Alice and their families. Her characters move away from their eating obsessions and they focus outward on being better toward the world. Bidding less of an emphasis on calories, those new insights become their version of healthy eating.” —The Improper Bostonian
“Randy Susan Meyers takes a tough subject and writes with honesty from each characters point of view. For anyone that has struggled with weight issues (and I am one of them), this is a great read. She never preaches, just writes an honest look at the issue of weight. The question she does ask is how far would you go to lose weight and try to keep it off? It also looks at fat shaming and support of the people around you that say they love you. They should be helping you with support not saying don’t eat that roll in a way to make you feel bad about yourself.” —Red Carpet Crash
“Waisted by author Randy Susan Meyers is an incredibly well-written novel with clever, witty repartee. The characters are well-drawn and the descriptions of the weight loss program are an accurately created exaggeration of the weight-loss TV programs. It is really true, the question of what lengths will people go to to achieve the ideal body.” —NH Jewish Reporter, Merle Carrus
“I think Waisted is one of the best books about weight issues that I have read. Randy Susan Meyers tackles the topic with such care and insight that I found myself saying things like, “Damn right.” or nodding in agreement. The observations so astute, like acknowledging that women who struggle their weight have a Ph.D. in everything from carbs to calories. I can tell you the calorie count for everything from my favorite hot drink (70 Calories) to my favorite slice of pepperoni pizza from Dominos (300). It was like Randy Susan Meyers had a front-row seat to my thoughts for the last thirty years of my life. Her words are just not insightful about the women at the heart of this story, but it is really a social commentary about society judges a woman’s worth based on her weight. These women ended up in a good place, both physically and mentally. But the same cannot be said for all women who struggle with their weight. Daphne and Alice ended up at peace with their weight, but the same cannot be said for all women who struggle with their weight. Bottom Line – Waisted is an insightful book about two women who will do anything to lose weight. Waisted is more than just that, though. It is a book about perseverance and resiliency and determination. All qualities of strong women.”
—Charlotte’s Web of Books
“Suspenseful. Witty. Warm. Wonderful. Disturbing. Thoughtful. Compelling. Riveting. Seriously important. Inspiring. It made me hungry. Then made me never want to eat again. I recognized myself. Then hated myself. Then loved myself. This is a must-read for every woman who ever stepped on the scale with her eyes closed. And every woman who hasn’t.” — M.J. Rose, NYT bestselling author of Tiffany Blues
“Waisted is a big-hearted triumph of a novel. Meyers tackles painful truths and thorny issues while weaving a smart and engaging story about weight loss, self-acceptance and the fortifying power of female friendship.” —Carolyn Parkhurst, NYT bestselling author of Harmony and The Dogs of Babel
“This is a book that every woman should read. I found myself tearing up in several places because it resonated so well.” —Girls Just Reading Book Review
“Waisted” touches on many feelings that women regularly feel about their bodies. In a world that continuously pressures women to be thin (which usually means extremely thin) and beautiful (which usually means you should look like you’ve been photoshopped), women have a lot of stress and unrealistic expectations of themselves. This novel is a must-read for any woman who has ever struggled with her self-confidence when it comes to her weight. This novel shows that women are under a ton of pressure to be small and slim, regardless to whatever else they have going on in their lives. It shows that no matter how successful a woman might be, there’s still this pressure to be slim. “Waisted” by Randy Susan Meyers demonstrates that not only how unhealthy it is to be obsessed with your weight, but how far you’ll go if you’re pushed. It’s an intriguing story told with tons of passion through a great perspective.” —Sarah’s Scoop
“It’s rare to see stories of plus-sized women declaring their own happiness in spite of what society wants their bodies to look like. Instead, we often get the narrative of the good fat person who finally buckles down and loses the weight to become a good and romantically desirable person. Thankfully, in fiction, we’re seeing the tides turn, and Waisted is one of those. Alice and Daphne are two overweight women who decide to go to a filmed retreat in order to lose weight quickly. However, when they find out just how that footage is used—to humiliate them—they decide to take action. Ultimately, a story about learning to love yourself, imperfections included, this book is worth reading because it makes clear that not every fat woman is a sad, lonely, single person desperate to be saved from herself or to be recognized by a romantic love interest. There’s always room on my bookshelf for empowering female friendships.” —Get Literary
“Daphne and Alice are consumed by their dismay over their weight and despite their successful lives, cannot come to terms with the people they have become. Due to this unhappiness, they agree to participate in a weight loss program that promises patients they’ll lose a dramatic amount of weight, fast. The only catch? They’re being filmed for a documentary 24/7. As the women start to feel like they’re being taken advantage of by the producers, they regain control by plotting the ultimate revenge. This humorous and touching women’s fiction novel is the perfect beach read for summer.” —Women Writers, Women’s Books
“It was amazing and uncomfortably true and just a book that is much needed in the world. There’s so many themes in this book; ranging from body positivity, the realities of fat shaming in today’s society, high standards for women’s bodies, and what we are teaching our younger generations of girls. It’s an emotional read, but a very necessary and good read. Daphne and Alice (and the other characters too), learn so many things along the journey of this novel, and I found myself cheering them on often.Even though I’ve finished the novel, I find myself going back and thinking about pieces of it and how it fits with today’s society. This is a book that is going to stick with me for a long time.” —So She Tries
“WAISTED, by Randy Susan Meyers, may just be one of the most honest books – fiction or non- to ever deal with the struggle women have in losing weight and fitting into society’s ideal of what they should “look like. 7 overweight, obese, struggling, and emotionally drained women enroll in what sounds like a “cure” for their obesity. With promises to not only lose weight, but to get to the root of why they struggle so, these women are willing to do anything to finally overcome the bane of their existence: their weight. The “fat camp” they turn to in the rolling hills of Vermont isn’t exactly what’s promised on the brochure. There are a lot of spoilers here that I don’t want to give away, but suffice it to say the camp is more like a prison than the weight loss nirvana it’s promised to be. Meyers has written a satirical, emotionally in-depth, and harsh commentary on what women are forced to endure -anything and everything, including public degradation and physical damage, – in order to try and meet society’s ideal of what a woman should look like: Model thin, never caring about food, a stick figure on the arm of a male-dominated world. Meyer’s contention that obesity and overweight syndrome is fostered by decades of family indoctrination is so true, so brutally true, that I actually cried at certain passages in the book where our protagonists’ mothers came into play. Bitingly witting, emotionally raw, and with heroines every woman who has ever struggled with her weight can relate to, WAISTED is a book I am recommending to all my girlfriends, their daughters, and their mothers. Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advance sneak peek at the book for an honest opinion on its merit. 5 well deserved stars.” —Peggy Jaeger, Author & Netgalley Reviewer
“When body image goes rogue in this tense and riveting novel, three women wade into a swamp of self-destruction as they attempt to save what they love most.” —E.B. Moore, author of An Unseemly Wife
“This novel, about the lengths women will go to lose weight, gave me so much to think about in terms of how I think about weight and how I can let it control my life. The idea that a number on a scale can change my mood is ridiculous and yet dead-on. In this novel, Alice and Daphne go to a weight-loss retreat that is a documentary experiment in disguise. They are shamed, put through devastating workouts on little food, and plied with pills. As difficult as it was for me to watch them go through this, I had to think, “Yeah, I might do the same.” Meyers does such a great job capturing the mindset of these women and how society views them. There’s so much more to this novel–how race plays into body expectations; the examples we do or do not provide for our own children; family dynamics–and I’ll be thinking about it for a good long time. I think this is novel looks at some important topics but disguises them in this amazingly readable and engaging novel. I had to see how it would end! This would be an excellent book club novel as there is so much great stuff in here to discuss!” —Jennifer Brown, USA Bestselling Author of Modern Girls
Backstory: Waisted
I grew up with the idea that the size of my body was the most important thing in the world—and that my body was always too large.
When I look back at pictures, I see me as sometimes normal, at times chubby, and often far-too-large—but at no time during my formative years, and way beyond, did I ever see myself as anything but too-big and in desperate need of a diet. Every bite I took was measured in self-worth and whether I could afford the calories, or deserved them.
The answer was always a resounding no.
When I received the ‘first pass corrections’ for Waisted (the layout that comes before the final printing) I looked at the first line— Everyone hates a fat woman— and remembered every time I felt those words.
I think I’ve been holding that first line as an opening to a novel since I began writing.
We’re a harsh country when it comes to issues around size—filled with both self-loathing and a Calvinist push towards walking off, dieting away, running from, and when all else fails, surgically sucking out unwanted fat.
Do men suffer as women do? I’m not sure—not when fat men on screen can bed and wed the loveliest of women; film and television reversals are unlikely. I believe being fat is painful for men. I simply don’t think they’re as reviled; they need to climb far higher up the scale to merit as much hate as heavy women.
I recently re-read (even re-bought, when I couldn’t find my copy) Food and Loathing by Betsy Lerner. From far too young, Lerner’s existence rested on her body size—real and perceived.
The book begins thusly:
“It is 1972. I am twelve years old. It is the first day of sixth grade, and I am standing in the girls’ gymnasium waiting to be weighed.”
If your flesh doesn’t crawl with those words, if you don’t want to either go running for a cream cheese smothered bagel, or conversely, vow to stop eating as of tomorrow, you may have grown up with a better sense of self-worth than Betsy or I.
The hatred of our flesh often has no bearing in reality. One of my best friends in the world begins each day pinching her flesh with callipered fingers and living for her daily-rationed cookie. She is tight and muscled and yet lives each day as though a sorcerer might drop fifty pounds on her at any moment.
Do I understand this?
I do.
I grew up with a thin mother who lived for leanness and beauty. My sister’s body mirrored hers. To the day she died at eighty, my mother would ask, “how’s your weight” each time we spoke, as though my ‘weight’ was a living-breathing entity separate from that which she liked about me.
Trying to hold in the stomach my mother hated, I sloughed her words off with sarcasm and sighs; still my life was frozen in moments: My mother hiding cookies in a pot on the top of the cabinets. (I got exercise climbing up.) Swiping the icing from the middle of the Entenmann’s cake until the double layered thing became thinner and thinner (but not me.)
I remember the horror of looking for a dress for my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah as my mother rolled her eyes and complained to the saleswomen about her disgust at the lack of gowns into which I could zip. Last week I had to search for old family photos for an article. While doing so, I came across a picture of me at the Bar Mitzvah, wearing the gown.
Fourteen and thinking I was huge. I truly needed that champagne.
This was the ‘me’ that wanted to die from being so fat. I can’t believe I suffered as I did.
Of course, I found pictures where I was a bit plump. Truthfully, pictures where I am plain old fat. Even now it’s close to impossible to put them up. But I’ll put up a small collage here. And try to remember that I wasn’t deserving of loathing when I was fat. And yet I felt that I was–and by some, I truly was hated for the size of my body. Especially by myself. Despite being the same person.
We’re hated, we hate ourselves, and we learn to sneak our food. I devoured cookies that I hid in the bathroom hamper.
Betsy Lerner joined Overeaters Anonymous in junior high, where she learned to divide food into forbidden and good. She became either a compulsive eater or a compulsive dieter, depending on the day, the month, and the moment. When binging, real life was always a day away. When dieting, she considered herself abstinent.
Food and Loathing is not a self-help book; it’s no guide for losing weight. Nor is it a companionable hug for staying heavy. It’s a mirror. It’s looking back, looking forward, or looking at who you are right this moment.
After finishing it, I thought (not for the first time, not for the last) about how much space I want to rent in my head to the mirror and to the scale. Right now, at this moment, this day, this week, this month, this minute, I am sorta okay, and that’s probably okay. I think that perhaps, sorta-okay is as good as it gets with acceptance for some of us.
When you grow up with hamper cookies and sighs, getting to sorta-okay when you look in the mirror can be a damned miracle.
