Before & After, Revised Edition: Living and Eating Well After Weight-Loss Surgery,   ISBN:9780061242854

Customer Rating: 

This is a fantastic book. It was well written by someone who has experienced the surgery and is over 6 years out. It was informative, practical and has some terriffic recipes to boot!

Customer Rating: 

At first, I was very excited to find "Before and After" because it seemed to be a personal account of someone's weight loss surgery journey, rather than a dry, nuts-and-bolts information book. Her journal is very interesting to read, but I felt like much of her advice and recipes is a little unrealistic for the average person.

Most of her journal entries talk about extragavant trips she took (Vegas, London, etc.) and her struggles dining at fancy restaurants. While eating out IS a big temptation after weight loss surgery, it's not the only one. What about how to prepare dinner for family? Or how to make it through a co-worker's birthday party? The journal seemed somewhat idealized, with emphasis on choosing the right foods whle eating out rather than the emotional struggles that go on after the surgery.

The recipes were equally unrealistic. While many of them sound delicious, they are obviously for people who do not work, have kids, etc. They are also not for people who live in a "normal" city where you can't buy international food at every corner.

I also got a little tired of hearing about her website, which I felt like she shamelessly advertised at every opportunity. I did go to the website, and unfortunately found that the products were VERY expensive. Although they may be good quality, and it would certainly be convenient to order everything from one place, the products aren't really accessible to someone on even the loosest of budgets.

If you want some light reading on the subject, or you can afford (time-and money-wise) to follow the recipes she gives, then this book is for you. Otherwise, you may want to look elsewhere.

Customer Rating: 

a little too focused on the joy of eating afterwards... Not everyone has the money to jet off to Vegas for the weekend or the opportunity to go to Germany and sample the local quisine in small very expensive quantities. While I found this book inspirational and moving in parts, it also seemed impractical for people who have day jobs and responsibilities that they cannot leave for extended periods of time... however, I got the point of discovering a whole new life. Good but hard to relate to.

Customer Rating: 

Easy read with a wealth of sensible eating guidelines for the seriously eating disordered person. Recipes are easy to prepare and the ones I tried were delicious.

Customer Rating: 

I found this book to be frustrating. As someone who has had a weight loss surgery procedure, I found her lack of personal insight annoying. She mostly discusses her extensive travel, fancy clothing labels and gourmet dining experiences; that is, when she's not plugging her own website and products. This book seemed like a vanity project and nothing more.

What a person really wants and needs when researching WLS is a real and honest account of the ups and downs, before AND after surgery. They need to know that they aren't alone in their destructive behaviors and failures. Ms. Leach doesn't discuss how she got big in the first place, what behaviors lead to such a dramatic weight gain, etc. This book is mostly one long description of her privleged lifestyle and perfect figure (after plastic surgery). There are patients out there who don't have these pie-in-the-sky options, and I wonder how this book could possibly relate to them.

Additionally, over half of this book is dedicated to recipes. Recipes, by the way, that are not for the average working Joe/Josephine with children and several require you to buy products from her website in order to prepare them properly.

If you must read this "memoir", I would not suggest buying it. Check it out from your local library, or - better yet - find a more informational and substantial read elsewhere.