The end of the year is approaching and you may be thinking more than usual about your health and well-being. Winter holidays bring sweet treats and big helpings of every comfort food, but the year won’t end without the media telling us that our New Year’s resolutions should revolve around diet and exercise. It’s a battle.
As a woman, I felt that extra pressure to stay slim. I also wondered what other women had to say about weight loss and diet claims.
I scoured the internet and my library for the best body books written by women who understand the burden of societal expectations. I read reviews from other well-known authors, critics, and media organizations and researched what other bookworms had to say. From those reviews, I’ve put together this curated list of the most popular and famous books about loving your own body.
Whether you want to accept yourself more or just want to read, these books are for all of us.
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Writer, teacher and avid twitter user Roxane Gay published her seventh book and first memoir, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, in 2017. It quickly became a New York Times bestseller for her honesty about weight gain and the struggle with food. , health and body image.
I currently have two other books by Roxane Gay in my library: Bad Feminist and Not That Bad. Both are a collection of essays by Gay and other contributing writers. I’m a fan of creative non-fiction, and Gay captures exactly what I love about the genre in all three books – authenticity.
In Hunger, Gay explains that her memoir isn’t a weight loss success story and she won’t describe how she went from plus size to slim. (Spoiler alert: she’s not losing weight.) Instead, what Gay is learning is much more, like self-love, compassion, companionship, and acceptance.
Gay does not write on a pedestal. She speaks to her audience directly and in a way that someone who has also struggled with body acceptance would understand.
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“It’s a book about my body, about my hunger, and ultimately it’s a book about disappearance and loss and longing, the desire to be seen and understood. It is a book about learning, however slow, to allow myself to be seen and understood.” —Roxane Gay
You might like this book if…
You like raw and vulnerable work or prefer writing non-fiction or memoirs. This book is for those who are not looking for the perfect ending to a fairy tale, but are looking for a relatable, human work.
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After a highly successful online career, blogger, photographer and self-love advocate, Jes Baker has released her first book, Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living. His blog, The Militant Bakerhas been featured in leading media, such as Time Magazine, People, Buzzfeed and CNN.
Things No One Will Say To Fat Girls: A Handbook For Shameless Living details the life-changing movement of learning to love your body. At the forefront of the fight, Baker encourages his readers to cast off the shame of fat and challenge preconceptions about the “perfect body.”
Baker writes that her book is for those with bodies that are tired of apologizing. She believes you should be allowed and should be doing all the things that make you happy, which includes just being able to live your life.
A unique aspect of this book is that it includes challenges. Baker calls them “The Fat People: Do All the Things” challenges. The idea is based on one of his satirical blog posts calling out things fat people aren’t allowed to do. Readers can choose to participate by accepting these challenges.
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“The world tells us more often that we are good people than anything else. Funny, creative, intelligent, commutative, generous, maybe even extraordinary. What we are not told is that our bodies are perfect just the way they are. . Like never. We are taught that our exterior is imperfect, and not only that, but the majority of our value lies in our physical appearance. —Jes Baker
You might like this book if…
You are someone who wants something more than a book. Jes Baker’s guide is for those who want to make lessons from this book and the self-love movement a lifestyle.
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If you’ve followed any body positivity accounts or positive women on Instagram in the past couple of years, chances are you’ve heard of this book by Caroline Dooner. As a former dieter, Dooner cured his unhealthy obsession with food and weight.
Dooner thinks you don’t need to change your diet or try anything new — you need to change the way you think about food. She says diets aren’t sustainable, at least not long-term, and thinks subjecting your body to constant dieting and binging is not a healthy or enjoyable way to live.
A heartfelt and humorous memoir, The F*ck it Diet: Eating Should Be Easy encourages readers to eat. This means understanding when your body is hungry and meeting your body’s needs with food. Dooner says eating should be simple, and she breaks it down to its truest, most natural form.
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“When you eat, you actually bring ‘the earth’ into your body – you bond to the planet and keep you alive. It gives weight to your physical existence. The act of eating and returning to your body requires you to accept being human. It asks us to integrate into the most uncomfortable, messy, earthy, painful, and lowest parts of our existence. -Caroline Dooner
You might like this book if….
Looking to laugh as you read, Dooner does a great job describing and making fun of the struggles we all face. The book, which sounds like laughing and talking with a friend, is for those looking to stop feeling guilty about eating and gaining weight.
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Former beauty fanatic Anuschka Rees wrote Beyond Beautiful: A Practical Guide to Being Happy, Confident, and You in a Looks-Obsessed World as a captivating self-care publication. Don’t just take my word for it – Caroline Dooner (author of The F*ck it Diet above) called this book “the self-confidence bible every woman should read”.
More than beautiful reads like a guide for a college course, and the first chapter is aptly named Body Image 101. I learned a lot from this book, for example, I had never heard of the term “neutral body”. Rees explains that being body positive is a step in the right direction, as we need to change beauty standards in society, but we also need to be body neutral. It’s a call to respect ourselves as human beings, not just the body parts we shrink and disassemble.
Rees’ guide is unique in that over 600 real women were interviewed about their struggles with body image. Their quotes and real-life stories are scattered throughout the chapters. There are also reflection questions, colorful illustrations and advice on when and how to get professional help.
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“A healthy body image is a bit like a good work-life balance: we know we really want it, but we don’t know 100% what it really looks like or how to get it. And the fact that body image is such a hot topic right now hasn’t made it any easier; because mixed in with all the good advice, there’s a whole load of conflicting information and misconceptions that have further muddled the waters. —Anuschka Rees
You might like this book if….
Looking to take a crash course in positive body image and self-love. I would recommend this guide to anyone new to the current movement and want to learn but don’t know where to start.
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Lindy West began her writing career as an opinion writer for The New York Times. With this professional background, you wouldn’t expect West to produce writing as comedic as his memoir, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman..
The title of these memoirs may sound familiar to you – as it did to me – because the book has recently been adapted into a Hulu series of the same name, with Aidy Bryant of Saturday Night Live. Bryant’s performance on the show earned him a nomination for a 2021 Primetime Emmy as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
West’s Shrill: Notes of a Loud Woman is a feminist, and mostly humorous, attack on women’s body image. It describes the experience of many women who feel the need to shrink in order to hide and blend into society. West writes about his personal struggles with bodyweight and that exact feeling.
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“Please remember, I am my body. When my body gets smaller, it’s still me. When my body gets bigger, it’s always me. There’s not a thin woman inside of me waiting for a dig. I am one piece.” –Lindy West
You might like this book if…
Looking to expand your library on feminist commentary, especially around body positivity. This memoir is also for those who love or are interested in Roxanne Gay’s Hunger. Both are of the same genre and tell a story with intimate details.
Why these books are important
This is far from an exhaustive list of body-positive books. As this movement becomes more popular, I hope this list grows and the audience grows.
These books are important because they offer a voice to those who feel shamed or belittled by the diet and culture of excessive exercise. They also provide a supportive community for those struggling with society’s beauty and weight standards.
A positive body image and self-love are ideals everyone should bring into the New Year. Hoping that these books encourage you and guide you towards a deeper self-love.
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The information in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute medical or health advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have about a medical condition or health goals.
