So I Need to Lose 15 pounds

Shiho Torii
One Peace Books (2009)
ISBN 9780978508432
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (5/09) 


Weight loss is one of the favorite topics of today’s society. It seems it’s all revolving around the weight nowadays…which starlet lost too much weight, who put on a few extra pounds, what are the latest diet fads… that cookie one should not have eaten last night… not to mention the pint of ice-cream. Low-fat… low-carb… low GI… miraculous gym equipment… new weight loss supplements… I do not know about you, but I am more than confused about what one should or should not be doing nowadays.

“So I Need to Lose 15 pounds” by Shiho Torii is finally bringing some clarity into all this confusion. The author was issued a challenge to lose 15 pounds in 5 months, while documenting the process to be later published in a mange format. So, 27 more or less successful – and more or less pleasant - methods later the challenge was met and the book was born. While I would never call it the ultimate reference on weight loss, the book offers a wide variety of suggestions, and much more importantly, deals with those methods in an extremely personal and brave manner. It does not gloss over the infuriating phase of the weight loss plateau, it does not try to make the colon cleanse sound romantic, and above all, it does not tell you that losing the weight is easy and always fun. What it does, though, is to reinforce the fact that weight loss is doable and that everybody’s path to it will – and should! – be different. What might work wonders for your friends could prove to be an absolute waste of time for yourself.

I am by no means an expert on Japanese manga, but I can tell you if I like something or not. Shiho Torii’s book, besides being honest and useful, is incredibly cute. Her characters convey an incredible range of emotions; I would even venture to say that most of those emotions would be perfectly understandable without the text. That does not mean the text should be omitted – I loved the tone of the book and the narrator’s very distinctive voice. While I bet this was not an easy work to translate, given all the cultural references, I found the translation fluid and fresh.

I am decidedly not going to try out some of the described methods, either due to their inaccessibility or the plain gross-out factor, but I am more than willing to go an make myself a cup of ginger tea. While it probably won’t melt any of the unwanted poundage, it will make me feel better according to Shiho Torii in “So I Need to Lose 15 pounds.” And I am inclined to believe somebody who was so willing to sacrifice her sanity to create this enchanting book – and improve her self-image in the process!

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