Bare

Approachable ~ Honest ~ Useful
tl:dr: You have hang-ups, so did Hyatt. She can tell you how she changed.

I am a book-cover judger, usually. I pick up books to read based on aesthetics. I read this one for the cover. But, I'm glad that I did. The book deals with how one woman learned to like herself, itself a transgressive act. Much of this book deals with weight and health. The author, rightly I believe, suggests all our outside manifestations of inaction and second-guessing come from internal challenges. She helps us address these challenges. This is an honest, straight-forward self-help book. I appreciated her matter-of-fact tone.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the cover of this book, and it rightly gave me the impression that it would be different than usual self help books. I didn't initially realize that BARE was a process, but the author quickly let us know that it is. The author herself was able to lose weight, and keep it off, by practicing listening to your body, understanding what makes us reach for food and how to combat that. I like this premise a lot, and I'll incorporate it into my life, and by the time this is published, I hope to have an edit that will include my own wins from using the BARE method.

In her second book, Bare, Susan Hyatt presents a badass, feminist approach to transforming your body and your life. Inside this book, you’ll learn: How to treat your body with care, love, and respect—not hateful criticism. How to shed everything that’s weighing you down, physically and mentally. How to de-stress at the end of the day without relying on excessive food, alcohol, Netflix binging, and other habits that clog up your mind and drain your energy.How to stop obsessing about your body and focus on the priorities that really matter in life—like rocking your career, writing your novel, learning a foreign language, contributing to your community, or otherwise leaving your legacy.

"This book is dedicated to every woman who has ever felt uncomfortable in her own skin, not pretty enough, not good enough, or not worthy of attention, respect, or love. You are worth all of that and so much more." The author right away uplifted me by dedicating this book to all of us who have felt less than perfect. She gives us a brake down of what we can do to help us shed the unwanted weight. I've always struggled with weight issues so this is a refreshing new take on weight loss.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of #Bare
Pub Date: 05 Mar 2019

I am in love with this book. I'm not normally a "self-help" reader. This book, though...this book is revolutionary in the way we as women think about ourselves. Hyatt bases her 7 steps on a very simple question: "What would feel like love?" Whoa. LOVE? We spend so much beating ourselves down and destroying ourselves in an effort to look good and be who we think society wants us to be that we're actually missing out on life! By asking what would feel like love, we can move beyond punishing ourselves and truly learn the art of self-care. Susan Hyatt really hits deep in this book and I, for one, will be giving this book to all of my females friends and family members.

Stellar. Filled with so many healing insights and an array of wonderfully fresh exercises. While most self-help books follow a tried-and-true path with a sprinkling of Inspiring, new suggestions, BARE is dripping with unique treasures. I originally wasn’t thrilled with the anecdotes, but upon reflection that marinates the ideas here, I found them to add to the strength of messaging. This is the kind of book that delivers more and more wisdom with each return to read it again.

Bare was incredible, informative, and reading it, it felt like talking to a well-meaning friend.
Bare was honest and to the point, complete with exercise and notes to be filled later.

One minus point in my opinion, however, was that Susan did not include some tips for when the reader fall off the track. I mean, that happened, right?

But overall, it was a satisfying read and it already formed a 'what feels like love now?' in me.

5/5

<i>(I received a digital ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)</i>

This is a great book if you are a woman that needs to begin self-care and learning empowerment. If you have a voice and need to learn to use it, if you need to start simply, easing into changing your health and your overall well-being, this is the book to read.

Hyatt offers extended training and coaching via her website, and although nothing new is presented in this book or on her website that hasn't been covered before to some of us, it nonetheless is a refreshing approach for women who are just realizing that their true self is screaming to be released and present in the world.

At this time in the world, when women from all walks of life are rising up and claiming their power, this book is a gateway for those women who have yet to set upon a journey of self-exploration and, especially to younger women who may lack the confidence to step out and be seen.

Content: The book talks about the 7 week BARE process by Susan Hyatt. Instead of believing in meal plans and a structured (read restrictive) diet, Hyatt believes in mindful eating and taking care of your environment. The approach is definitely not new but presented well by Hyatt.

Writing: The book reads well and doesn't lag anywhere. The writing is conversational and easy to go through.

Miscellaneous: I believe that mindset is very important in weight loss success but I also know that it's important to understand some basics of weight loss process, things like muscle building, whole grains, transfats and cardiac health. This info would have been a nice addition to the book.

I received a free copy of the book from Netgalley. It doesn't influence my opinion in any way.

This book was received as an ARC from BenBella Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I have read a lot of inspiring novels and weight loss, better you books in my career but this one I feel is extra personal because of Susan incorporating her personal experiences and struggles that made me feel as the reader not alone and part of a conversation as if we were meeting for lunch or coffee. I also loved the tips she had in the novel of real life situations such as social media and how to avoid toxic posts, tv shows and people in your life and I know from experience that can definitely lead to downfall. Susan was very encouraging and sincere when writing this book and sometimes that is what readers need when embarking this journey.

We will consider adding this title to our Non-Fiction section at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

I thought this book had a lot of sincere, encouraging advice that is not at all degrading to women who are overweight or want to lose weight. The writing style was very accessible, and I took away a lot of wisdom from the book. However, I am not sure how well her method would work for someone who truly struggles from a genetic standpoint. Will her method be enough? Her weight gain resulted from a terrible personal trauma, and it does not seem like she was genetically predisposed to weight gain before that. For anyone who eats because of emotional trauma or in the place of love and comfort, this book would be very helpful. Honestly, I think everyone eats for comfort sometimes, and this book can give some perspective on that. Saying that Weight Watchers does not work at all is denying that it does work, and I have personally seen it work for many people who have struggled with weight their entire lives. Of course, Weight Watchers is not fun. If I had a choice, I would much rather lose weight the way this author is suggesting. Seeing how thin she actually is, though, it makes me feel like she probably cannot truly relate to someone who has never been at an ideal weight, even in childhood. I believe a lot of her ideas would work though. I also believe you'll be a lot happier with your life in general if you take her advice. This is not a weight loss book that will make you feel bad, which is awesome. When I looked at her personal website, I did not find it nearly as approachable as I found her in the book. It seemed very (thin) image-driven and money-driven.