Announcing a new website and a new look!

Great news, sports fans! The new website for I Will Not Diet is up and running.

Like this original site, the new I Will Not Diet has blog posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the gallery of gorgeous women, and tips for healthy living/losing weight without dieting. It also includes more info about my history as well as a new section called “Unburden Yourself” where you can tell your stories and, if you’re brave enough, post your weight.

You can check out the new site here:

http://www.iwillnotdiet.com

Also, be sure to subscribe at the new site because this site will cease existence one week from today.

I have to admit that launching the new website is a little bittersweet. I’ve been using this site on blogspot for over two years, so it’s hard to say goodbye.

It’s interesting to think about the fact that when I started I Will Not Diet, I told myself I wouldn’t spend any time or money on the design of the site until I proved that it was something that would stand the test of time—both for my readers and for me.

I honestly never imagined I Will Not Diet would become what it is now—something bigger than me, something about more than just my struggles to lose weight without dieting, which is how it all started. Now I’m not even sure I want to lose weight anymore. This blog has had that much of an effect on me. Yes, I want to be healthy, but I also want to believe what I preach—that beauty comes in more than one size. And if that’s the case, then losing weight is besides the point.

I have to also say that I struggled to create a logo and a website that I thought fit the message fo the blog but also didn’t look too cute if you know what I mean. My web designer, Kara Thurmond, has spent months working through this with me, and I want to thank her for her patience, her tenacity, and her talent.

Hope to see you all on the other side!

P.S. I may have to add the Statue of Liberty to the Gallery of Gorgeous Women since she is the first lady of natural beauty.

Happy birthday! Happy blogoversary!

Today is my 41st birthday and the second anniversary of the blog. To celebrate, I am announcing a special offer.

My first book, How to Survive Graduate School & Other Disasters, is coming out in May and up for pre-sale now at http://www.mainstreetrag.com/MMcCaffery.html for just $8 + shipping. As an added bonus, anyone who pre-orders the book before the end of my birthday (midnight April 5th) will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble.

How to Survive Graduate School & Other Disasters is a collection of short stories about everyone from graduate students to Girl Scouts, from teenagers to retirees. These stories are set in Cincinnati, New Jersey, Indiana, Baltimore, East Berlin, and Washington, D.C., but all of them have one thing in common: they are stories about surviving the disasters and dysfunctional relationships we all have with friends, family, and lovers.

Though no single story in HOW TO SURVIVE is explicitly about women’s body issues, all of them feature women who struggle with how they see themselves.

In the title story, “How to Survive Your Last Year of Graduate School,” the main character is reluctant to use her body to get ahead in academia, but ultimately realizes she must at least appear to play the game, causing her to do something she almost never does:

“You wear a skirt.

And knee-high boots.

With black stockings.

And you saunter into [your department chair’s] office like the slut you used to be in college, all hip and ass because you don’t really have the breasts. You tell him how excited you are about your defense, you tell him that your dissertation director has given you the go-ahead and how much you’ve appreciated his guidance over the past five years.

He is moved.

He blushes.

He looks at your knees.

In “The Lake in Winter,” a young woman’s self esteem is so low that she is willing to put herself in dangerous positions with men she doesn’t know just to improve her standing among her peers:

“Violet is just average, and for her, a special boy comes around only as often as the seasons. So she feels like Ty is a prize, something to be cherished. She’s desperate to hold on to him. Even if she can’t do it in public. Even if almost no one else knows what they do. This means she goes along with him no matter how far across the line he travels. In the few weeks that Ty has been taking her to the airport, he has taught her to go further than she’s ever gone before, but the night in the ice-fishing shack is something entirely different.

And in many of the other stories, including "Himmel und Erde," the female characters see themselves as bland and unappealing:

“For every part of Sarah that shines, I have a part that is equally dull. My flat, dirt-colored hair hangs around my shoulders in uneven, nearly transparent strands. My empty gray eyes look at me every morning in the mirror and beg for more.

More beauty, more vitality.

More.”

If you don’t get around to ordering the book today but order before the end of the month, have no fear—there will be another drawing—this one for a free copy of Stephanie Klein’s Moose, an outstanding memoir about a slightly plump young girl who was sent, against her will, to fat camp.

Be sure to let me know you ordered (here on the blog, on Facebook, or via email at mollymccaffrey@yahoo.com), so I can include you in the birthday or April drawing!

Thanks!

Molly

To be continued . . .

I am excited to report that I will be giving a talk about the blog tomorrow at Western Kentucky University (see the advertisement above). I've only given this talk once before—at the University of the South last year—so I'm still putting my presentation together. As a result, there won't be a new blog post today. But I do have something important to say about Halloween . . . so please check back soon!

Happy birthday! Happy anniversary!

195 pounds

It's not just my 40th birthday, it's also the first anniversary of this blog. A year ago I started writing about my desire to lose weight, and 112 posts later, I'm still here.

This is both good news and bad news . . .

. . . good because I still have so much to write about it. Just over the past few days, I've come across the inspiration for three or four more posts. It seems that, unfortunately, there is never a lack of material for someone writing about body issues.

. . . but bad because I haven't lost as much weight as I would like in the past year. I had really hoped to be in the 180s by now, but I guess it's not entirely fair to say this is bad news. The bottom line is that I weigh eight pounds less today than I did at this time a year ago. So that's definitely something.

To celebrate, I'm going to buy the blog a fabulous gift . . . a new website and a new look. Because isn't that all any of us want? A shiny new dress to make us feel amazing?

The new look won't be available until summer, but if you have any suggestions before then, feel free to let me know.

Also, I want to thank everyone out there who reads this blog—your comments over the past twelve months have kept me going every time I've started to lose momentum, and I can't thank you enough for that.

Happy anniversary, friends!