This sensitive, sympathetic book helps readers determine whether or not weight-loss surgery is right for them. Author Michelle Ritchie shares both her personal journey as a successful weight-loss surgery patient and her professional advice as an experienced weight-loss counselor. In sometimes funny, sometimes painful prose, she discusses her life before and after surgery and bluntly analyzes her own complicity in her obesity. As she describes her four-year battle to maintain her new, healthy weight, Ritchie emphasizes personal responsibility, reminding readers that surgery is not a quick-fix solution but a tool that works only as well as the choices patients make after the procedure. Also included are a detailed description of gastric bypass surgery; its pros and cons; tips for keeping weight off after surgery; daily food plans and sample shopping lists; information on cross-addictions; and a thoughtful discussion on intimacy and relationships after surgery.

Fletch (Chevy Chase), a reporter with a habit of assuming different disguises, flies to the enormous Louisiana home left to him in a will, only to find it a ruin. Before he can leave, a woman drops dead and he becomes embroiled in a murder mystery. Sequel to the 1985 original.