703: How I Lost More Than a Quarter Ton and Gained a Life »

Nancy Makin went from being on disability and homebound in subsidized housing to becoming a motivational speaker. She has appeared on Oprah and Good Morning America. Makin lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

A moving, funny, tongue-in-cheek, and deadly serious story about how one woman lost and found herself by going online.

Foreword: My Son's Perspective ix

Preface: A View from the Crow's Nest/My Turn xi

Chapter 1 Puget Sound/Relative Calm 1

Chapter 2 Dangerous Waters/Out of This World and into the Abyss 11

Chapter 3 Thrown Overboard/Unhappy Reunion 24

Chapter 4 A Fish Out of Water/Landlocked in the Midwest 35

Chapter 5 Hook, Line and Sinker/Swimming with the Sharks 45

Chapter 6 Pike Place Market Special/Can Anyone Love This Day-Old Fish? 68

Chapter 7 Dropping Anchor/Landlubbers 79

Chapter 8 A Seismic Shift/Tsunami 85

Chapter 9 Pinewood Estates/Have I Finally Found Dry Land? 101

Chapter 10 Crying Uncle/Giving Up the Ship 117

Chapter 11 A Cook with No Galley/Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire 135

Chapter 12 She's Listing! She's Listing!/Does This Sheet Make Me Look Fat? 150

Chapter 13 Navigating Without a Compass/Going Down for the Third Time 169

Chapter 14 An Unlikely Salvation/Rescue at Sea 179

Chapter 15 On to Valhalla/Mom Goes Under the Waves 198

Chapter 16 Scraping the Barnacles off My Hull/ Rechristening the Good Ship Nancy 204

Chapter 17 Sea of Opportunities/The World Is My Oyster 213

Chapter 18 Getting Back My Sea Legs/Thighplasty 238

Chapter 19 Out of the Blue/Media Storm Approaching 255

Chapter 20 Food for Thought/Some Hearty Fare 279

Acknowledgments 285