In a world full of influencers trying to teach us metabolism hacks, punishing exercises, and focusing on what we can’t—or shouldn’t—eat, what if we just listened to our bodies? 

A combination of personal reflections on healing a lifetime of body shame and professional opinions about the toxic nature of diet culture, Lindsay Carney’s Living Over Dieting: A Mid-Sized Girl’s Guide to Reclaiming Your Life and Accepting Your Now Body is like an honest conversation with your best friend. 

Whether you are recovering from a clinically diagnosed eating disorder or body dysmorphia or just feel defeated by the fruitless pursuit of performative health, this book is for you. 

Since about age 10, Lindsay trained herself to suck in her stomach. 

Growing up in the ‘90s, she felt like her body was the wrong shape. As a young teen, she tried Slimfast, Weight Watchers and the Ab Roller to no avail. While her friends sported bikinis at the pool, she wore a one-piece with shorts. Everywhere she looked, she saw girls with thigh-gaps and flat stomachs that looked nothing like her own. She was a baggy t-shirt girl in a low-rise jeans and crop-top world.

College Lindsay was a barista who felt taunted by the pastry case. Always on a restrictive diet, she became obsessed with finding the will to say no to food. Lindsay’s unhealthy relationship with food intensified after getting engaged and planning a wedding. She spent hours at the gym, trying to tone love handles and armpit fat. As a young wife and mom, the changes that came from carrying and giving birth to three children sent her into an even more toxic cycle of body shame and food guilt.

After years of hating her body and wrestling with what felt like an addiction to food, Lindsay began her healing journey in early 2018. Feeling desperate, in a frantic search for professional help, she stumbled upon the Health at Every Size (HAES) and anti-diet movement. Immersing herself in this community allowed her to begin redefining and reclaiming her health—body and mind.

As Lindsay’s personal transformation took place, she began seeing how influenced she had been by toxic messages about health, diet, and body shape. The more she looked, the more her eyes were opened to the collective suffering many people are experiencing at the hands of diet culture. As a licensed clinical social worker, Lindsay felt inspired to specialize in helping other women overcome body shame. As she shared her experience with clients and bits and pieces on her personal FB page, she had a vision to create something bigger. And thus, Living Over Dieting was born.