cover image The Skinny: How to Fit Into Your Little Black Dress Forever

The Skinny: How to Fit Into Your Little Black Dress Forever

Robin Aronson, Melissa Clark. Meredith Corporation, $22.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-696-23242-8

The brilliance of this fun-to-read munching manifesto is its ability to adapt itself to the vagaries of real-world eating; the writer-editor authors understand the temptations of workaday life and lazy weekends and provide practical tips that allow even dieting dropouts a bit of the leeway they crave. Underscoring the importance of portion size, the duo explains how to avoid recreational eating. In light-hearted prose aimed at women, the authors suggest eating ""like a food writer""-sampling favorite foods and discarding the rest. Convinced that the lion's share of overeating stems from boredom, they explain how ""breaking a food rut at home"" can jump-start dieting results. ""The Skinny on Drinks"" may be the most valuable chapter, as it reminds readers just how many pounds those Cosmos and Frappuccinos can pack on. Packed with little black dress-friendly recipes that are simple to whip up, this upbeat guide is fun enough to bring any veteran calorie counter back from the dieting doldrums.