Product Description

Valerie Bertinelli, then: bubbly sitcom star and America's Sweetheart turned tabloid headline and rock star wife. Now: actress, single working mother of teenage rock star, and weight-loss inspiration to millions.

We all knew and loved Valerie Bertinelli years ago when she was girl-next-door cutie Barbara Cooper in the hit TV show One Day at a Time, and more recently when she starred in numerous TV movies and co-starred in Touched by an Angel. From wholesome prime time in America's living rooms, Valerie moved to late nights with the hardest-partying band of the decadent eighties when she became, at twenty, wife to rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Losing It is Valerie's frank account of her life backstage and in the spotlight: the ups and downs of teen stardom, her complicated marriage to a brilliant, tormented musical genius, the joys of motherhood, and her very public struggle with her weight.

Surprising, uplifting, and empowering, Losing It chronicles Valerie's journey as she finds new love, raises a terrific kid, and motivates other women to take back their lives.Amazon.com Review
A Note to Amazon Readers (and a Q&A) from Valerie Bertinelli

Dear Amazon Customer,

Glad to see you here and hopefully purchasing my book. I've heard if you buy multiple copies it's a better experience--a better one for me!But seriously, I'm usually on Amazon, too. I've been buying books through the site for ten years. I enjoy reading the reviews. I get a good sense of the book, and I like to hear what other people have to say. Like in a traditional bookstore, I can look at the cover, peek inside the book, and check out the bestseller lists.

Valerie

1. Do you have a favorite character from a book? I love Scout and Atticus from To Kill A Mockingbird.
2. If you can be any character from a book, who would you like to be? I would like to be Scarlett and I would let Rhett know how much I love him.
3. How do you decide what next book you want to read? If it’s for my book group, whoever hosts the next gathering picks the book, so it’s picked for me seven out of eight times.But on my own, I read reviews and ask people whose taste I like what they’re reading.
4. Where’s your favorite place to read? Either lying in bed or on the sofa next to the fireplace.
5. What is your favorite genre? I don’t really have one.

Customer Reviews (241)

Losing it and gaining my life back one pund at a time
This book came very quickly, it excellant condition. It was a very quick read. I highly reccammend this bood and seller.

Fascinating Read
Valerie comes across very honest regarding her self-esteem issues and her marriage.Seeing Ed Van Halen through her eyes reminded me of Constanze Mozart in the 1984 movie "Amadeus" who's love and constant pleading could not stop her gifted husband from destroying himself. Why is it that musical geniuses are so self destructive? Valerie comes to grips with the fact that Ed is the only one who can help Ed with his addictive personality, while she finally overcomes her own demons. People tend to put gifted musicians and actors upon pedistals so they can worship them. Pleasantly, the reader finds that Ed and Valerie are as human as the rest of us.This book is a page turner. I enjoyed the chapter titles that were plays on-or actually titles of- Van Halen compositions. You don't have to be a fan of Van Halen or Valerie Bertinelli to enjoy this book. In fact, you may become a fan of Valerie's after reading this book!

Inspirational writing
I found this book very interesting as it not only talks about her troubling weight problem throughout her life but also her marriage ups & downs with a well known rock star. Valerie is close to my age and having just gone through a divorce myself and losing 18kilos, I found her story very positive & encouraging. I saw her commercial for Jenny Craig, the bikini picture and I bought her exercise DVD as well, if she can look like that at her age even though she had been over weight, I decided why cant I.

Loved it
Good read. Could not put it down. Bias: Lifetime member of Jenny Craig since the late 1990's.

Similar to Maureen McCormick's bio...
I was unimpressed by Valerie's skills as an author. But she writes a light little book about her life and struggles, though it's hard to sympathize with her complaints about her looks and weight. It's obvious she's beautiful and curvy and has had a blessed life.

I enjoyed learning new facts about Van Halen.

I wish the library audiobook I listened to had been read by Bertinelli rather than some strange woman. I mean,
she's an actress, right?

Her new show "Hot in Cleveland" isn't too bad.

But borrow this book from your library instead of purchasing it yourself, unless you like frothy, Marsha Brady-like writing. ... Read more

Product Description
Welcome back to chez Bertinelli, where life is as crazy and comical as ever. In revealing talks with her longtime boyfriend, Tom, Valerie gets even more personal about her inner worries: her maternal anxieties about her son, Wolfie (he’s fallen in love and, as she writes, "getting your sex talk from Eddie Van Halen wasn’t recommended in any of the parenting books I read"); the challenges of dealing with a blended family; her mother’s own new diet adventure; and a craving for a deeper relationship with a Higher Power ("I have experienced days of inner peace and connectedness with a larger spirit—twice," she writes. "Why not more often?"). And as if these everyday challenges weren’t enough, Valerie is working to maintain her own very public weight loss and approaching her fiftieth birthday. This is the story of what happens after you change your life. And it’s not all peaches and cream, or even low-fat yogurt.

This inspiring memoir, from the beloved actress and author of the bestseller Losing It, is an optimistic story for trying times. Warm and friendly, honest and self-aware—with the same winning wit and candor that touched a generation of fans in Losing It—Finding It is about working on all the reasons we gain weight in the first place so that it doesn’t happen again. It’s about becoming better, not just thinner. And it’s about believing in love and happiness, having faith that both are possible, and finding out that God does want you to enjoy life’s desserts—even when you’re on a diet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

Open minds anyone?
On a recent trip I listened to the audio version of this book.Perhaps it's because I'm almost exactly Ms. Bertinelli's age, or because I've been a fan ever since the 70's or because I have a HUGE (pun intended) issue with food, but personally I LOVED IT!

For those of you who don't quite get the point, let me break it down for you.
Recovery, whether it is from drugs, alchohol or compulsive eating is about learning how to function on a daily basis, throughout all of lifes small and large challenges and opportunities without indulging in your personal drug of choice (food in my case).

I definately did NOT feel like she was preaching politics, she was just sharing her experience. How, as the country was in the midst of "change", she was too.

I felt that the book was immensely helpful, giving me a birds eye view of "maintenance" and how she personally learned to cope.

Those of us with food issues are on a daily quest to find our path.Thanks Valerie for helping me put a few more pieces of the puzzle together!

Great next step/phase book for lifelong dieters
Terrific book - totally honest and insightful on how to accomplish and maintain better health for life

The realities of weight maintenance
So you've finally reached your goal weight. Now you can fit in your favorite pair of jeans again or some other piece of clothing you haven't worn in ages. Now what? Don't pull out the wagon of fat and call it a day! Losing the weight is a journey in itself, but keeping it off is tough.

Valerie Bertinelli sheds light on the reality of working hard to ensure the fat doesn't come back. Her mom's health scares and son's impending manhood would've made her run for the fridge in the past, but knowing her stress points keep her from relying on food to help her cope. Her tapping into her spirituality helps alot too.

Finding It isn't as good as Losing It because of a few slow spots. Not to mention her constant fretting over whether or not her son Wolfie (cute name) is sexually active (keep it private, Val!). However, I highly recommend it to anyone dealing with the difficulties of maintaining a healthy weight. It pays off.

Not so good.
The first book and DVD are good. But this book I could have done without.

How Valerie Found It
You may know Valerie Bertinelli from the hit TV series from the 1970's, One Day at a Time. I was a fan of her show which is what prompted me to get her book. I always found it refreshing to see her in the Jenny Craig commercials with her bubbly personality and enthusiasm connected with her weight loss and her love of life.

That same enthusiasm is apparent in her book titled, Finding It, the sequel to her book titled, Losing It, which is her point of view on her experience with weight loss.

When I heard she wrote the sequel, Finding it, which talks about her spiritual and family relationships, I was intrigued. And in the reading, I wasn't disappointed.

I loved Valerie's honesty, her frankness, and her wit as she shares her discovery of what 'maintenance' would mean to her with keeping her new found size in her success of weight loss.

I was refreshed by her point of view in undergoing a transformation that didn't just include numbers on a scale but also the strength and importance of her relationships, especially with her boyfriend, Tom, her son, Wolfie, and her other family and friend relationships, including her parents and former spouse Ed Van Halen.

She talks multi-dimensionally about her role as a mom in Wolfie's life: her disappointments, her desire to be cool and yet accomplish what she deemed as important steps in guiding him toward maturity, and ultimately her delight in connecting with and loving him.

I found myself cheering her on as she elaborates on her quest to get into a bikini. She discusses her support system she finds in her relationship with Tom and her trainer, and with her Mom and Dad.

The connection she feels spiritually, from all parts of life, is a relevant thread throughout her book which adds depth and heightened universal meaning.

One of my favorite parts of Valerie's book are her "Notes to Myself" which contain inspiring ideas related to food and to life, things she wants to accomplish, and relevant quotes containing universal appeal. I love her wit and enthusiasm and realistic point of view in these Notes.

I enjoyed Valerie's contagious passion and love for life in Finding It. Apparently, she found it. ... Read more

Product Description
273 pages ... Read more

Product Description
High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Valerie Anne Bertinelli (born April 23, 1960) is an American actress, best known for her role as Ann Romano's daughter, Barbara Cooper Royer, on the television series One Day at a Time.Bertinelli was born in Wilmington, Delaware to Irish/Italian-American parents Nancy (née Carvin) and Andy Bertinelli (a General Motors executive). She had an older brother, Mark, who died at 17 months from an accidental poisoning before Valerie was born. Along with her other three brothers, one older and two younger, the family lived in Claymont, Delaware, and Clarkston, Michigan. They later moved to Oklahoma City before moving to the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles, California, where Bertinelli studied acting at the Tami Lynn School of Artists. She attended Granada Hills High School until 1978 but did not graduate. As of January 2008, she was pursuing the last few credits needed for her high school diploma. She was raised Catholic. ... Read more

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Bi-Monthly magazine for the over 50 year old American ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

I enjoyed this book!
Valerie did an excellent job writing her first book. We have some things in common (other than the eating disorder) which made it all the more interesting. I live in the Shreveport area now and lived in Maryland as a child (1964-1967) but mostly grew up in Oklahoma. I keep wondering what her life would have been like if the GM plant there hadn't been canceled. It sounds like Wolfie (her only child) is the light of her life and I'm glad she found a new guy after Ed. Just by chance, if you happen to read this Valerie, I wish you a Happy Birthday next week!

A Real Look at Life
In this non-fiction memoir, Valerie shares her journey from beginning of her career as an actress to when she started on Jenny Craig and how that was successful. It delved into how her mind worked from the beginning and how she was able to change her way of thinking. She always made sure to mention it wasn't easy at first but the results she saw kept her motivated to keep going.

I admire Ms. Bertinelli for sticking things out. There was a lot of stress on her life maybe even more so than I can think of. Being an emotional eater certainly didn't help but she was able to work on it and work through it.

It's an every day thing that she works on. I really enjoyed her honesty. I do my best not to pry into other people's lives. Celebrities need their privacy too. Yet if it is blasted across the papers, it's difficult to ignore it. A lot of the book happened before I realized what was going on and I applaud for Ms. Bertinelli for sharing her journey. It definitely takes some guts. And now she is finally happy and knows that to herself she must be true. ... Read more

Product Description
APRIL 2008 ISSUE OF LADIES HOME JOURNAL. COVER FEATURES VALERIE BERTINELLI, "I LOST 40 POUNDS". OTHER ARTICLES INCLUDE "PAULA DEEN'S SONS' FAMILY FRIENDLY FEAST", "DIET DROP OUT", AND MORE. ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Ryan Phillippe, Elisabeth Shue, Valerie Bertinelli, Doug Hutchison, Judge Reinhold, Cynthia Rothrock, Cori Yarckin, Sean Patrick Thomas, Teri Polo, Hampton Del Ruth, Aubrey Plaza, Kathleen Widdoes, Kevin Ruf, Chris Watson. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 63. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Matthew Ryan Phillippe (pronounced ; born September 10, 1974), better known as Ryan Phillippe, is an American actor. After appearing on the soap opera One Life to Live he came to fame in the late 1990s starring in a string of films, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions and 54. Phillippe's more recent roles include the 2005 Academy Award-winning ensemble film Crash and the 2006 war drama Flags of Our Fathers. In 2007 he starred in Breach, a movie based on the true story of FBI operative Eric O'Neill who is assigned to shadow and help catch his boss, Robert Hanssen, a spy for the Soviet Union and Russia, in the act of selling secret material. Phillippe was born in New Castle, Delaware, the son of Susan, who ran a day care center in the family's house, and Richard Phillippe, who worked for DuPont. Phillippe is of French descent. He has three sisters. Phillippe attended New Castle Baptist Academy, where he played basketball and soccer, as well as earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do; he was also the Yearbook Editor in his senior year. At the age of 15, he became interested in an acting career, inspired by a neighbor's suggestion. With that he attended Barbizon Modeling and Acting School located in Wilmington, DE; this is where he began his career and later starred in TV shows and movies. Phillippe's acting career began with an appearance in ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. His character Billy Douglas, whom he played from 1992 to 1993, was the first gay teenager on ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=247463 ... Read more