thebigskinnybook.com

Cartoonist Carol Lay toiled with weight for years, until she reached her goal of 125 pounds. (She's kept it off ever since.) In her new graphic novel-memoir-motivational diet book, The Big Skinny: How I Changed My Fattitude, Lay uses imaginative story lines to show it ain't easy—like George Clooney showing up, tempting her with sausage-egg biscuits and hash browns.

But her will power was strong enough to slam the door on him, and again when the senior chick magnet showed up in a silk robe, dangling a nightcap at her. On another page, evil strikes again, but in the form of a girl scout at the door. How will the heroine combat Thin Mint temptation? A chainsaw.

Lay looks weight in the eye with a sense of humor but doesn't discount the poignant struggle. The cartoon catalogs her calorie consumption and burnage each day, down to every last Whole Foods free sample. Read this interview with her on Salon.