In this bold debut, Jane McGuiness chronicles her recovery from an emotional eating disorder while navigating the chaos of divorce, motherhood, and Tinder dating. From her dysfunctional childhood in rural Australia to harsh realities of weight discrimination and patriarchy, Jane’s story is both deeply personal and universally relatable.
Title: Always Hungry: How I Lost the Weight and Found Myself
Author: Jane McGuiness
A riot of dark humor beginning with Jane McGuinness’s dysfunctional childhood in outback Australia, Always Hungry explores themes of patriarchy and discrimination against the overweight as it details Jane’s recovery from an emotional eating disorder.
Jane’s journey to find herself is something of a curious social experiment: She walks away from her long-term marriage, returns to grad school while raising her three children in a foreign country, and gradually transforms her health. Readers will find themselves amused and aghast in equal measure as she recounts her experiences hiking the Camino de Santiago through Spain, adventuring in Greece, and subjecting herself to the horrors of post-divorce Tinder dating in her dry, self-deprecating wit.
This debut memoir is truly a transformative journey in every sense, as Jane ultimately discovers that it was never food that she hungered for after all.
Guest Post
I was all or nothing. I chose all. I refer of course to my memoir: the stories, the disclosure, the vulnerability. The best art is always raw, and anything less wouldn’t have been worthy of the paper my book is printed on. If I was going to help anyone, I knew that they deserved complete honesty about my disordered eating: the why, the when, and the how of my recovery.
The thing is, food is inexorably tied to our survival, therefore abstinence isn’t an option. For the addict of other substances, complete avoidance is typically the ideal solution. For the food addict a new relationship with food is required, and I don’t recommend complete avoidance, unless you wish to die (in which case you should probably seek help).
I was on the way to the airport in Vancouver when I decided to write this book. It was August 10th, 2023, and it hit me. The next logical step. With clarity I determined that I was going to write this book— and write I did. It poured out of me, like a dam burst, breached, and the torrent of words fell. Filling pages, sleeping little, and three months to the day I had the draft. Hungry. My original title. And yes, I was, but not for food.
If it doesn’t come rushing out of you, don’t do it.
These are the words of Charles Bukowski, that begin his excellent poem that I discovered yesterday, “do you want to enter the arena?” Naturally, he is correct (with regard to writing and many other things). My book rushed out of me with force; I was possessed (and I’d like to think Bukowski would approve). You see, I’d never planned to become a writer, but it turns out that if you give a girl a laptop, she becomes one. Today the flow of words continues and shows no sign of abating. I’m nearing the completion of the draft of my second book, and the third is taking shape in my mind and the skeleton outline that is currently dormant on my laptop, patiently awaiting my attention.
There was no question in my mind that my story needed to be written and shared. Why? So many reasons. Big reasons, and here’s one of them: You see, I now possess pretty privilege. Thin, white girl privilege. I have it now that I’ve lost the weight, and it’s abhorrent. It’s also incredibly sad. It was time to speak out. Time to use my voice to tell my story, in the hopes of reminding people to be kind to others in larger bodies, because they sure as hell weren’t always kind when I was obese.
Also, time to speak out against the diet culture nonsense. Just say no. No to the madness, the quick fixes. How many, at this very moment, paying for the privilege of being disappointed? Promising the earth, the more extreme diet plans typically sell nothing but hope and bullshit, neatly disguised as a solution to those stubborn pounds and the answer to your prayers. Spoiler alert: they’re not.
If I can help even a few people who struggle, as I once did, feeling trapped in the hell that is emotional eating, then I will have done my job. I laughed out loud writing this book, and I hope you laugh too, should you decide to dive into this, my first literary offering. Much more than a weight loss memoir, I rebuilt both my life and health during and after divorce. The chapter entitled “tinder” could alone have made a complete book, had I decided to include each and every unpleasant (often inexplicable) first date.
I continue to travel, hike, mountain bike, and explore (minus the bad first dates) and remain happier for doing so. I refuse to waste a minute of this precious, fleeting gift of a life. Fueled by espressos, enthusiasm, and love, my debut memoir is raw. The second is proving even more candid; I seem incapable of giving anything less than all of myself. Join me, if you’d like.
About the Author
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About 10 or 15 years ago I read a ton of weight loss memoirs like this. They were very inspirational to me at the time as I was battling my own weight loss. Thanks for sharing this one!
Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature) recently posted…L-L-L-Little Reviews #81 : October 2025