Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? by Peter Walsh

No, it’s not a cruel book. Walsh is exploring the idea, which he has seen in his clients many times and which his readers have described to him, that a person’s clutter can lead to a vicious cycle of the clutterer losing hope, neglecting self-care, getting depressed and anxious and therefore even more disorganized, then further abandoning self-care, getting more overwhelmed, more cluttered… The self-care involved is most pointedly around the tasks of cooking and/or eating healthily, and exercising.

Walsh provides a point-by-point strategy for dismantling the cycle. He’s not a dietitian, exercise coach, or health care provider. But he is drawing on many years of experience in helping people structure their homes, let go of stuff, to make themselves more effective and therefore a unique perspective of the challenges faced by some overweight people. He doesn’t claim his approach is easy – this won’t be “take a pill, drink a tea, the fat melts away.” Walsh urges people to change attitudes, not calorie counts. Weight loss comes with the change in attitude. He reveals his opinions bluntly, humorously, and, in my opinion, accurately.  The book is worth a try if you are tired of fad diets, broken New Year’s Resolutions, or your inability to cook in your kitchen and all the fast-food meals that means.