Health & Fitness Diet & Nutrition / Weight Loss Humorous Memoir
Date Published: 07-29-2025
Publisher: BookBaby
healing. Author Tammy Waldoch uses this potent secret sauce in her book Plight
of the Pudgy: Stories, Inspirations, and Preposterous Parodies for the Slim at
Heart. From weight loss drugs, chronic diets, and toxic body shame, the book
is an open invitation to connect authentically with someone who deeply
understands the plight. Her own pilgrimage to finding self-love and a place to
“fit in” includes a near-death car accident, a bipolar diagnosis that turned
her life upside down, and a lifelong struggle with poor body image.
Waldoch authentically pours her heart and soul into sharing raw stories and
songs filled with deep faith, side-splitting humor, and a resounding message
that we are all perfectly made in God’s eyes.
Tammy writes this book not only as a testimony of her faith but also to share
her private path of redemption and healing.
Among the pages, readers will also enjoy fiction stories designed to encourage
laughter and reflection, along with some preposterous (and creative!) parodies
that provide a backdrop of humor to lighten the burdens of The Slim at Heart.
Heart Felt And Honest – This book will make you laugh and cry. The lament of
women who struggle with body image applies to a good majority of women.
EXCERPT
Slim at Heart
Shopping for clothes was hard for her.
Why? She had always hated her body because she was an endomorph and had, simply put … a large round body. Unfortunately, she was not born a mesomorph, considered muscular, or an ectomorph, referred to as being thin. She knew bodies came in all different shapes, but she could never stop comparing herself to others’ physiques. She imagined it would have been far better if she had been born with an hourglass shape, where the top and bottom half were proportionately proportioned with a smaller waist than her chest and hips. Why the sand in her hourglass seemed to all gather in her middle, more like an oval or an apple, was beyond her.
Then, she began to speculate whether others were equally dissatisfied with their God-given attributes. Did the pear or the triangle ever wish their narrow shoulders were broader than their hips? Did they obsess about their looks the way she did and lament that their figure flaw caused them to accumulate more weight in their lower hips, buttocks, and thighs? Did those with an inverted triangle shape with lower halves smaller than top halves ever wish they didn’t distribute so much weight in their upper body? Did they ponder their figure, scrutinizing their image just like her, constantly lamenting over their shortcomings with each glance at their reflection? Did they long for a smaller tummy? Not to mention those with a body type in a rectangle shape. Did they stare at their image or gape over the fact that they had no definition at their waistline or hips?
It seemed to her that everyone was in the same boat together, but was anyone happy with how they looked? She began to speculate that perhaps she had more in common with her female contemporaries than she knew. What would it take for her to realize there is no such thing as the perfect body? And since that was the case, she was curious why we all couldn’t stop paying attention to society’s ideals and ignore others’ rude gossip about our female body structures. She asked herself: Need I continue to listen any longer to rude gossip about my weight? And the answer was a resounding NO! These were strange new thoughts. Shopping for clothing could be fun, after all. She had a big epiphany and a brand-new song in her heart. And just like that, she began to make up a parody of Singing in the Rain, which she entitled Singing Through the Shame.
Singing Through the Shame
I’m singing through the shame
Just singing through the shame
I’m silencing my critics
Who cares what I’ve gained
I’m laughing at pounds
I’m not what I weigh
There’s more to myself
Than the scale says today
Instead of feeling scorn
Rejected and forlorn
I celebrate my body
And how I was born
I am not skinny
But God would agree
I’m fearfully, wonderfully made to be me
So bully if you must
Your bigotry’s unjust
Can’t taunt me with the word fat
I’m way beyond that
I gaze in the mirror
I’m finally secure
Just singing and glancing through the shame.
Right then and there, she told herself that plump was not bad. She promised to find fashion that complimented her full figure, helping her feel more confident in who she was. She would choose attire that showcased her unique body form and be mindful of that as she shopped.
degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Wisconsin, Lacrosse, emphasizing
Aesthetic Education—teaching using the creative arts. She did just that
in The Plight of the Pudgy, combining musical parodies with literature to
teach others how to overcome obstacles and rise above adversity. She is
actively involved with the Writer’s Well at the White Bear Center for
the Arts and gathers with other inspiring writers of all ages to explore their
creativity. She also consults with the Springboard Center for the Arts in St.
Paul, MN for further resources.
She and her husband of 38 years share a dynamic love for better for worse, in
sickness and in health, that has endured all things.
She is also a proud parent of two sons and has two beautiful daughters-in-law
who share life’s joys and challenges. Her faith is at the heart of
everything she does, and this book is a testimony of her Lord and
Savior’s incredible loving kindness toward her. Gilda Radner once said,
“Life is full of delicious ambiguities.”
Tammy invites everyone to share those ambiguities with her!
https://mybook.to/ThePlightofPudgy
