102 kilos on the soul, the story of a pack

Francesca Sanzo was a leading Italian blogger . In 2005, when many still didn't know what a blog was, he started his online narrations on panzallaria.com, which today has many passionate readers. Readers who have followed her over the past two years, two years in which Francesca lived and told what defines her pack.

102 kilos on the soul is the story of this success. Do not expect to find miracle diets and expert advice. Francesca does not take the chair and 102 kilos on the soul is a book that deals with the issue of obesity in a completely different way from the publications we are used to reading.

102 kilos on the soul is the honest and sincere story of a woman who takes her life in hand, faces the darkest part of herself, changes her lifestyle and gets out of obesity.

Francesca, why did you choose the term "dumb" and, more simply, the term diet to talk about your journey?

I believe that if you really want to change your approach to the body and to food, you have to "change", that is to say, not only considering eating a diet on time, but understanding and facing because we have accumulated many extra kilos and change the way we we tell ourselves and others. This is why I call it mute.

102 kilos on the soul is a book that impresses with sincerity, frankness and honesty with which you tell yourself. In a world where most people make enormous efforts to always show the best side, you have chosen to reveal those areas of shadow that we all have, but which we often hide. Why did you choose to lay bare your soul? What is your message?

I believe that we all have a black soul and that it is essential "to embrace it", that is to welcome it and make peace with it: to pretend that it is not there or - worse - to reject it, it usually leads to combining slaughterhouses like I did, always feeling inadequate and put on handcuffs yourself.

The message I hope to give with my book and my story is that we must not aspire to be perfect (or beautiful) but to really and honestly love ourselves and only through the acceptance of weaknesses and dark sides can we. And everyone can.

The causes of overweight and incorrect lifestyle

From 2013 to today you have gone from having 102 kilos on your weight, from a sedentary life to running a half marathon. Would you like to tell us briefly how you got there?

First of all, I accepted the reasons that led me to obesity, the fact that being obese was part of my experience; then I also wanted to change and, instead of postponing the project, I started doing it, in the gestures, in the way I perceived myself and in the lifestyle .

Step by step, with a lot of effort but also great determination and patience, I changed a lot of things: I started to move, to eat healthy, I took myself by the hand and challenged my fears (such as playing sports) and I fell in love with running, not so much as a means to lose weight but as a gesture of love for me, a moment of creativity and well-being.

The challenge of the half marathon (which I ran in September) I gave myself precisely because I wanted to give myself the taste of concretely achieving a goal that I could remember whenever my black soul tries to sabotage me.

Having small goals is important for insecure people, because it allows you to put psychological props to always hold on to.

At one point, in your book you write that changing your lifestyle starts from the head and that if we focus too much on calories we will have less energy to focus on the quality of what we eat and the needs of our body. How important is it for you today to eat healthily and listen to your body's needs, including movement?

Today for me to eat well (which does not mean not to indulge in some extravagance, every now and then) and to play sports is fundamental, it allows me to have the right energy for my days, which start very early and always take me to different places since I do the consultant and work around Italy. If I have very chaotic weeks I know that I still have to make time for two very important things : 1) being with my daughter and my partner 2) playing sports.

Everything else comes later, also because on the basis of this there is my well-being.