NPR did a story recently about diet books, and there were at least three things that struck me as worth talking about! 1. In the “no duh” category, diet books offer “too good to be true” promises that suck people in over and over again. “The diet category offers a tremendous amount of repeat business,” […]

Filed under: Art, Books, Cold Hard Cash, Weight Loss | 31 Comments »

Hooray, Star Jones news! It’s been almost a year since we even mentioned her. But Star was on Oprah on Wednesday, facing the music about her gastric bypass and the fact that she hid it from the general public–whether on purpose or just by omission. In the clip I saw on Jezebel, Star apologizes to […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Media, Oprah, Star Jones, TV, Video, Weight Loss, WLS | 31 Comments »

So my feelings about celebrities who lose weight are well documented and I believe could be summed up as “conflicted.” Seth Rogan totally gets it, though. Actor Seth Rogen is struggling to accept his newly svelte figure – because he’s let down the legions of chubby men who looked up to him. The funnyman slimmed […]

Filed under: Beth Ditto, Celebrities, Cold Hard Cash, Comics, Feminism, Gossip, Movies, Nikki Blonsky, Queen Latifah, Ricky Gervais, Seth Rogan, Weight Loss | 43 Comments »

mandisa’s weight lossOriginally uploaded by mo pie Mandisa, a former contestant on American Idol, has an album coming out on March 24. She has also lost 75 pounds “without surgery” as the media always takes pains to point out. And is now talking about it in People magazine. Following a routine of cardio workouts five […]

Filed under: American Idol, Celebrities, Gossip, Magazines, Media, Music, TV, Weight Loss | 22 Comments »

I have not seen the commercial that Corinna rants about in this entry, but just reading about it made me want to start throwing things at the television, and I’m not even near a television. First, the rant (bolding mine): Last night I saw that Realize-Band ad again. The one where an attractive but fat […]

Filed under: Advertising, Advocacy, Fat Positive, Fatism, Weight Loss, WLS | 32 Comments »

I know very little about Mischa Barton, but apparently she’s lost some weight recently and the tabloids have gotten all OMG TOO SKINNY about the whole thing. She responded publicly, and People magazine has the roundup: She notes that she is thinner these days, as recent photos in the media have shown, sometimes accompanied by […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Feminism, Gossip, Magazines, Media, Tidbit, Weight Loss | 8 Comments »

And you guys, it is gorgeous. Hooray! via Style Slacker. LOVE is a new, aiming-for-high-profile magazine by Conde Nast, launching in the U.K. on February 19. It is purported to be all about luxury and fashion and fashionable luxury and I don’t really care, because I probably won’t read it. But I love their very […]

Filed under: Art, Beth Ditto, Celebrities, Fat Positive, Feel Good Friday, Magazines, Media, Tidbit, TV, Weight Loss | 22 Comments »

A reporter named Ashley Pearson followed Madonna’s workout, which is just this side of totally insane: Our plan is this: five weeks, six days per week – one-and-a-half to two hours per day, which is what Madonna and Gwyneth do. We will do 40 minutes of cardio exercise in each session, followed by one-and-a-half hours […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Cold Hard Cash, Exercise, Gossip, Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Weight Loss | 22 Comments »

I’m addicted to SecretTweet, the Twitter version of Post Secret, where people submit their secrets and they’re posted anonymously. Often there are weight-related ones that come up, and I think of you guys. So I thought I would collect a few here. Some of them are hopeful: My boyfriend weighs three times what I do, […]

Filed under: Fat Positive, Fatism, Feel Good Friday, Media, Meta, Sex & Romance, Tidbit, Weight Loss, WLS | 7 Comments »

I now completely forget who first told me about the Photoshop diet. But with this trifecta of great posts about pictures and bodies collected over at Shapely Prose, it sprang to mind. Before I get to that, though, the trifecta is as follows (and each link is well worth a read): 1. Improving Aphrodite, a […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Fashion, Fat Positive, Fatism, Feminism, Jennifer Aniston, Lindsay Lohan, Madonna, Magazines, Media, Movies, Music, Personal, Photoshop, TV, Weight Loss | 9 Comments »

The Guardian runs a feature called Private Lives, in which readers write in with their problems, and the Guardian’s expert provides her expert advice, along with a healthy helping of the peanut gallery’s remarks. The audience is encouraged to write in with their very helpful ideas on how to fix these people’s problems, and then […]

Filed under: Advocacy, Health, International, Media, Question, Weight Loss | 10 Comments »

From the set of… Pearl Harbor? Eight years ago? Well, I guess Kate Beckinsale just did an interview with SELF and talked about the stars being forced to lose weight, and her resultant dizziness. And they did it to Ben Affleck, too! “I remember going to the fitting and trying on a few swimsuits for […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Exercise, Gossip, Magazines, Movies, Tidbit, Weight Loss | 3 Comments »

I saw a thought-provoking post on suethsayings this week about a contestant from The Biggest Loser named Eric, who lost 214 pounds on the show and then went on Oprah to talk about gaining back 107 of them. (Oprah and The Biggest Loser in the same post! When categories collide!) Oprah had invited him a […]

Filed under: Biggest Loser, Celebrities, Diet Talk Warning, Exercise, Health, Oprah, Personal, Question, TV, Weight Loss | 53 Comments »

Steps include “refrain from consuming food” and “cease to feel emotions of any kind.” The ninth step, however, is my favorite: Step 9: Self-confidence is the most attractive trait a person can have. For this reason, strive to love yourself and accept yourself exactly as you are. This will be difficult if you are overweight, […]

Filed under: Humor, Tidbit, Weight Loss | 15 Comments »

Yesterday I was at the gym thinking that, since it’s almost January 1, I might have to start waiting for elliptical machines again pretty soon. It’s the time of year where people make resolutions to lose weight, to go back to the gym, to “get healthy.” And the gym gets crowded, and Weight Watchers meetings […]

Filed under: Exercise, Food, Health, Personal, Question, Weight Loss | 23 Comments »

I’ve been critical of Ricki Lake in the past for her attitude towards her weight loss. Last October, here’s what I said: It’s not that I begrudge Ricki Lake losing weight (even though she’s only eating 1,200 calories a day, which seems tragically low to me); if she’s happy, then great. But the quotes about […]

Filed under: Gossip, Hairspray, Kids, Movies, Ricki Lake, Weight Loss | 40 Comments »

Oh, how I wish Youtube hadn’t turned off the embedding on this amazing video (SFW), but you’ve got to watch it because these three girls? Are awesome. And I love them. And now it is my quest in life to be able to do the splits again.

Filed under: Fat Positive, Feel Good Friday, Tidbit, TV, Video, Weight Loss | 11 Comments »

Jessica at Jezebel wrote a while back about the Glamour magazine diet blog Margarita Shapes Up. What’s disconcerting is the anxious tone that has crept into her posts in recent weeks, culminating in a post about leaving her dad’s birthday party early so that she could go to yoga. It’s clear that she feels a […]

Filed under: Feminism, Magazines, Media, Question, Weight Loss | 60 Comments »

The name of this product, the “pink patch,” sounds so innocuous, doesn’t it? It’s a nicotine-patch-like patch (okay that was some awkward construction) that is being marketed to teenage girls as a weight loss tool. (And it’s for girls, so it’s pink of course.) The takedown of the Pink Patch at Fitness Fixation is just […]

Filed under: Cold Hard Cash, Health, Kids, Weight Loss | 16 Comments »

I was interested in this New York Times article about a new, “less invasive” weight loss surgery, currently in the experimental stage, in which surgeons go down the patient’s throat and staple the stomach from the inside. In Mexico and Europe over the past two to three years, 98 patients have had the new weight-loss […]

Filed under: Health, Science, Weight Loss, WLS | 22 Comments »

Thought it couldn’t get any crazier than the baby food diet or the swallow a tapeworm diet? While surfing around gossip blogs today, I ran across a reference to celebrities going on an “IV diet.” As in intravenous. Diet. I found the blurb here: One of Hollywood’s dirty little secrets is the ‘IV diet’, in […]

Filed under: Celebrities, Cold Hard Cash, Eating Disorders, Gossip, Health, International, Science, Tidbit, Weight Loss | 16 Comments »

Tangerina wrote in wanting to talk about my favorite television show, The Office, and their season premiere, called “Weight Loss.” I thought it was an awesome idea, and got permission to reprint her e-mail here. Hi Mo! Love the blog. I was just writing because you asked for ideas, and I know this is a […]

Filed under: Guest Post, The Office, TV, Video, Weight Loss | 28 Comments »

Something that we haven’t talked about yet—but which others have, of course—is the proposed increase in health insurance costs in Alabama, directed at the overweight. That is, you have one year to get “healthy” and if you fail, you have to pay an extra $25 per month in health insurance. From Wallet Pop: So, what’s […]

Filed under: Cold Hard Cash, Exercise, Fatism, Health, Race & Ethnicity, Weight Loss, Work | 21 Comments »

Interesting post at TMZ of all places, about Queen Latifah’s endorsement of the Jenny Craig diet (which, if you recall I had issues with). You can follow that link to see some before and after shots of Queen Latifah, but this is the entirety of the post: We’re hearing there’s a new strategy in Jenny […]

Filed under: Advertising, Celebrities, Cold Hard Cash, Gossip, Kirstie Alley, Magazines, Media, Queen Latifah, Weight Loss | 36 Comments »

Oh this is a fucking wonderful idea: an MTV reality show called Model Maker that asks women to lose up to eighty pounds in twelve weeks. Doing the math, that’s approximately seven pounds per week. The goal is, of course, to be “thin” and “beautiful” enough to be a model. (One of the prizes is […]

Filed under: Eating Disorders, Feminism, Health, Media, Personal, TV, Weight Loss | 15 Comments »