So much has been written about the dangers of exposure to extreme images, accepting those as the norm, as well as of being focused on your own weight, excluding BMI and health as measures. Yet we continue to analyze paparazzi photos for even the hint of a change. A shift in fabric, poor posture, normal bloating, or ill-fitting clothing could all explain a less than flattering photo more than a body change. Focusing on someone else’s weight and making comparisons is just as damaging as criticizing yourself.

People focus on celebrities as a way to escape mentally from their life. Having an opinion about designer dresses, fashion choices that we can never afford, what is and isn’t a healthy body choice, and relationships that are not available to us allow people to feel as if they might have an opportunity to make such choices at some point. When we have a negative assessment of another person’s life or choices, we can feel as if we have more value because we would make “better” choices. Even such negative comparisons do not build self-esteem.

People tend to idolize celebrities for their talent or beauty or luck. When you look up to someone for one reason, you often give more weight to their opinions in other areas as well. We also want to be as much like the people we idolize as possible. Even if we realize that our bodies are different and some bodies react differently to different diets, people see to want to try what their favorite celeb is trying. Again, it gives them more connection to the life of fame and fortune.

Unfortunately, this obsession is not really helpful for every day folk or the rich and famous. Although there are some that enjoy such attention, the majority of people do not want their every choice observed and critiqued. Comparing yourself to others, regardless if the comparison is positive or negative, will never help you improve your personal self-esteem. Every individual has our own strengths and endearing flaws. That is your beauty, not how much you resemble some standard. Finally, I always wonder how newsworthy such stories really are when we consider all that’s going on in the world with pirates, death, disease, and proposed restrictions on organic farming.

Post from: Diets in Review Blog

Why We Obsess Over Celebrity Weight

Kathy Ireland's before and after photos. (via People.com)

There’s been a lot of discussion this week about Kathy Ireland’s “muffin top,” after a photo of her, taken by her son, was released to the media. By Ireland! You could say it was a promotional stunt to garner attention for her new book “Real Solutions for Busy Moms.” Is all the scrutiny really fair? I mean, super model or not, compare any of us to our selves 20 years ago and we’re bound to have a little more padding.

We like to believe that when a woman has been in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition 13 times that she’s got all the ins and outs of maintaining that bikini body down to an art form. Then we’re awe-struck when we find out that super models aren’t super human. She aged (now 46), had three kids, became a busy mom and launched a successful career outside of modeling.

She told People Magazine that she’d put on 25 pounds. Her 5-year-old son had taken the now-famous photo, and then told her she looked pregnant. She says the weight didn’t bother her as much as realizing she didn’t look healthy. “I didn’t recognize the person I saw. I saw someone who looked overwhelmed, overstressed, overweight, over-everything,” said Ireland. After that moment, she set-out to make the important changes that were necessary to regain her health, and her figure.

In her new book she helps busy moms understand how she lost the weight and is continuing to maintain it. There’s no deprivation, just encouragement and advice for making small, manageable changes. When asked if she’ll ever get back into a bikini again, she told People she wished people would be more concerned with asking how healthy her heart is.

Real Solutions for Busy Moms draws on Ireland’s life experiences – everything from being the harried mom of three children and the wife of an ER doctor, to her first hand account of changing her life and drawing on the experiences shared with her by other women and moms. Despite being the CEO of  a billion dollar, global brand, she maintains that familiar encouraging and emphatic tone to help women regain their health and sanity.

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Kathy Ireland: From Super Model to Muffin Top

Alyssa Caplan of AC360 wrote the longest winded blog post imaginable on a subject that is easily summed up in one word: bogus.

Jessica’s sister, Ashlee, came to her defense:

“I am completely disgusted by the headlines concerning my sister’s weight,” Ashlee wrote on her website. “A week after the inauguration and with such a feeling of hope in the air for our country, I find it completely embarrassing and belittling to all women to read about a woman’s weight or figure as a headline on Fox News.”

Do we just tear down our perfect idols to make our imperfect selves feel better?

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Jessica Simpson Gains Weight, World Ends

Britney Spears' New Body

The pop princess showed off her tight tummy on Friday in new photos on her Web site as she rehearsed for her upcoming tour.

“I’m the healthiest I’ve been all my life,” she said at the time. “My diet has a lot to do with my getting into shape. I have no sugar. I don’t eat fruit or even fruit juice because of the sugar. I eat chicken and salmon and rice. I eat avocados. I’ll have egg whites for breakfast and sometimes turkey burgers for lunch.”

Read More At MSNBC.

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Britney Spears Gets Her Body Back