Every time Kelly Osbourne loses 10 pounds, she get’s a magazine cover. 

Gracing the cover of SELF Magazine is Osbourne, flipping her trademark lavender hair and looking svelte in a flowery two piece. Since losing 50 pounds four years ago, we’ve been clamoring over every regained dress size and potential relapse. Truth is, we all care about her weight much more than she does.

“I don’t weigh myself,” she told SELF. “If you like what you see in front of the mirror, then what’s the f—ing point of getting on a scale?”

Overweight for most of her life, Kelly’s battle with drugs and near-overdose received less media attention than her mildly fluctuating weight. In 2009, Kelly entered a a drug treatment facility to care for her five-year addiction to painkillers. Constipation is a common symptom of painkiller abuse, which probably left her bloated for extended periods of time. Rehab worked, and as soon as she beat her addiction she was able to focus on regaining health in all aspects of her life.
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Superfoods are indeed super, but they aren’t a magic weight loss tool. A new diet book should be more clear before it becomes the next fad.

Lucy Danziger is the editor-in-chief of SELF magazine. She recently published a book about her experiences with eating superfoods and ditching dieting. The book is titled “The Drop 10 Diet. Add to Your Plate to Lose the Weight.”  The book describes how Danziger turned to foods like nuts, berries and whole grains and found herself 25 pounds lighter in just six months. She also focused on what she could eat verses what she couldn’t as she began her diet.

The foods Danziger sticks to are called superfoods. The superfood title was coined in 2004 by Dr. Steven Pratt. He compiled 20 foods that met the criteria for being “super.” These 20 foods are readily available to the public, contain nutrients that are known to enhance longevity, and the health benefits of the food has to be backed by peer-reviewed scientific studies.

The twenty foods that meet Dr. Pratt’s requirements are apples, avocado, beans, blueberries, broccoli, cinnamon, dark chocolate, dried superfruits, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, honey, kiwi, low-fat yogurt, oats, onions, oranges, pomegranates, pumpkin, soy, spinach, tea, tomatoes, turkey, walnuts, and wild salmon.

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Two new weight-loss products that use text messages launched this summer: Self’s Diet Tapper and textWeight. Both send you regular messages that are intended to keep you on track and motivated to reach your weight loss goals. I signed up for three weeks of both services to see how they compare.

Basics

Beyond the fact that both services utilize text messages and provide weight-loss tips, the similarities don’t go much further.

TextWeight asks you to send in your weight, and with the data you reply, creates a graph of your weight loss progress. Each time you send in your weight, you will receive a tip, which will be on a subject that you have identified as an area you need to improve to lose weight. You can log into textWeight.com to see your progress or modify your settings, such as how often you wish to be texted.

Diet Tapper will send you five texts (or “taps”) per day. You will receive three meal suggestions, a drink suggestion and a workout suggestion. Many of these messages have links to a specific page on Self’s website, directing you to a more detailed workout or a full recipe.

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For the text-obsessed, there’s a new diet plan that keeps you accountable using text messages. This week, Self magazine launched Diet Tapper, a plan that texts you meal inspirations and other tips five times per day. The service costs $2.99 per month and also includes online access to an “exclusive new diet plan,” that apparently includes a library of meal and workout suggestions. Subscribers will also recipe a “Recipe of the Week” newsletter via email.

Self’s Diet Tapper page provides sample texts such as: “A protein-packed lunch for 450 cal. Protein eaters burn more fat. Think poultry, fish, legumes or lowfat dairy” and “Set your sights on 45 min of cardio. Get inspired with our favorite workouts.”

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Beyonce is known for several reasons, including her high-energy songs, fantastic acting and performing, and most definitely for her bootylicious body. The singer has always had curves and legs that inspire me to get my booty into the gym. When I am not really feeling like doing a workout, I can just blast one of her songs on my iPod and motivation instantly strikes.

So how does this gorgeous woman stay in such great shape? It takes a lot of dedication for Beyonce to look the way she does. When she is getting ready to go on tour, she spends nine hours every day working on the choreography for her shows while wearing 5-inch stilettos. She goes to the gym five times a week with her personal trainer. Like I said, the girl is definitely motivated.

If you are like me, you are wondering how she stays so motivated. Beyonce has a painting of an Oscar award at her gym so she can literally run towards one of her many goals.

“I look at it, and I’m OK, I have to stay in shape,” Beyonce said.

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