"Before" and "After" Weight Loss Photos: Real, Or a Scam?

Perhaps you were inspired to lose weight when you saw fantastic images of your favorite celebrity before and after she lost weight. This is a good thing - anything which encourages healthy weight loss is good. But are those images real - or are they a fantasy?

The Truth behind Before and After Weight Loss Pictures

 Any weight loss program, be it a gym, a support group or a food-based program is sure to have huge poster boards of before and after weight loss pictures of its clients. As seeing is believing; the aim of these centers to motivate you to imagine yourself in the ‘after’ picture and sign up.

The Right Before and After Weight Loss Pictures

 The pictures of everyday, regular people that you see at your Jenny Craig counselor’s office may be one of the right types of pictures of before and after weight loss. They are photographs taken by amateurs of people in regular clothes usually by a Polaroid or handy digital camera. These are people who you may even bump in to at meetings or at the gym and seeing their reduced dress size can be a big boost in your motivation.

 The Wrong Before and After Weight Loss Pictures

Joy Behar, Kirstie Alley, Whoopi Goldberg for Jenny Craig and Slim Fast respectively have fabulous before and after weight loss pictures. And they should; after all it’s a mega national campaign with the best lighting, stylists and photographers. There is no doubt that they actually did lose the weight, but dressing the right way and having industry pros setting the lighting and hair and make-up can make a huge difference.

So, you can get motivated by the likes of Ms. Alley but take it with a grain of salt. Even if you lose the amount of weight she did, it may not be in the same amount of time (she was getting paid to do it plus most probably the Jenny Craig food was free). And don’t expect to look like her, as the rules for any celebrity photographs dictate that ‘It’s all in the lighting!’

Copy the Stars: Take your own "before" photo before you start your weight loss

Instead what you should aim for is your own before and after weight loss pictures done in a realistic way. After you have chalked down your weight loss goal, take a picture in the same clothes on the same date each month. So, if you’re in your favorite pair of jeans and a knit sweater on January 15th, get a friend to take a picture of you in the same clothes on February 15th and so on. Don’t make it more frequent than that as it can be discouraging. Just like experts recommend you weigh yourself once a week, a monthly picture should suffice.

You'll find that these photos of your own journey are motivating, especially if you seem to be stuck on a plateau. You can see how far you've come, and you'll be very proud of yourself.

 You can lose weight - and you can look great in your own "after" photo

When you've completed your diet, and achieved your goal weight, you can look back on your journey with pride. You'll have your own "before" and your own "happy after".