With the entire range of media outlets, from cable news to tabloid rags (and even the more neutral online platforms Tumblr and Pinterest), holding them under strong scrutiny, celebrities, male and female, are caught in a Catch-22 of sorts: their bodies are either flaunted about as objects and audience pleasers when in shape or pointed at and shamed when they are not. One sort of story, however, that seems to please everyone is the amazing weight loss one. Celebrities who had their curves, stretch marks and cellulite incessantly zoomed in on for months or years, reappeared as glamorous victors on some red carpet or magazine success story, which, in turn inspired dietary how-to guides, zumba programs and hula hoop tricks all over the Internet. Here are 7 before and after weight loss celebrities stories to take a look at this week.
1. Beyoncé
Despite gaining around 60 lb during her pregnancy, Beyoncé didn’t dilly-dally and, without the help of any plastic surgery or juicing, she quickly regained her flat stomach, by doing a lot of working out and eating at least one vegan meal per day and was careful with her snacking, turning to “edamame, a green apple or cucumbers sprinkled with vinegar, cayenne pepper and lemon juice” for nibbles.
2. Perez Hilton
It’s somehow very satisfying to be able to occasionally hold celebrity gossip journalists and bloggers to the same standards they incessantly apply to their prime material, and this is one of those cases. Luckily for him, after years of not doing wonders to the stereotypical picture people get in their head when they think “blogger body”, Perez Hilton proved that jaw-dropping “before and after weight loss pictures” can be not only for women, but a men’s game as well.
3. Kim Kardashian
Everyone knows there’s no shame if your figure isn’t quite the same after you give birth, but when you’re a celebrity whose entire early career was based solely on your body features, you tend to hold yourself to different standards. Kim Kardashian lost 50 pounds in 5 months after her pregnancy by ways of low-carb food and extreme exercise that left her face, abdomen and breasts looking as amazing as ever.
4. Raven Symone
The former child star has made her career as an adult in roles where her curvy figure was often a plot point, but that didn’t stop her from going through a major transformation when she decided she had enough. She blames her initial weight gain, in her teenage years, on stress and credits her efforts to relive herself of being stressed with her remarkable before and after weight loss.
5. Ricky Gervais
The British comedian lost quite a bit of weight (and, hopefully, his inability to properly fit a suit, with it) alongside long-time girlfriend Jane Fallon, the two going at it together. In typical casual manner, no clinic treatment or raw-vegan fasting was involved, but healthier eating habit and running regularly around the neighbourhood worked just as well, if not better. Gervais’ only regret? “Now I’ve got to stop making jokes about fat people, which is annoying. When I was fat, it was okay.”
6. Jennifer Hudson
One of the most talked about weight loss stories in the media, Jennifer Hudson’s phenomenal transformation was remarkable not just for the sheer difference of (not a pound less) but 80 pounds, but for her doing so from her high-publicized role as spokesperson for Weight Watcher, an organization that greatly benefitted, PR-wise from it.
7. Carrie Underwood
The country music star and American Idol winner’s weight loss story seems to have made its way into pretty much every celebrity gossip magazine. However, honestly, the story arguably sparks more attention than necessary, with most before and after weight loss pics of her usually just using unflattering clothes or angles to make show a fake difference, which makes the whole thing smell like half-baked publicity stunt.
