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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Watch yourself slim, in seconds!

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by Erin Kurdyla, Fresh Fitness Tips, SELF Magazine, on Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:38pm PDT

When a friend of mine was trying to lose her baby weight, she taped two photos of herself on the control panel of the Stairmaster in her living room: one "look-at-my-amazing-abs!" bikini shot snapped years ago, and next to it a days-before-the-delivery-room candid in which in all you could see was her stomach! She said sneaking peeks at those images as she worked out reminded her that her body could change, and would, if she just kept at it. The power of the pictures worked and in months she was back to her "before" weight and feeling great.

So when I heard about the cool new iPhone app, WeightMirror--that adjusts your appearance in a photo to reveal what you'd look like 5, 10, 15 or more pounds thinner so you can see what you'll look like when you reach your goal weight--I thought, this could be great: the same visual motivation magic, no agonizing weight yo-yo required!

See our tips: Eat like Jillian Michaels!

But is it all it's cracked up to be? Two SELF staffers volunteered to test the program to find out: Check out their body morphs! Beauty assistant Alexandra Samuel shaved off 15 pounds:
Before:

After:

Her take: "It's total workout motivation! We all have such distorted ideas of what we really look like, so to be able to: a) see you what you really look like, and b) compare it to what you could look like after shedding this definitive number of pounds, it's [exciting]."

Related: See Anna Paquin in the summer's hottest swimsuit trend!

But Articles editor Paula Derrow, who tried transforming 30 pounds thinner, wasn't as enthused:A
Before:

After:

Her take: "I tried punching in a 20-pound weight loss. Frankly, the results were hard to detect. So I tried punching in 30 pounds, and I did indeed look thinner in the "after" shot. But frankly, I didn't find the exercise inspiring--to my eye, I looked a bit contorted, stretched out, and... mostly [it] felt like a camera trick. This might be fun to do for a lark, but I can't see using it as a real weight loss motivator."

What do you think?

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Posted by Gidget Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:33pm PDT

i dont see nothing ya,ll look the same i think it best you need to try acai berry detox that s--- work i use to weight 178.pound now i weigh about 154.0 in 3 month and i never belivein diet pill either

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Posted by Phoenix Sat Jun 20, 2009 5:53pm PDT

Ridiculous application and not worth the money. Because frankly, a warped and cropped picture is NOT what you're going to look like thin. Yes, it is basically a camera trick, and it shows. If this worked, every woman in America would own at least one funhouse mirror. I do like the idea of putting up real pictures of your body, though.

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Posted by Phoenix Sat Jun 20, 2009 5:53pm PDT

Ridiculous application and not worth the money. Because frankly, a warped and cropped picture is NOT what you're going to look like thin. Yes, it is basically a camera trick, and it shows. If this worked, every woman in America would own at least one funhouse mirror. I do like the idea of putting up real pictures of your body, though.

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Posted by LuluSHOUT Sun Aug 2, 2009 10:51am PDT

My sentiments exactly, Phoenix

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Posted by cassiej Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:42am PST

The girl at the beginning was already skinny.

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