Tag Archives: weight gain

Christina Aguilera Embraces Life as a “Fat Girl”

The woman made famous for her amazing voice has been getting much more attention lately for her voluptuous figure. Thirty-one-year old performer and mother Christina Aguilera is much curvier than she was when she first burst onto the scene as a teenage singing sensation in 1998.

Earlier this year, Christina was slammed for her weight after making concert appearances in scantily clad ensembles revealing a much curvier figure. Specifically, she drew much attention for her appearance at the Michael Jackson Tribute Concert after uncomfortably donning a tight corset and fishnet stockings during her performance.

The star admitted to drinking more after going through her divorce from former husband of five years, Jordan Bratman, and being lax on her diet.

Her poor diet choices and junk food binge eating slip-ups added up to lots of extra calories and plenty of weight gain. As a result, Aguilera’s weight has fluctuated drastically over the last several years.

Proof of this came just months after her Michael Jackson Tribute appearance when she was photographed looking much slimmer and seemingly “back on track” in terms of her health and her size. (more…)

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Dana

Worst Vacation Destinations for Your Waistline


A lot of people fall victim to diet traps while on vacation. Sure, you’re taking a break from work, but that doesn’t mean you can take a break from your diet, too. Doing that will mean you’re falling victim to a different kind of tourist trap! The biggest tourist trap of them all is in the Mediterranean, and it’s probably not the country you’re thinking.

Based on a study done by Fly Thomas Cook, which looked at 350 people from the U.K vacationing for an average of a week and a half, close to half of them came back with a few extra pounds as souvenirs. According to the study, men gained about five pounds while they were overseas and women came back with a little more than one pound. (more…)

Posted on July 16, 2024 by Kristina

Not Exercising After Liposuction Can Have Dangerous Effects

Liposuction might be a quick and easy way to shave unwanted fat from the body, but it may not be the safest solution especially for those who don’t exercise afterwards.

A new study from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil showed that for those who don’t exercise after having liposuction, a dangerous kind of fat known as ‘visceral fat’ can return to the body. The result can leave patients in a less healthy state than they were before the operation.

The complete the study, researchers gathered a group of 36 healthy women between the ages of 20 and 35, to have liposuction. Liposuction is an invasive procedure that suctions fat out of subcutaneous fat cells that lie just beneath the skin’s surface. (more…)

Posted on June 13, 2024 by Dana

Lack of Sleep Leads to Poor Eating

Are you a night owl who struggles to put down the fork in the wee hours of the morning? New research shows that the later we stay up, the likelier our bellies and our brains are to start craving junk food, which gives us all the more reason to hit the hay earlier.

Combined research specifically shows that sleep-related hunger and food cravings are caused in part by hormones that help drive our appetite. These tendencies, researchers propose, may be what’s leading to weight gain. When our bodies are sleep deprived, areas of the brain are stimulated that seek out pleasure – for some in the form of junk food. Sleep deprivation may also contribute to weight gain since drowsiness can fog our brain’s ability to squelch these cravings.

One of the studies, which took place at Columbia University, utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor the blood flow in the brains of 25 volunteers. Researchers used the scans to compare brain activity following a normal night’s sleep – about eight hours – to a night in which they were allotted just four hours. (more…)

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Dana

“650 Pound Virgin” Struggled with Mental Challenges of Weight Loss

We live in an era that focuses a great deal on weight. We also live in a media era that has allowed us to watch obese people transform right before our eyes. With our focus on the physical, we often ignore the mental and emotional aspects of obesity and dramatic weight loss. This week, our weight and media era gave us a glimpse into the battle beyond the bulge.

David Smith appeared on The Today Show this week, and this wasn’t his first appearance on the show. Smith was a guest three years ago, showing off the transformation his once 650-pound body had gone ‘through after he lost 400 pounds. Smith’s weight loss was chronicled for a TLC documentary titled, “The 650-pound Virgin.”

This week’s appearance was just as surprising as Smith has regained more than 250 pounds in the past two years, putting him dangerously close to his starting weight. (more…)

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Lacy

10 Jobs That Make You Fat

Is going to work making you fat? It may be, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder which found there are certain jobs that leave you more prone to weight gain, primarily due to high stress and lack of movement. So the question is, is your job on the list?

Travel Agent: Airport food anyone? Travel agents have a rough occupation with constant travel and change, which often means an inability to plan ahead for meals and workouts.

Attorney/Judge: These occupations likely made the list for their high-stress nature, which has been proven to make us fat. In fact, I’ve known of several lawyers who gained weight during law school due to anxiety about performing well in class. And can you imagine the level of stress once lawyers actually get out in workforce? Not to mention the adverse effects of working long hours. Upholding the law is no light order!

Social Worker: This is another position that involves a lot of stress and an ever-shifting schedule. These two factors can lead social workers to grab for fast food in a pinch or to cope with stressful situations. (more…)

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Dana

Jonah Hill Puts Back on Weight After Losing 40 Pounds Last Year

It’s not often that we do two sets of before and after pictures, let alone in reverse. But such is the case with Hollywood funny man Jonah Hill who dropped an estimated 40-plus pounds last year but has since put it all back on, and then some.

Twenty five-year-old Hill, who has starred in such movies as Super Bad and Moneyball, slimmed down for his role in  the new film 21 Jump Street – a police action comedy that was just released in March.

To slim down for the role, Hill reportedly consulted a nutritionist and personal trainer to shed the pounds since going it alone wasn’t working, and he even gained a little weight in his early attempts.

After slimming down, however, Hill reportedly told The Los Angeles Times that his new, trimmer self ‘hurt’ a bit when he indulged in something unhealthy, and that he was growing to enjoy his new, healthier lifestyle. (more…)

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dana

Joy Behar Calls Jessica Simpson Fat: How much Weight Gain is Safe During Pregnancy?

Regardless of the harsh words spoken by The View cohost Joy Behar, Jessica Simpson has chosen to be the better person.

The 31 year-old Fashion Star mentor recently tweeted her followers to pick up her nude Elle cover.

“Last chance to see me ‘fat’ aka PREGNANT on the cover of Elle,” Simpson tweeted. “I loved this shoot, [and it’s] only on stands for a few more days!”

Choosing to take the high road, the quotation marks are the closest Simpson has come to acknowledging Behar’s comments last Tuesday on The View.

Simpson came under attack when Behar talked about her pregnancy weight gain. “Remember the time that Jessica Simpson was criticized because she didn’t know the difference between chicken and tuna? That kind of thing is more fun to criticize than the fact that the girl is fat,” Behar, 69, told her fellow morning show hosts last Tuesday. “Most women who are pregnant are not supposed to gain more than 25 pounds. She looks like she gained a lot more than that.” (more…)

Posted on April 11, 2024 by Kristina

Betty Draper’s Weight Gain Reflects Modern Weight Struggles [PHOTO]

Questions loomed last week during the two-hour premiere of Mad Men’s season five – where’s Betty? However, it didn’t take long for the sexiest blonde on the show to make her appearance in tonight’s second episode. Where was she? Likely in make-up putting on a body suit that has been likened on Twitter to that of Gwyneth Paltrow in Shallow Hal. However, this is not the same Betty we’ve come to know and love. We could say she was curvy, but really, Betty was just heavy. Christina Hendricks has curves!

Donning a body suit to make her appear much, much heavier than the model-esque woman who was married to Don Draper, January Jones’ character would likely be humiliated if she knew how Twitter was responding to her new figure.

At first, we thought it was just the over-sized pink robe the now Betty Francis was wearing. Then, admittedly having not watched season four, considered for a moment that she was pregnant with a fourth child. However, when her mother-in-law brazenly calls her out for her weight in not so many words, we had to face the truth that Betty had put on weight. After failing to squeeze herself in to an ill-fitting dress and canceling an attendance with her husband to a social event, Betty climbed in bed and felt sorry for herself. (more…)

Posted on April 1, 2024 by Natalie K

Weight Loss and Gain is a Family Affair

by Arleigh Aldrich

Wouldn’t it be great if you could feed off of the weight loss success of your friends and family? Good news – new studies are showing that you really can enjoy the weight loss success of your closer circles. The effort is still on you, but the verdict is if your friends are losing weight, it’s a big motivator for you to jump on the wagon.

Dr. John Morton is director of Bariatric Surgery at Stanford Hospital and Clinics. He had been noticing a pattern amongst the family of gastric bypass surgery patients. Many of his patients’ family members were overweight or obese, most likely heading towards similar procedures such as gastric bypass in the future.

Dr. Morton sees obesity as a family disease. “Just like you impart morals to your son and daughters, you can do the same thing around the dinner table as well and it can be good or bad.”

(more…)

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Health Buzz

Prescription Medication May Equal Unwanted Pounds

by Dani Stone

If you’re watching your diet and sticking to an exercise routine but the pounds don’t seem to be coming off or worse, you’ve gained a few, the problem may not be what’s in your refrigerator, it may be in your medicine cabinet. Common prescription medications used to treat high blood pressure, diabetes, seizures and even depression could be adding those unwanted pounds.

When prescription medications cause weight gain, sometimes as much as 10 pounds in one month, it happens for a variety of different reasons, depending on what the drug is being used for and how the body reacts to it. Corticosteroids like prednisone, used by many patients for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and asthma, allow the body to retain salt and fluid, increasing fat stores. Mood disorder drugs including antipsychotics (Clozaril, Zyprexa, Seroquel) and antidepressants (Paxil, Zoloft, Elavil) have a hormonal component. When patients feel better, their appetite returns.

When patients correlate the weight gain to their medications, they often quit taking them and that can be dangerous. Whether the drug is an oral contraceptive, seizure medication, high blood pressure medication, steroid, or any other long term drug, they cannot be stopped abruptly without having serious side effects. Madelyn H. Fernstrom, PhD, director of the Weight Management Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center advises, “Even if a medication causes weight gain, an extra 10 pounds may be worth the trade-off of what that medication is doing for your overall health.”
(more…)

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Health Buzz