I can’t say whether the tabloid photo is photoshopped or not, but if it’s not, I think I see how the angle and pose caused her arm to overlap her waist in a way that makes the hourglass contour disappear. Not too difficult.

Thinking about it, and about the tabloid obsession with “OMG Celebrity gets fat!” stories, and “OMG Celebrity gets anorexia!” stories both, I think female readers of tabloids may buy up these things to console themselves about the difference between the “woman” curve and the “model” curve: the sort of ha-ha, fall-from-grace thing can be appealing when grace is something doled out to a very few people whose genetic predispositions one will never share.

Yeah, but does she even LOOK fat in the tabloid photo? I’d say that if we’re calling that “fat” (i.e., near the upper end of the weight/size curve for women) then we’ve seriously lost track of what the average adult female body looks like.

That’s not fat, my friends, that’s average. And her appearance on the show, with leg-slimming high heels, complimentary camera angles et al, is slimmer than average.

I am always amazed just at how caught up our society is in how people look. I used to live in Egypt and though girls there have issues about their weight and other issues I consider very damaging (use of skin lightening creams e.g.) there is just a lot less of this nasty commenting - by strangers - about whether the other person is too fat or too thin. (In fact the traditional Egyptian view about weight is that roundness is good and when I was considering that I was getting fat I was getting complimented by in-laws for filling out and becoming more attractive. But these were IN-LAWS not people on the damn STREET who minded their own bloody business.)

I also never heard of this model Tyra whatever before and saw her swimsuit picture in a checkout counter and thought well I would look even fatter in that and it just makes me go home and look for a drapery to wear.

while getting an uneasy feeling from giving Tyra such lavish praise …she acts really compassionate, but she’s not a saint here:

The career of Tyra Banks (and others) is based on manipulating the insecurities of those who *actually fail to meet the standards personified by supermodels like Tyra Banks*.

I mean, good for her for taking a stand, but let’s see her do some substantive, informative, non-judgmental shows about the real issues of body image and self-hatred that afflict so many women (and men for that matter).

In the last year or so, I have lost about 35 lbs. Subsequently, I have gained back about 10 of those and seem to have settled at a weight my body and my appetite are happy with. A friend recently mentioned that she hoped I wouldn’t go back to my lowest weight, as she thought I looked “gaunt”. This “gaunt” look still included those same thighs that Tyra got slammed for. The fact is, no matter how much weight loss I might achieve by dieting, that booty ain’t gonna be gone. My “fat ass” is a part of who I am. And I gotta agree with Tyra: it is one hell of a sexy ass!

So there’s some free advice. It may be worth exactly what you’re paying for it, but that’s what I think, anyway.

pheeno, he’d “look” if she was 6′ tall and weighted 350 lb. Or if she were 4′ tall and weighed 70 pounds. Or whatever.

Past that basic position, most guys have a preferred “type” or “types”, and since you seem to be your BF’s most preferred type (he’s just “looking” at the 6′ stringbean, looking is not buying) then I’d say you’re in good shape. At least he thinks so.

I’m 5′0 and weigh 130 lbs. I have curves and 38-28-37 measurements. There are days I see those curves and feel like a walking cow. Drives my BF nuts because I honestly dont believe him when he tells me he finds me sexy, but I see him looking at women who are 6′0 and 100 lbs and it just doesnt make sense.

From my point of view, most of them look like 12-year old boys without implants.