The Shocking Truth About Some Before- and After- Weight-Loss Success Story Photos

Prepare to be very upset

What woman doesn’t love a good before and after picture? Unfortunately, weight-loss companies know that—and many are using faked photos to try to rob you of your money and even your health, reveals a new exposé by the TODAY Show.

Sure, we’ve all had those “it must be too good to be true” thoughts when confronted with weight-loss pop-up ads and late-night infomercials. But according to TODAY, these fraudulent weight-loss advertisements are way more prevalent than you may have realized—and they make up one of the most-reported frauds in the country, according the Federal Trade Commission.

So how do these companies fudge their facts? In TODAY’s review of several popular weight-loss products, companies had gone so far as to steal women’s photos off of their personal blogs and make up their weight-loss success captions—of course, crediting their products with the results.

Even Women’s Health has had its likeliness and copyrighted materials used illegally to promote diet pills. Last year, an Internet scam claimed WH endorsed a whole bevy of weight-loss pills and supplements. And in this case, some of the pills weren’t just ineffective; they were downright dangerous. (Learn more about the health risks of garcinia cambogia extract pills.)

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Meanwhile, another “shrinking” figure that has shown up in advertisements for various weight-loss products is actually a stock photo of a plus-sized woman. Weight-loss companies use her photo as-is for the “before” and then Photoshop it for her "after" picture.

While many diet ads don’t go to such extremes to sell their products, the industry is still full of tricks to make minimal weight loss look radical, according to the report.

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Someone's posture, hair, wardrobe, and even the lighting they are under can make the difference between a so-called “fat” and “skinny” picture.

Want to see some REAL before/after pics? Check out these readers' weight-loss success stories and get tips on losing weight the healthy way.

MORE: 6 Signs Your Diet Is Too Extreme

 

Why The Shocking Twist on <em>The Bachelor</em> Was Actually Really Awesome

So what if he's into you?

For me—and I would hope all women—The Bachelor is more of a guilty pleasure than a template for a healthy love life. But this week, one of the contestants made a move I can totally get behind more women making: peacing out when they know they aren't into it.

After spending a night with bachelor Juan Pablo in the "fantasy suite," contestant Andi Dorfman said that she couldn't wait to for the night to end, because, guess what? She just wasn't into him. "Not once did he really ask anything about me," she told the cameras. "I'm not unsure. I know he's not the one."

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It might sound silly, but this is pretty huge in the reality-show dating world. It's the first time a female contestant on The Bachelor has just come out and said, "Yeah, I'm not feeling it." Seriously. While other contestants have left for personal reasons and Sharleen Joynt left earlier this season because she wasn't sure she was emotionally ready for an engagement, Dorfman is the first contestant to flat-out say the dude wasn't all that and a bag of chips.

While the fact that this is a TV-first seems more a sign of how backwards "reality" dating is than anything else—we all could learn a lesson from Dorfman's bold move. 

Sure, the average woman isn't in such an overt contest for "the one," but dating can far too easily feel a competition. We've all felt the pressure of trying to stand out amid the throngs of women that fill bars and online dating sites alike. We've all tried to charm our way to a second date. And we've all felt the twinge of jealousy that comes when our friends post their engagement rings online. (You can deny it, but I know you're lying.)

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All of that pressure can make it easy to get caught up in an "is he into me?" mentality, rather than an "am I into him" one. And we need to start asking ourselves the latter.

As Terri Orbuch, Ph.D., relationship expert and author of Finding Love Again, says, women are often so busy trying to "sell" ourselves to the person we're dating that "we don't step back and ask, 'Is this the person for me? Are we compatible?'" Her advice? Identify what you want and need in a partner (you can even break out the pen and paper if it helps!), and don't shy away from communicating and expecting that from your beau. Now's not the time to settle. And if you do throw in the towel, know the time you spent dating wasn't wasted, says Orbuch. "You learned. You grew."

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