Before pic: Not only fat, also stupid with no makeup and highly questionable fashion choices

I thought I would discuss how stupid some before and after pics are on weight loss shows. I mean, we get it! Obviously someone will look drastically better in the after pic (hopefully). I would think just the weight loss would show enough of a difference. I just don't think it's necessary to have the before pic have the person shown with no makeup, a highly flattering outfit made entirely of spandex and humiliation, a mouth wide open in order to better shove cheeseburgers in, and an expression that is a mixture of mentally slow and freakishly depressed. Then the after pic shows the person with designer clothes (for some reason usually very shiny and almost neon), professionally done hooker make-up, a badly applied spray tan, and an expression that screams, "I'm on uppers!" Also, sometimes the women look a bit emaciated in an effort to lose as much weight as possible to win $250,000. But hey, I probably would get a bit carried away too. I did eat just lettuce and canned crab for a while just to win $1000 in my contest a few years ago.

Anyway, like I said, it's just not necessary. Yes, it makes people sad to be fat. But they are capable of smiling. They don't need to look like they are going to slit their wrists any minute in the before pic. And while I may be fat, I'm not stupid. I was fat when I graduated from high school as valedictorian and I somehow managed to give my speech without having the vacant expression deemed necessary in a before pic and apparently on fat people in general during everyday life. Do I wear spandex in real life? Hell no, nor should I ever, just like 99.9% of the population.

In my real before pic, I aimed for a neutral expression and normal work-out clothes. Although, it did kind of look like a mug shot just due to me doing a front shot and profile shot while holding a sign in front of me with the date. In my after shot, I will have the same clothes on, hopefully hanging off of me. I will smile, but not manically. I take pics every month, so this last month I kind of had a half smile that hopefully said, "Not there yet, but getting there!"

A few years ago, my best friend took a fake before shot of me, making fun of them based on my previous observations. Although it is really an after shot since it was after I lost weight. We used pillows in my belly and butt. Don't judge us...we were then nursing students in desperate need of procrastination tools. Here are the pics:

Actually, the vacant expression may be for real. It was the last semester of nursing school and my brain was pretty much fried. The dark shadows under my eyes aren't bad here, but they were usually a lot worse that semester, fitting since I averaged 3 hours of sleep a night. Too bad, would have been a nice touch here.

And here is my after pic!





















Lol...j/k. I may have lost weight, but I'm pretty sure I didn't turn into Brooklyn Decker overnight. And as required by someone (not sure who...maybe scary lawyer people?), I do not own the above pic or any rights to it.