BEFORE AND AFTER TRANSFORMATION BS!

CorvusCorax77
CorvusCorax77 Posts: 2,536 Member
in Motivation and Support
I just found this on GoKaleo and really liked it. It's about a guy who did a series of "before and afters" in the course of ONE HOUR. I think this is important for people such as myself who beat ourselves up over not looking how we think we are supposed to look.


here's the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-dixon/weight-loss-secrets_b_3643898.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
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Replies

  • a_vettestingray
    a_vettestingray Posts: 654 Member
    That's some pretty crazy stuff!

    Also, why can't I take "afters" that good? My lighting must suck, lol.
  • Rosplosion
    Rosplosion Posts: 739 Member
    Thanks for posting that.

    AND you look great, doll.
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    Reminds me of the gif saying "don't try to look like the models in the magazines. The models don't even look like the models in the magazines"

    Good thread and good article.
  • sam308lbs
    sam308lbs Posts: 1,936 Member
    Posting the pics so everyone reads it

    His one hour progress pictures
    lZJiwI1.jpg

    ANJQI8K.jpg
  • silvergurl518
    silvergurl518 Posts: 4,123 Member
    i still don't believe that the photos were done in under an hour. he looks 20 lbs heavier in the first. but yeah, i guess it goes to prove all the smoke and mirrors in not only before/after photos but in the commercial advertising/modeling industries.
  • The_Enginerd
    The_Enginerd Posts: 3,982 Member
    Wow, thanks for this! I need to get some better lighting.
  • lilRicki
    lilRicki Posts: 4,555 Member
    I just watched that guy on the news today...kind of makes you wonder eh?
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    Thanks... I needed to read that.

    I don't think I ever bought into the before/after BS, but I do beat myself up for not seeing results. I lost a lot really fast initially, and I'm at a point where its tougher to lose, and I just give myself hell for it.

    I definitely need to remember that the transformation I want is going to take YEARS!
  • JenBrown0210
    JenBrown0210 Posts: 985 Member
    This makes me sad. Not all before and afters are gimmicks. Mine are true. They are the result of a lot of hard work and dedication. Not just good lighting. Of coarse I flexed in my after to show my new amazing arm muscles. Don't think all before and afters are fake. In my before I did not push out my stomach. I was not bloated.

    I think there is more than an one hour difference in these photos.

    Edited because of my phones autocorrect.
  • wifeymou1112
    wifeymou1112 Posts: 129 Member
    Why did they shave his head...? lol
  • ryry_
    ryry_ Posts: 4,966 Member
    i still don't believe that the photos were done in under an hour. he looks 20 lbs heavier in the first. but yeah, i guess it goes to prove all the smoke and mirrors in not only before/after photos but in the commercial advertising/modeling industries.

    I have to agree. If I had to wager I would say the author is practicing some deception in order to prove a point about the deception that goes on in transformation photos.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    This makes me sad. Not all before and afters are gimmicks. Mine are true. Of coarse I flexed in my after to show my new amazing arm muscles. Don't think all before and afters are fake. In my before I did not push out my stomach. I was not bloated.

    I think there is more than an one hour difference in these photos.

    I think he is mainly referring to people who model for the diet merchandisers.
  • boredlimodriver
    boredlimodriver Posts: 264 Member
    i still don't believe that the photos were done in under an hour. he looks 20 lbs heavier in the first. but yeah, i guess it goes to prove all the smoke and mirrors in not only before/after photos but in the commercial advertising/modeling industries.

    when you're as lean as he is its east to puff out your stomach and look fatter. my cousin is a gymnast and almost looks 5 months preg when he pushes out his stomach. crazy
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    when you're as lean as he is its east to puff out your stomach and look fatter.

    Ding ding. Just have to relax the outer and push the inner. Also hunch the back a bit.

    And lighting is huge, especially in the 15-19% he's at.
  • Iron_Lotus
    Iron_Lotus Posts: 2,295 Member
    Interesting!

    Going to play with some lighting tonight
  • CanuckLove
    CanuckLove Posts: 673 Member
    This is kinda funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M957dACQyfU
  • david_swinstead
    david_swinstead Posts: 271 Member
    Hmmm. Am I the only one who's gonna call bull**** on this??
  • BurningAway
    BurningAway Posts: 279
    I wish i could do that :/
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    I've shown friends that if I slouch and stick my stomach out I look much fatter than I am. Doesn't mean you should question every transformation photo. Most people paid by supplement companies to pose in the ads don't even use the supplements. I have several friends who are sponsored athletes and have never used the products they promote. The company pays to use the image and the athlete accepts payment to promote the products.
  • hedgiie
    hedgiie Posts: 1,226 Member
    i still don't believe that the photos were done in under an hour. he looks 20 lbs heavier in the first. but yeah, i guess it goes to prove all the smoke and mirrors in not only before/after photos but in the commercial advertising/modeling industries.
    this could be true, i notice myself being fit and perhaps ripped sometimes but there are times when i look fat. but the point here is to focus on healthy lifestyle rather than for visual attractiveness only
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    when you're as lean as he is its east to puff out your stomach and look fatter.

    Ding ding. Just have to relax the outer and push the inner. Also hunch the back a bit.

    And lighting is huge, especially in the 15-19% he's at.

    And you can tell that he added different lighting to the "after" picture. There is a massive shadow that wasn't there in the "before" picture.
  • TribeHokie
    TribeHokie Posts: 711 Member
    Wow. I've "called out" the professional before & afters before because sometimes it is super obvious that they are manipulating the shots with posture or sucking it in way too much, but it is cool to see him really show this.

    This is also why I try to take my own photos in a completely relaxed/comfortable posture and why I look to mfp'ers for their progress photos instead of the pro sites. Though I have wondered about some people's pics that they post here...
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,228 Member
    It would have been better if he had one of those digital calendar/clock things on the wall for both shots.
  • sam308lbs
    sam308lbs Posts: 1,936 Member

    This is also why I try to take my own photos in a completely relaxed/comfortable posture and why I look to mfp'ers for their progress photos instead of the pro sites. Though I have wondered about some people's pics that they post here...

    yea i have noticed the same
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Read this earlier today as well...

    I'd also add that the companies that market this weigh-loss and fitness stuff also use models that are already very fit and have them fatten up a bit...and then basically cut so they suddenly look like they've been working out most of their lives....when truth be told, they have been working out most of their lives.
  • nyboer
    nyboer Posts: 346 Member
    Wow. Thanks for posting the link.
  • VioletNightshade
    VioletNightshade Posts: 197
    My best friend is one of the women who does workout programmes and provides before and after photos for a couple of companies. She works her butt off day in and day out and works out very hard, and lost almost 90lb doing so. Not all of them are frauds. There are quite a few legitimately hard working people out there who really dedicate and push themselves to work out and transform their bodies.
  • norahwynn
    norahwynn Posts: 862 Member
    This makes me sad. Not all before and afters are gimmicks. Mine are true. They are the result of a lot of hard work and dedication. Not just good lighting. Of coarse I flexed in my after to show my new amazing arm muscles. Don't think all before and afters are fake. In my before I did not push out my stomach. I was not bloated.

    I think there is more than an one hour difference in these photos.

    Edited because of my phones autocorrect.

    I don't think that this thread was intended for the before/after pics of the common folk on MFP. The article was about the companies that convince unsuspecting consumers to buy their products....Jillian Michaels, Beachbody, and the like, buy showing these amazing before and after pics of 'regular people' that completed their exercise or weight loss program.
  • CorvusCorax77
    CorvusCorax77 Posts: 2,536 Member
    This makes me sad. Not all before and afters are gimmicks. Mine are true. They are the result of a lot of hard work and dedication. Not just good lighting. Of coarse I flexed in my after to show my new amazing arm muscles. Don't think all before and afters are fake. In my before I did not push out my stomach. I was not bloated.

    I think there is more than an one hour difference in these photos.

    Edited because of my phones autocorrect.

    Um. Well, the article isn't about YOU. Or ME for that matter.

    My before pics, I was 40% body fat, weighed 174 lbs.
    I got down to 123 lbs and 19% body fat.

    My pics aren't fake.

    But what I *DO* think is really awesome about this article is this guy (if anyone actually read the article) is a personal trainer. He, one day, was feeling kinda bloated and sorta on a whim asked his GF to take a pic of him. Then he shaved his chest hair and head, worked out to get that post work out muscle POP and flexed his muscles and adjusted he lighting to get an after pic. The difference is astonishing.

    What IS positive about this is for those of us, like myself, who have lost a lot of weight and work out hard sometimes see pics of ourselves and think "I look like crud! I must be fat" because all the pics we see online of "fit" people are these glam shots.

    Here's my point, this chart shows different body fat percentages on women:

    body-fat-percentage-women.jpg

    This is my current profile pic:

    25536715_3858.jpg

    based on my stomach alone, I would put myself at 30% body fat, looking at the pics on that chart. But guess what? It's more like 20%. I just look like crap because, like the dude in the article, I was bloated this day.

    Here's another pic of me at 20% body fat:

    550040_4475530456619_1872995046_n.jpg

    That's my point. When you are at maintenance, or near it, or in that place where you have lost the excess fat, you can still look like crap in a pic now and then because a lot of these "after" pics we see in the industry about are posture, flexing, bloating, etc.

    NOTHING IN MY POST IS MEANT TO UNDERMINE the hard work of MFPers.

    I thought that was a no-brainer.
  • norahwynn
    norahwynn Posts: 862 Member
    My best friend is one of the women who does workout programmes and provides before and after photos for a couple of companies. She works her butt off day in and day out and works out very hard, and lost almost 90lb doing so. Not all of them are frauds. There are quite a few legitimately hard working people out there who really dedicate and push themselves to work out and transform their bodies.

    That's interesting. So she does before and after shots for various companies? Did she lose the weight and get fit on her own, or did she use the companies weight loss tools that she's doing the pics for?

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