A Thinner Pose – Don’t Let the Camera Add Ten Pounds to Your Weight when it can Take it Off . . .

You must have noticed that the majority of celebrities look super uber skinny on the red carpet. Now I know that many of them have personal trainers and allegedly survive on a lettuce leaf and a cup of beetroot juice a day but come on . . . really?  These celebrities are just human beings you know and if you see them on the street they are just as likely to be short (without the sky scraper heels) with some wobbly bits. It’s not all about airbrushing (although that can obviously help) but it’s also about the pose.

You really can “pose yourself thinner” if you just know a few tricks of the trade. Try this next time you’re at a family wedding and didn’t quite manage to lose the ten pounds you’d hoped.

• Pull your head a little forward to hide your double chin . . . sorry, I mean to hide the appearance of a double chin, and if you don’t have a double chin try it anyway.

• Don’t stand full on but instead turn a little to the side (your good side naturally) with one foot in front of the other, the front foot pointed towards the camera and your weight planted on your back foot – practice in the mirror at home.
• Don’t let your arms hang by the side of your body, keep them slightly away so that your flabby upper arms aren’t flattened and exaggerated even more. Bat wings might be a good look for bats but that’s about all.
• My old ballet teacher used to constantly preach “tummies in and tails under” which is good advice when you’re posing for photographs.  Pull your shoulders back, push your chest out and breathe your tummy in – don’t suck in so that your ribs are showing because that makes it a little obvious, and don’t hold your breath until you go blue in the face because that really gives the game away. You are trying to look naturally thin remember – the right posture can make a world of difference.
• Here’s another trick you can practice at home, preferably when you are on your own and definitely not with your little brother watching. Start off by looking away then turning to the camera with a nice fresh smile immediately before the click.  If you don’t get it right you end up looking like the model from the swimwear catalogue but if you do get it right . . . wowzers.
• Photographs which are taken from below will automatically add 20, 30 or even 40 pounds so watch out for that.

Other celebrity “secrets” include using fake tan and wearing outfits of single colors – black, white, red, blue . . . the choice is yours but do avoid pink unless you are a four year old wannabe Disney Princess. Using a single color can elongate the figure making you look sleeker and slimmer.