Healthy Style: Appearances Can Be Deceiving or How What You Wear Can Drop 10lbs

I posted this originally on my Weight Watchers Online Community blog - details at the bottom of this post.

I go to events. And I get my picture taken.

You know those 3-4-people-holding-drinks-pics in local society pages? The ones in glossy mags with stars scrunched in looking chummy with editors and Rich People whose names you don't recognize?

Yeah. Those shots.

They can be the most unflattering pics out there. No matter what a photographer does, sometimes (and some of them are very good, quick, catching the best angles), well, the angle just doesn't catch me in the best light.

Sure, it has a lot to do with what I'm wearing. It also has to do with the "pose" I strike. I still haven't figured that one out. Especially since I'm often the tallest, biggest one in the pictures. See below for reference.

In the first shot, I'm wearing what is actually a very flattering sheath dress. But a) the folks I'm with, even the glamorous tall woman on the far right, are, shall we say, significantly less in poundage than I, b) I need to stand up straight, and c) my white- **** arm shouldn't be facing the camera like that. I hate this picture. Let's label it Before Picture No. 1. It's also at my starting weight in this shot. (BTW, photo is courtesy of an absolutely phenomenal DC-based photographer, Kate Warren. Her work is inspiring and fun, and you can see it at Go Kate Shoot.)

Yours truly, the Corcran's Kristen Guiter, Rachel Cothran, Melanie Kimmelman, and Betsy Lowther at the Simon Doonan book signing party at the W (thank you BrandLinkDC!)

In the second, I'm wearing an also flattering but completely different blousey top, and my hair, though washed, is completely and totally fly-away. I dislike this picture much less, because a) I crouched down to be shorter than my friend, and b) we were having fun, which goes a long way in making you look better in a photograph. Before Picture No. 2. Here, I'd already lost 5lbs., I'm wearing an also flattering but completely different blousey top, and my hair, though washed, is completely and totally fly-away. I dislike this picture much less, because a) I crouched down to be shorter than my friend, and b) we were having fun, which goes a long way in making you look better in a photograph. Before Picture No. 2. Here, I'd already lost 5lbs.

Yours truly and Alison of Chain Strap Purse (conservative style blogger Gingers who spell their names The Right Way from PA, unite!) at the CapFABB Anniversary Party.

In the last picture, shot in my office bathroom this morning, well, I'd call it Before Picture No. 3, but I am acutely aware that posting this in a WW forum could lead to folks saying "why are you trying to lose weight?" Sure, I suspect I might hit a 10lb loss when I weigh in tomorrow, but I've lost a few pounds more than Before Picture No. 3.

Yours truly in a Calverton, MD, office bathroom.

What it really comes down to?

1) Angle. I did shoot this picture on an angle, and a teensy bit from above, both of which, when my Big White Arms are covered (even in white), take pounds off.

2) The Right Clothes. When I threw this together last night so I could get out of the house and into the office super early to finish some things, I had no real idea it would work as well as it does. I was even concerned that the jacket would make me look larger than I am. In the end, though, the pieces are simple (a pencil skirt + fitted long sleeve T + belt + fitted jacket), structured, and, oh BTW, they're comfortable. I feel good, so I look good.

So I have 2 challenges for my Infintessimal Readership:

I Love Me Challenge No. 1: From reading other blogs, getting emails and tweets, and talking to folks In Real Life, I know that lots of women don't think they know how to put together an outfit. Lord knows there are lots of resources out there - so many it's overwhelming. But sort through your closet and try things on - even if you think that you hate what you have. There has to be at least one piece (and probably more) that fits you well, no matter what your weight. Find it. And wear it. Wear it til it has holes in it, then go find another. You'll feel better, which will help you make good choices. (If you're so inclined, and on twitter, tweet me a snapshot of your new favorite ensemble @DCCeline with #ilovemeNo1 and we can have a Mutual Admiration Society.)

I Love Me Challenge No. 2: Once you're in that piece or outfit, snap some shots of yourself, and play with the angles (3/4 side shot, camera a little bit above your head), or get someone else to do it. Having one picture of yourself that you love At This Weight will also make you feel great, and will help you make good choices. Proof that WW - or whatever your healthy lifestyle plan is - is working, so to speak. (Tweet me one of these newly favorite pics - your new avatar, perhaps? - @DCCeline with #ilovemeNo2.)

Then let me know what you feel, alright?

If you want to follow my journey to being healthy, check out my starting post, here, and look for other posts with the tags "healthy style" and "healthyme." #healthyme tags my journey tweets. If you happen to be in Weight Watchers, and are using the eTools, I have a WW blog, too: StyleBloggerWorkingMamaWife Gets Healthy.

Style Inspiration: We Met on the Internet

When I started blogging back in, oh, December 2005*, I did it in large part out of frustration for DC's lack of style.

There. I said it. I said The Same Thing Every Other DC Style/Fashion Blogger Says.

I do have a lot to say about style and fashion blogging in the District of Columbia and Greater Metropolitan Area. I promise (yes, I know this is a blogger-no-no, promising a post for later) a post here or article over at my other written style project with Jessica Quillin, Finessed Fashion, one day relatively soon.

In the meantime, though, there have been a few recent developments in the DC Blogger World and style in general. One of my favorites? Very Smart People are strutting their stuff in unique, thoughtfully styled ways. Then there are the people capturing them on film. Yes, there's the daily style blogger, putting (usually) herself out there for the world to see. There are also brainy, style-inclined folks like ThirstDC founders, Eric Shulze and Lori Noto, entrepreneurial minds like Eliot over at Accoutre, and, though she's not the first street style photog to grace DC's streets (Rachel, this nod's for you), Kate of Go Kate Shoot is getting some beautiful images of what we stylish folk in DC think beautiful.

So last week, a few of us were tweeting away when suddenly we had a date for drinks and shots (with the camera). I think it was 6 of us to start. Apparently that expanded. It became a Thing, and threw me into a frenzy of What to Wear I'm Going to Be in a Picture. I even dragged H along, styling him in a vintagey, geeky T just for the occasion.

Wonderful, amazing, colorful shoes (and on a snowy night, girl after my own frostbitten toed heart) Go Kate Shoot

The long and the short of it? H and I made it out for drinks at Smith Commons, even on a snowy night when others stayed in. It was worth it. The laughter, the style, and the photographic record of the evening tell the story of a DC happy to style its way through the night.

The lovely, sweet, and incredibly stylish KC Ellis. The first time we met "IRL," at #BlackChampagne, I gushed over her ensemble so much I was afraid I'd offended her. Go Kate Shoot

The shots here, as stated, are all the work of one lovely Kate Warren, and she graciously said it would be ok if I posted a few of my favorites. She posted a whole slew of them on her blog (look for the Style Flash Mob DC post). Please go check them out - she's just amazing.

Yup, that's me on the left, in my shit-there's-going-to-be-a-photographer-there-what-do-I-wear outfit. H is holding up the brick wall on the right, complete with Captain America T picked out by The Bean. KC smiles at us from the back, with her sweet F (soon to be H) gazing at her lovingly. Go Kate Shoot

[editorial note: darned Chrome or Blogger or something isn't happy about me posting pics right now. But I will. I promise (there I go again). In the meantime, follow the links to Miss Kate's site and drool over your keyboards at the eye candy.] Look! I kept a blogging promise!

*seriously? 6+ years? why, oh, why, haven't I had a blog birthday party? Oh. Right. Those Beans of mine. And H (though the blog idea was his - I'll tell that story one day). And that day job. But maybe, just maybe, we'll have a 7-Year-Itch Blog Birthday Party or some such nonsense. Start the planning!