Experiment- My body before and after

I remember my grandmother told me once that when she was a child gaining weight was a sign of good living and status. Now, becoming thin is good health not good status and wealth. We want everything quick and easy without realizing we have paid a price in doing so.

On a day to day basis we are surrounded by thousands of advertising that manipulate us- ‘’New weight loss diet pills’’ or ‘’New rapid weight loss diet’’ or ‘’Amazing 20 min weight loss workout’’. We all know these campaigns, right? All these eye-catching programs are marketed very well using before and after photos and become very popular. Sometimes some of these ‘’diet programs’’ work well …at least at the beginning until people realize that starvation is not salvation.

We are living in the world, where no one wants to hear: be patient, eat healthy, exercise and just give it time and discipline. It is difficult to get people realize that before-and-after photos they see in magazines or on TV probably are not the actual results in most cases. There are a lot of people looking at themselves in the mirror and beating themselves up because they don't see something that's perfect. Things like that just make people feel like crap about themselves.

Furthermore, these well marketed before-and-after photos are ironically doing a great job- "well, this guy did it in four weeks, that means I can too." What happens after four weeks, when they don't look that way? They stop completely. …and are suffering from a lack of self-esteem because they can't get themselves to look like a magazine picture.

In order to disclosure the truth behind the before-and-after scenes, I made ‘’my body before and after’’ experiment. Here are the results (before and after):

Believe it or not, but this took 30 min to produce this progression! No weeks of exercising and dieting between 2 shots! After the before shot I just set up lighting, did some push- and sit-ups, took a shower and chanced my shorts. In addition to that I used brightness and contrast in Photoshop (only the after shot is photo-shopped that way and that's all). I should have got a new haircut as wel to make it more real.

Because I want to be transparent about my experiment, here is the before-after photo without photoshop tuning:

I’m not telling you that all you need is better lighting. The point is that don’t let photos that are manipulated with Photoshop, lighting or cheated their way fool you! There is no substitute for hard work. Develop a healthy lifestyle- proper eating, working out, sleep, dedication and understanding that it is a way of life to get the results you desire. It’s just not that easy as many of these campaigns with before-after photos espouse. It's a long-term commitment to health! Everyone can set goals …and everyone can attain them!