DIET | DETECTIVE^®

I get a little freaked out when every skinny star is automatically labeled as anorexic.

I’ve been feeling a little guilty about ignoring the boys in Hollywood. I mean, they work hard for their bodies, too. Have you seen those pictures of Jake Gyllenhaal in spandex? Talk about devotion to the cause.

So when I dug up some “breaking news” on the Carter brothers’ favorite foods, I figured I’d read up and see if I could glean any helpful tips from them.

I recently highlighted a weight loss program called "Shrinkdown" and is sponsored by the local YMCA chapters all across the state of South Carolina. In fact, I decided to join this year to see what it was all about.

After the intial weigh-in and a check of the key health statistics a couple of weeks back, participants in the "Shrinkdown" program were given a "Healthy Living Guide" three-ring binder to bring with them to their weekly Friday weigh-ins. Additional materials have been distributed each week and will continue to for the remaining weeks in the program.

Many of my new readers who have discovered my blog in the past few weeks here at DietDetective.com have e-mailed me asking about whether I have loose skin after my 190-pound weight loss and want to know what I am doing to handle it. In fact, here's one of those e-mails:

Dear Jimmy,

I thought I would send you an email regarding weight loss and the dreaded loose skin afterwards. After skin removal surgery, people seem to be very happy with the results. Have you had this surgery? Is loose skin really inevitable when you are very overweight? How do you limit loose skin? Does losing too fast encourage loose skin?

I'd love to know if you have ever written a blog about it. It's very discouraging losing all that weight only to be left with a whole lot of skin and where you have to stay covered up.