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I had some issues with the Valerie Bertinelli People magazine bikini cover shot and apparently I wasn’t the only one. Julie Neumann, a freelance journalist from Austin, Texas, posted an insightful article about our overwhelming obsession with dropping weight to achieve personal fulfilment. Neumann, a recovering bulimic, makes some excellent points about where the Bertinelli story went wrong:

Because age is one of the ways our society discriminates against women’s bodies, the story initially appears inspirational. “A bikini? I’m too old for bikinis!” cries Bertinelli. “Then I realized, Wait a minute. Why not a bikini?” But the article quickly devolves into a glorified diet ad.

At times, it goes a step further, eerily echoing eating disorder rhetoric. “I’m just one jalapeno popper away from being 40 lbs. heavier again,” says Bertinelli. She adds that every time she looks in the mirror, “My eyes go immediately to the parts I don’t like, the jiggly bits.”

This type of story reinforces extreme dieting and negative body image. Bertinelli claims, “We all just need to appreciate our bodies for what they are, jiggly bits and all.” But she obviously could not do that herself. Not only did she diet down to 132 lbs. in nine months, she got down to 123 for the photo shoot, hiring a personal trainer and restricting her calories to rock bottom levels. Now she vows to “stay vigilant” and keep working on her waistline. [Source]

The photo made me mad because I seriously didn’t believe it was anything other than a Photoshop masquerade. Even it Bertinelli really was bikini ready for the picture, Neumann points out additional hypocrisies that are worthy of note.

Look, I love Valerie Bertinelli as much as the next child of the 80s but this picture is totally photoshopped. I’m not saying she didn’t lose the weight, I’m not saying she doesn’t look great considering the fact that she’s a year out from 50, I’m just saying–that ain’t no size 8 body.

Bertinelli totally deserves credit for making good on her promise to drop six sizes. She’s been very public about her weight struggle (thanks in part to a lucrative endorsement deal with Jenny Craig), but I worry about the impact of plastering a total fake on the cover of a magazine that every desperate housewife in the country sees while waiting on line to pay for her groceries. The article only fuels the fire:

The night before Valerie Bertinelli prepared to step out in public wearing a bikini – for the first time in nearly 30 years! – she found herself unable to sleep. As her mind raced with insecurity (”I thought, Am I really going to do this? Can I pull this off?” the actress admits), Bertinelli tried to summon up a pep talk, telling herself, “What am I so afraid of? Come on – it’s just a bathing suit!”

“I thought, If I’m so afraid of a bikini, there’s something wrong. And so I had to get back into one!,” Bertinelli says in the new PEOPLE, available on newsstands Friday. [Source]

Maybe I’m being a hater but really, is there any way this woman has the body of a teenager right now? What do you guys think? Completely photoshopped or more real than fake? Make me a believer.

Valerie Bertinelli talks about her 40-pound weight loss in the April issue of Ladies’ Home Journal.

Valerie used to weigh 172 pounds at 5?4?. Now, as a Jenny Craig spokeswoman, she is 40 pounds lighter and wants to share her story with the world:

“I dont remember a time when I didn’t struggle, though Hollywood made it worse. ..I used to get so mad about my hips. Now I appreciate them- they brought Wolfie [her son] into the world. Even when I got really thin, though, I never had an eating disorder. Well, at one point I may have been a little anorexic-I’d go on these super-restrictive diets.”

Here is Valerie’s typical workout routine:

“It’ll either be the elliptical or the treadmill, and for the very first time, last week I went jogging. Three and a half miles. It’s the first time I moved my legs that far in 20 years. And because I lost weight my knees didn’t hurt, though my thighs were killing me. But still, I thought, I can do this now!”

As you may know, Valerie Bertinelli wrote a book about her struggle with weight, that has quickly become a bestseller. You can buy “Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time” from Amazon.

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Life&Style magazine’s latest issue tells us how Valerie Bertinelli (best known for her role in the TV series “One Day at a Time“) lost 40 pounds.

Valerie has been struggling with her weight for twenty years. Yo-yo dieting, and going through her share of depression, and self esteem issues. She was inspired by Kirstie Alley’s weight loss while on the Jenny Craig Diet, so she decided to “call Jenny”. Now some forty pounds lighter, it seems Valerie has found the right mix of diet and exercise to keep her in shape.

This year, actress Valerie Bertinelli had to rethink her standard New Year’s resolution. For the first time in two decades, Valerie — who after nine months on the Jenny Craig diet has reached her 40-pound weight-loss goal — woke up on Jan. 1 not thinking about her weight. “That roller coaster, that battle, is over,” she says as Jenny Craig’s spokeswoman. “It’s over.” [Source]

The Jenny Craig diet that Valerie Bertinelli is following relies on its own line of meals, snacks and treats, but it also includes plenty of fruit and unlimited servings of non-starchy vegetables like carrots, broccoli and tomatoes.

Photo source: Life&Style

Update: Valerie Bertinelli’s book Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time has become a bestseller. You can read its reviews and buy it from Amazon.